Summit 2008 Review
Read a review on the GeoSpatial Summit in Directions Magazine
(Quotes from the Summit evaluation forms listed below in blue.)
"This IS the GIS Summit in New England"
"Insightful"
"Wonderful"
"Refreshing"
Summit ’08 was a resounding success. A total of 209 people came to the beautiful Welch-Allyn Lodge on May 21st to hear an eclectic roster of distinguished speakers. This was the third NYS GeoSpatial Summit, and like the previous two, it offered GIS professionals an opportunity to hear some of the leading voices of our discipline and related disciplines put geospatial technology in perspective. The Lodge was full to capacity this year, with 40 more people in attendance as compared with the 2006 Summit.
"Fantastic"
"Entertaining"
"Wow - thanks"
"Not to be ignored"
"Incredible, Wow"
The speakers this year provided an interested contrast between historical perspectives interpreted from antique maps and contemporary issues about how to communicate geospatial content on the web. The issues are surprisingly similar – how can one take spatial evidence and depict it to communicate ideas in a way that is best understood in the context of the times?
"Great vision of the future"
"Highly engaging speaker with much
valuable information presented"
"Great ideas & love the panel"
"Enjoyable; informative, cool, wow"
One
of the highlights of the Summit were the panel sessions that capped the
morning and afternoon when the groupings of respective speakers fielded
questions from the audience. The morning panel in particular was very
interesting as Adena Schutzberg, Jack Dangermond, and Vincent Virga addressed
questions about how geospatial information from today might or might not
be preserved for the future.
"A nice mixture of feeback"
"Great historical perspective of our world"
"Great selection of speakers"
"Big surprise but nice addition"
"Always fresh & cutting edge"
"Highly engaging speaker with much
valuable information presented"
"Amazing speaker provided a
valuable
look at cartography"
"Insightful as to the responsibilities
and
obligations as a cartographer"
"Good vibe and
alternative to
traditional
conference formats"
"Refreshing having
artists'
perspective
in this Summit"
The speakers this year provided an interested contrast between historical
perspectives interpreted from antique maps and contemporary issues about
how to communicate geospatial content on the web. The issues are surprisingly
similar – how can one take spatial evidence and depict it to communicate
ideas in a way that is best understood in the context of the times? 
"Great information and highly valuable contrast
to human impact's
resulting Manhattan"
"Very engaging speaker with a unique
perspective on the industry
overall"
"Very good conference to meet mostly
non-techies and good exposure
to breadth
of GIS operations in New York State"
Vincent Virga gave a compelling talk about what antique maps tell us about the societies that created them. Ed Parsons reminded us that we’ve only begun to scratch the surface on how to tell stories with real emotional impact using the web. Eric Sanderson showed how an early 1800’s map of Manhattan has led to a virtual reconstruction of what the original ecology of the island was like at the time of first European contact. Other presentations by Adena Schutzberg, Allen Carroll, and Jack Dangermond highlighted ways that rapid technology advances are changing the ways we create and use map information to make it useful for the widest audiences.
"Liked hearing of strategy for
spatial literacy for our kids"
"Wow, Great ideas & love the panel"
"Organized & professional presentation"
"Wonderful & different perspective of what we do"
"Refreshing having artists' perspective in this Summit"
"Fascinating & interesting"
"Very interesting & enjoyable"
"Always energetic & informative"
"Great to have ESRI founder here"
"Appropriate to the education mission"
"Entertaining"
"More of this ! ! !"
"Detailed & exciting"
"Very interesting & enjoyable"
"Thought provoking"
"Great to hear artist's perspective"
"Very engaging speaker with a unique
perspective on the industry
overall"
"Highly engaging speaker with much
valuable information presented"
"Extremely creative & different perspective"
"Appropriate to the education mission"
"Organized & professional presentation"
"Enjoyable; informative, cool, wow"
"Fascinating as I am a historical buff"
The pre-conference evening reception on May 20th was also well attended.
Reception attendees enjoyed fine food, wine tasting from 3 Finger Lakes
wineries, and a presentation on the Dutch jacht reconstruction taking place
near Schenectady; the Onrust.
Photos of Summit ’08 and quotes taken directly from the evaluation forms speak for themselves. If you were in attendance, perhaps these will spark some positive memories. If you weren’t, we hope they will inspire you to attend next year.