Conference Announcement
Virtual Globes Scientific Users
10-12 July 2006
Boulder, Colorado
Registration Deadline: Friday, 9 June 2006
Further details on the conference, registration, and venue are available at:
http://www.earthslot.org/vgconference/registration.php
The first annual Virtual Globes Scientific Users conference will be held
10-12 July 2006 in Boulder, Colorado. The intended goal of this
conference is to assess the state-of-the-art in the use of online
Virtual Globes (VGs) in support of earth sciences.
Earth sciences here should be interpreted broadly as including any
aspect of the earth system, whether the focus is on land, oceans, or
atmosphere or on physical, chemical, or biological processes. Virtual
Globes in this context include any online tool which allows the user
free-access to see a spinning globe at space level and interactively fly
down to surface level with 3D perspective (such tools currently include
Google Earth, World Wind, EarthSLOT, GeoFusion, and others). VGs are
quickly becoming the new paradigm in earth science, earth science
education and outreach, earth science logistics, and earth science data
access.
This conference will address questions such as:
- How are these tools currently being used in earth sciences?
- How do they work?
- How have they changed earth sciences?
- What needs of earth sciences are currently not being met by the
existing tools?
- What should we expect for the future and what role should we play in
it?
Organizers are interested in not just seeing final products, but also
the tips, tricks, and traps that go into building such applications, as
well as higher-level perspectives on how these tools may shape the
future. As such, they hope to bring together earth scientists,
educators, and related individuals who are currently using or planning
to use VGs to support their work, with the intent of facilitating the
formation of a community that can serve as a nucleus for support,
discussion, promotion, and enhancement of use of VGs in the earth
sciences. Part of this community-building effort will be a compilation
of applications, websites, tutorials, etc., that can serve as a resource
for future developments or earth-science events, such as the upcoming
International Polar Year.
The conference will consist of 15-minute presentations, an interactive
poster/laptop session, and several invited plenary talks. The
presentations can cover any aspects of how VGs are being used to support
earth scientists, educators, logisticians, data archivists, program
managers, or the public. Internet will be available for presentations.
Those presenting in the interactive session can either hang posters or
use their wireless-enabled laptops. Several invited talks by VG software
developers are also planned.
Space is limited, so registration is required, even for those not
presenting. The registration deadline is Friday, 9 June 2006. Attendees
are responsible for their own travel, lodging, and meal expenses.
Further details on the conference, registration, and venue are available at:
http://www.earthslot.org/vgconference/registration.php
This conference is supported by the following organizations:
University of Alaska Fairbanks' Arctic Region Supercomputing Center
http://www.arsc.edu
University of Colorado Boulder's Cooperative Institute for Research in
Environmental Sciences (CIRES)
http://cires.colorado.edu/
National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)
http://nsidc.org/