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16th New York State Geographic
Information Systems ConferenceKeynote & Banquet Speakers |
Keynote Speaker: Nancy Tosta, Vice-President, Ross & Associates Environmental Consulting, Ltd.
Ms. Tosta is currently Vice-President at Ross & Associates Environmental Consulting, Ltd. She is also owner and president of her own company, Tosta Enterprises, current President of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA), and a columnist for Geo Info Systems Magazine. She has previously held several positions at various levels of government, including Director of Growth Management at the Puget Sound Regional Council, Staff Director to the Federal Geographic Data Committee at the Department of the Interior, Chief of Geographic Data Coordination at the U.S. Geological Survey, and Deputy Director at California’s Teale Data Center. She has published numerous articles and is a frequent speaker nationally and internationally.
Banquet Speaker: Stewart McKenzie
Trained as an architect, landscape architect, and regional planner, Stewart Mackenzie has designed towns, authored coastal zone management laws, worked on environmental computer systems for the White House, and helped establish GIS , solid waste management, and stormwater management programs for Montgomery County in Maryland. He has also worked for the Maryland-National Capitol Park and Planning Commission on special GIS projects, and as a principal associate with Environmental Design Associates. His recent interests have included applying GIS, simulation models, three-dimensional virtual reality, GPS, and computer networks to land, environmental, and hazard planning. His presentation will be "Virtual Tommorrows: Future Planning, A Prophecy In 20/20 Foresight."
"Virtual Tomorrows" shows how new technologies and GIS are converging towards a future where planning will be a pluralistic multiparticipant process taking place in virtual reality. Based upon current real world science, and in anticipation of leading edge technology that is being deployed today, this presentation will show how geospatial science will play a central role in environmental and community planning scenarios of the future. Join us for a thought provoking and entertaining visit to the year 2020 where we will observe as the citizens of Edge City hold a planning meeting using the GIS of the 21st century.