From the Conference Committee...

WAURISA - the Washington State Chapter of the Urban & Regional Information Systems Association - is pleased to sponsor the 16^th annual Washington GIS Conference. WAURISA is committed to promoting the development and implementation of GIS technology by individual users, professionals, government agencies, and businesses. The annual Washington GIS Conference provide a unique venue to bring together the entire Washington GIS community for three days of workshops and presentations that is essential for keeping up with rapid advances in geospatial technology.

Join approximately 300 of your peer professionals representing government, non-profit, commercial, and tribal sectors. The conference offers an abundance of communication opportunities essential for learning about real-life GIS experiences, best practices, and tips. We welcome participation by all GIS-related technology providers, vendors, and consultants – successful GIS depends on them all. And we encourage participation by any GIS professional, academic, user, student, or interested citizen – business users are the basis of our careers in GIS.

There is something vital about coming together for a conference to share insights and make connections with peers that, upon return to our offices and our daily work, leave us inspired by the ideas that were exchanged and the connections coalesced through common interests. GIS is becoming more powerful and accessible, and the 2013 WA GIS Conference is an excellent opportunity to learn from your peers and discover how to leverage GIS capabilities to make the most of your existing resources. Make plans today to attend the conference!

Keynote Announced – Prof. Michael Goodchild
Michael F. Goodchild is Emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he also holds the title of Research Professor. He also holds an affiliate appointment in the Department of Geography at the University of Washington. He was Jack and Laura Dangermond Professor of Geography and the Director of UCSB’s Center for Spatial Studies. He received his BA degree from Cambridge University in Physics in 1965 and his PhD in geography from McMaster University in 1969, and has received four honorary doctorates. He was elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and Foreign Member of the Royal Society of Canada in 2002, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006, and Foreign Member of the Royal Society and Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy in 2010; and in 2007 he received the Prix Vautrin Lud. He was editor of Geographical Analysis between 1987 and 1990 and editor of the Methods, Models, and Geographic Information Sciences section of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers from 2000 to 2006. He serves on the editorial boards of ten other journals and book series, and has published over 15 books and 500 articles. He was Chair of the National Research Council’s Mapping Science Committee from 1997 to 1999, and of the Advisory Committee on Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences of the National Science Foundation from 2008 to 2010. His research interests center on geographic information science, spatial analysis, and uncertainty in geographic data. For more information, see Michael Goodchild’s complete CV (http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~good/Goodchild-CV.html).

Call for Conference Workshops
WAURISA invites you to submit a proposal (http://www.waurisa.org/conferences/2013_Conference_Index.html#CallForWorkshops ) to conduct a workshop for the 2013 Washington GIS Conference. We are seeking instructors to give half-day educational presentations and workshops on a wide range of GIS topics. All submissions are welcome and will be evaluated as a potential workshop focus. Suggested workshop topics include; Cartography, Transportation, Asset Management, ArcGIS Online development, Programming, Emergency Services, GIS & Land Surveying, Mobile GIS, Remote Sensing, Desktop GIS Apps, and Mobile GIS Apps. The deadline to submit an abstract is Friday, February 8, 2013. Workshop presenters will receive one $150 credit towards a two or three-day conference registration.

Call for Conference Presentations
WAURISA has begun accepting presentation proposals (http://www.waurisa.org/conferences/2013_Conference_Index.html#CallForPresenters ) for the 2013 Washington GIS Conference to be held May 6 - 8, 2013 at the Lynnwood Convention Center, in Lynnwood, Washington. The conference theme for 2013 is Power of Place. WAURISA is seeking potential speakers to provide fresh, dynamic solutions to today's challenges. Presentations are invited that address the broad subjects of interest to GIS practitioners. Two presentation formats are available:

· Individual presentations (30, 60, or 90 minutes)
· Panel discussions (30 to 90 minutes)

The deadline to submit an online abstract (http://www.waurisa.org/conferences/Abstract_submissions/Abstracts.php ) is Monday, March 18, 2013. If your paper is selected for presentation, the lead presenter will receive a $60 discount from the 2-day or 3-day conference registration.

Be sure to follow all Conference updates on WAURISA’s website (http://www.waurisa.org/ ), as well as, our Twitter (http://twitter.com/WAURISA ), LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3740111&trk=hb_side_g ) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Washington-Urisa/179688892063796 ) accounts.