Des Plaines, IL (June 30, 2015) – URISA, the National Center for Transit Research, and the Transportation Research Board (TRB) are jointly presenting the 9th National GIS in Transit Conference, on September 1-3, 2015, in Washington, DC. (Note that Labor Day is Monday, September 7).
Conference Chair, Jeff Becker, Senior Manager of Service Development. for the Denver Regional Transportation District is looking forward to the conference. “Service planning and asset management—performance analysis, ridership reporting and forecasting, state-of-good-repair, inventory of ROW, stations and stops—are some of the hottest topics in transit today. Do you know how GIS supports these activities? The GIS in Transit Conference has attracted over 60 presentations on these topics. Come see how researchers and practitioners analyze and visualize data to support better transit.”
The conference features important conversations, preconference workshops, comprehensive education, and opportunities to connect with experts, peers and private sector sponsors. Our featured keynote speaker is Paige Fitzgerald, Connected Citizens Program Manager for Waze. Ms. Fitzgerald will discuss “Connecting Cities and Citizens to Outsmart Traffic Together”. The Connected Citizens Program is an ongoing partnership between Waze and various international government agencies to share publicly-available incident and road closure data in order to accomplish two goals:
- To get Waze-reported incident data into the hands of government officials that can address the reported incident, whether it’s a five car pile-up or a pothole.
- To give Waze drivers the best real-time, location-based information on what’s happening on the roads, whether during a commute or a unique crisis situation.
(The closing keynote address is awaiting confirmation.)
Preconference Workshops (September 1, 2015) – Take advantage of preconference training to kick off your conference:
- Asset Management: Planning, Strategy, and Implementation
- Public Data, Public Access, Privacy, and Security: U.S. Law and Policy
Start reviewing the abundance of education on the schedule, along with speaker biographies, abstracts and more. Key topics being presented include:
- SmartBus: GIS and On-board Bus Technologies (AVL, APC, AVA)
- Visualizing Transit Opportunities through GIS Innovations
- Washington DC: A Case Study in Enterprise GIS Implementation
- Transit Asset Management What Drives What?
- Exploring Transit and Land Use Relationships
- New Spatial Tools
- Safety and Emergency Management
- Transit Planning for Rural Areas and Medium Cities
- Accessing the System
- Building Organizational Readiness and Collaboration
- Where Should Your Transit Stop Go?
- Bus Stop Management
- Mind the Gap – Using GIS to Determine Transit Needs
- Surveying the Transit Market
- Transit Approaching: Increasing High Frequency Travel
- Using GIS in Achieving Transit System Improvements
GIS Transit Tools Exchange & Poster Session: GIS in transit tools developers are invited to share their innovations with the conference. This will be an opportunity to showcase and share the tools you have developed on the main stage. Three to five minute ‘lightning’ demos will be followed by the opportunity for informal discussions during a reception. The conference also features a poster session and there is still time to participate. Have a tool to showcase or a poster you would like to display? Send a brief description to Wendy Nelson. The Conference Committee will review submissions to determine the participants.
Exhibits & Sponsors: The opportunity to connect with the companies that provide technology solutions is a major component of the conference. The conference is pleased to welcome Esri as the Gold Conference Sponsor!
Conference Venue: The conference will take place entirely at the Hamilton Crowne Plaza Hotel, ideally located at 14th & K Streets in Washington DC. The Hotel is only 4 miles from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). The discounted conference rate for sleeping rooms at the Hamilton Crowne Plaza is $189 (cutoff date August 10).
Registration: Register by July 13 for early registration discounts! A full conference registration includes access to all sessions, conference proceedings, and meals/networking events. A one-day registration includes the proceedings, access to the educational sessions and events for that day only. Note the significant discounts are available for early registration in addition to team registration discounts.
Learn more about the 2015 GIS in Transit Conference and start making plans to attend today.