URISA has announced an extension of the discounted early registration rate to August 1 for GIS-Pro 2012: URISA’s 50th Annual Conference for GIS Professionals. GIS-Pro 2012 is taking place September 30-October 4, 2012 in Portland, Oregon.

Much earlier than expected, the URISA conference room block at the Hilton Portland was filled. Fortunately, we were able to add more rooms to accommodate the high level of interest in GIS-Pro 2012. The early conference registration discount offer was extended to August 1 in order to give participants a little more time to make travel plans and take advantage of the savings.

Educational sessions will cover topics ranging from GIS maturity and Return on Investment (ROI) to GIS leadership, ethics and management strategies. Explore open source solutions, cloud computing and the mobile future.  Visit http://www.urisa.org/gispro2012 for complete details about the invited speakers, peer presentations, lightning talks, luncheon presentations, and networking activities.

Our esteemed keynote speakers include: Professor Michael Goodchild, University of California, Santa Barbara; John Sanderson, Microsoft's Cloud Evangelist; and Jack Dangermond, President of Esri.

As co-hosts of GIS-Pro 2012, the Northwest GIS Users' Group is presenting optional classes to kick off GIS-Pro 2012:

• Understanding and Using Python & ArcPy in ArcGIS 10  
• Working with Geodatabases & Linear Referencing
• ArcPad 10 Bootcamp™
• ArcGIS Desktop 10 Associate Exam Prep

(Note that attendance at these classes is extremely limited and they are expected to sell out quickly.)

Full-day URISA Certified Workshops are featured on October 1, 2012:

• GIS Return on Investment - (new half-day workshop)
• Emergency Preparedness for GIS - (new half-day workshop)
• Asset Management: Planning, Strategy and Implementation
• An Overview of Open Source GIS Software
• Public Data, Public Access, Privacy and Security: US Law and Policy
• An Introduction to Public Participation GIS: Using GIS to Support Community Decision Making
• GIS Program Management

Sponsorship and exhibiting opportunities are also available. For complete conference details, including a justification toolkit to help gain supervisor approval, visit http://www.urisa.org/gispro2012.