AGI GeoCommunity 12: Delegate booking system now open

The AGI is pleased to announce that delegate bookings can now be taken for this year's AGI GeoCommunity Conference. Once again we are using the industry standard online booking system Regonline which has served us very well in previous years.

Delegate prices remain very attractive and excellent value. In addition to the range of booking options available last year a limited number of 'Premium Packages' have been made available which include accomodation in a local 4 star hotel.

This year’s AGI Annual Conference - AGI GeoCommunity '12: Sharing the Power of Place - will be held in Nottingham on the 18 – 20 September 2012. This is the 6th year of the AGI GeoCommunity format and the second year at the centrally located conference venue – East Midlands Conference Centre.

Those seeking to get more details and access the online booking system can do so HERE.

More about AGI GeoCommunity

AGI GeoCommunity is the largest and most comprehensive independent conference in the UK digital mapping and geospatial calendar. The conference provides real insight and leadership in current geographic information and location based issues via a range of keynote addresses and conference papers as well as by hands on training and face to face delegate networking.

The AGI GeoCommunity series has a proven reputation as a 'must-attend' event for a range of service delivery managers and information management and technology professionals. Previous delegates and speakers have been drawn from Central and Local Government, Utilities, Health, Emergency Services, Infrastructure, Insurance, Marketing, Business Intelligence, Finance and Technology sectors.

AGI GeoCommunity '12 will open on the 18th September with the popular pre-conference 'Icebreaker' evening event and offer two full days of thought leadership, practical education, knowledge transfer and real world best practice and case studies.

AGI GeoCommunity ‘11 attracted 450 delegates. The residential format, introduced in 2007, is now well established and the event has proven its growth and sustainability. Feedback from last year’s delegates indicated that 97% of those polled thought the event offered value for money and 89% felt it fulfilled their expectations. 97% said the venue was ‘good’ or ‘excellent. A full report of delegate feedback is available on the AGI website.

AGI GeoCommunity '12 will also offer a select number of sponsorship spaces to showcase new products and services and network with delegates both at the sponsors' exhibition pods and in the conference sessions and social events. Prices are frozen for existing sponsorship packages and a new category has been created for Small Business and Education Members, plus companies that are AGI members can get additional booking discounts. The conference format will offer our sponsors an unrivalled opportunity to meet and network with the key practitioners and influencers across government and the commercial sectors.

AGI GeoCommunity '12: Introducing the new conference committee

This year’s AGI Annual Conference - AGI GeoCommunity '12: Sharing the Power of Place - will be held in Nottingham on the 18 – 20 September 2012. This is the 6th year of the AGI GeoCommunity format and the second year at the centrally located conference venue – East Midlands Conference Centre.

Every year a conference committee formed mainly of volunteer AGI members (dubbed the 'Conference Action Working Group', or 'AWG' for short) works very closely with AGI staff to deliver an event focused on the needs of the ‘geocommunity’. With a diverse background and interests the committee is well placed to produce a varied and compelling conference programme. AWG members also 'staff' the conference when it is being run.

This year’s committee is headed up for a second time by Conference Chair Jeremy Morley, Theme Leader in Geospatial Science in the Nottingham Geospatial Institute. He is a veteran of three previous AGI GeoCommunity conferences as an AWG member.

Jeremy is joined by the following members that make up the Conference AWG:

1. Mark Percival – Essex Fire & Rescue
2. Andrew Newman – UK Location Programme
3. Peter Yard – Pitney Bowes Business Insight
4. Emma Bee - British Geological Survey
5. Will White – Esri UK
6. Jermiane Hutchinson – Environment Agency
7. Nick Austin – London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games
8. Simon Agass – Welsh Government
9. Claire Huppertz - AGI
10. Alan Wilks - AGI
11. Chris Holcroft - AGI

More about AGI GeoCommunity

AGI GeoCommunity is the largest and most comprehensive independent conference in the UK digital mapping and geospatial calendar. The conference provides real insight and leadership in current geographic information and location based issues via a range of keynote addresses and conference papers as well as by hands on training and face to face delegate networking.

The AGI GeoCommunity series has a proven reputation as a 'must-attend' event for a range of service delivery managers and information management and technology professionals. Previous delegates and speakers have been drawn from Central and Local Government, Utilities, Health, Emergency Services, Infrastructure, Insurance, Marketing, Business Intelligence, Finance and Technology sectors.

AGI GeoCommunity '12 will open on the 18th September with the popular pre-conference 'Icebreaker' evening event and offer two full days of thought leadership, practical education, knowledge transfer and real world best practice and case studies.

AGI GeoCommunity ‘11 attracted 450 delegates. The residential format, introduced in 2007, is now well established and the event has proven its growth and sustainability. Feedback from last year’s delegates indicated that 97% of those polled thought the event offered value for money and 89% felt it fulfilled their expectations. 97% said the venue was ‘good’ or ‘excellent. A full report of delegate feedback is available on the AGI website.

AGI GeoCommunity '12 will also offer a select number of sponsorship spaces to showcase new products and services and network with delegates both at the sponsors' exhibition pods and in the conference sessions and social events. Prices are frozen for existing sponsorship packages and a new category has been created for Small Business and Education Members, plus companies that are AGI members can get additional booking discounts. The conference format will offer our sponsors an unrivalled opportunity to meet and network with the key practitioners and influencers across government and the commercial sectors.

The delegate booking system and sponsor opportunities will be opened shortly.

Meeting rooms available in Central London for AGI members

AGI Members: Need a meeting venue in the City?

As you probably know, AGI recently moved its office.    The new office at 150 Minories, London EC3N 1LS is one of a number of serviced offices within a Business Centre.   It is a pleasant building, close to Aldgate Tube station, within walking distance of Liverpool Street and Fenchurch Street stations and handily placed for public transport by bus, tube and rail.

Within the Business Centre at 150 Minories, there is a range of meeting rooms which AGI is now pleased to be able to offer to AGI members at extremely competitive rates for your meetings. 

Facilities include:

Flexible Seating Layouts	Prices from the hour
All-inclusive pricing	AV Equipment
Teas, Coffees & Chilled Water	LCD TV Screens
Wifi broadband	A range of locations

The onsite service team will greet you and your delegates and show them

personally to your room. Meeting co-ordinators are on hand throughout the day to ensure your meeting runs smoothly.  And the AGI team will be available, both before the event and on the day, to assist with any queries you may have.

Charges to AGI members (excluding VAT) are as follows:

Meeting Room 1 (20 people) Meeting Room 2 (20 people) Meeting Room 3 (12 people) Meeting Room 4 (4 people) Meeting Room 5 (8 people) Meeting Room 6 (60 people) Meeting Room 7 (4 people) Meeting Room 8 (3 people) Meeting Room 9 (12 people)

£45 per hour £45 per hour £35 per hour £18 per hour £23 per hour £95 per hour £18 per hour £18 per hour £45 per hour

£170 per half-day £170 per half-day £135 per half-day £70 per half-day £90 per half-day £345 per half-day £70 per half-day £70 per half-day £170 per half-day

£280 per day £280 per day £230 per day £115 per day £145 per day £460 per day £115 per day £115 per day £280 per day

(a day is defined as running from 9am to 5pm)

All rooms have wi-fi and phone conferencing facilities; the larger rooms have a flat-screen TV for projection and a computer with internet access; Room 9 has video conferencing facilities. A projector is available free of charge upon request – subject to availability.

Two servings of tea and coffee are provided free per day.  Water is charged at £2.50 per opened bottle.

Further catering is available from £6.00 per person for a platter of sandwiches to £13.50 per person for a full array of sandwiches and canapés. All can be arranged through the AGI.

If required, AGI can also offer meeting rooms at competitive rates at other Business Environment office locations throughout London and in some other cities in Southern England.

If you want to request meeting space, please contact Carle Baxter in the first instance to check availability.   (carle.baxter@agi.org.uk, 020 7347 5644)

We believe that this provides meeting space to AGI members at a cost that cannot be obtained elsewhere in London for similar facilities.  We are pleased to be able to offer this service to our members.

A copy of this note can be found and printed off HERE.

Highlights of the AGI Council meeting 25 Jan

It is customary for the AGI to publish a few bullet points highlighting discussions and outcomes of each AGI Council meeting. The following is reported from the January 25 meeting held in London:

• AGI Council welcomed its new and reappointed members, Chris Ewing, Gary Gale, David Henderson and Anne Kemp.
• Election of officers: John Marshall, Chair; Anne Kemp, SVC; David Henderson, JVC; Andrew Trigg, Honorary Treasurer; Angela Baker, Honorary Secretary.
• The 2012 budget was approved.
• The 2012 Operational Plan was approved as a working document. This will focus on key membership items.

AGI/UKLP INSPIRE questionnaire for commercial GI players

The AGI and the UK Location Programme would like to gauge the effect of the Programme and of the EU’s INSPIRE Directive on the COMMERCIAL side of our industry.

Although INSPIRE applies specifically to public authorities that provide environmental information with a spatial element, it is clear that the rest of the GI industry may be affected to a greater or lesser extent. This will include software suppliers, services providers, and consultants.

This follows a smaller poll of UK based companies that have registered as ‘Spatial Data Interest Communities’ for the INSPIRE Directive, that was carried out by Ian Masser and Robin Waters and presented at the AGI conference in September. See: http://www.agi.org.uk/past-events/2011/9/22/agi-geocommunity-11-presentations.html. There certainly appeared to be some positive correlation between active participation in INSPIRE implementation and enhanced business opportunities in both the UK and the rest of Europe.

The UK Location Programme (responsible for implementing the UK Location Strategy which incorporates the EU INSPIRE Directive) and the UK Location User Group both expressed interest in the results and backed the idea of extending the survey to all AGI commercial members. Subsequently the AGI’s INSPIRE working group also endorsed an extension of the survey.

Please spend a few minutes completing this questionnaire and thank you for your interest. Further details of the UK Location Programme can be found at www.location.defra.gov.uk

PLEASE NOTE: This questionnaire is NOT INTENDED for public bodies. Any responses from such sources will not be taken into account. Thank you for your understanding.

To access the questionnaire please click HERE.