London - April 23rd 2009

AGI GeoCommunity '09 has announced its first Plenary Speaker. Andrew Turner, the CTO of FortiusOne, the company behind GeoCommons and the author of O'Reilly's 'Introduction to Neogeography' and 'Trends in Where2.0' is confirmed as the first plenary speaker at this year's GeoCommunity event running in Stratford-upon-Avon from 22nd to 24th September.

Andrew has a particular interest in collaboration and user-generated content around location and time. He is actively involved in open-data projects such as OpenStreetMap and VoteReport, as well as open-source projects like Mapstraction and GeoPress.

Steven Feldman, chair of AGI GeoCommunity '09, commented 'It is an indication of how much GeoCommunity has developed that we are able to attract such a distinguished speaker as Andrew Turner who could justifiably be described as one of the 'founding fathers' of Neogeography. It is particularly relevant that in a year when the UK's Spatial Data Infrastructure will be a major focus of the conference Andrew will be able to share with us his experience of GeoCommons'.

This year's event aims to unite the old and new geo communities with a special geoweb stream, curated by Christopher Osborne the founder of #Geomob - 'GeoCommons is an excellent example of applying neogeography techniques to an old problem; how to release and share public sector geodata in an easily consumable fashion.  With speakers like Andrew, we are really creating an event that is inclusive for both the 'old' and 'new' GI worlds.'

Registration is open at www.agi2009.com. As in previous years AGI recommends delegates to book early to secure the limited highly attractive 'all-in' packages which also contain hotel accommodation.

About AGI GeoCommunity
AGI GeoCommunity is the largest independent GI event in the UK. In 2008, the 2 day residential conference based in Stratford upon Avon attracted over 600 delegates who participated in more than 50 workshops, presentations and debates.

More information on GeoCommunity can be found at  http://twurl.nl/rmwe83
Follow GeoCommunity at http://twitter.com/GeoCommunity
Join the GeoCommunity discussion on LinkedIn at http://twurl.nl/lrf4lh