Conference Diary

Wednesday 23rd July

Another morning of workshops meant that delegates were again spoilt for choice. Should they be philosophical and consider "Transforming NMOs - how to get from here to where?"; should they be awed by "National Spatial Data Infrastructures"; should they be pragmatic and contribute their own experience to "Understanding the Customer and the Business"; or perhaps simply bewildered by "Technology 2 -applications"? On the other hand there was still lots of business follow up in the exhibition! And of course the weather is still glorious. Maybe that walk into town to buy some bits and pieces to take home would have been appropriate this morning? Each made their own choice and judging by the "traffic" in the workshops most delegates were trying to squeeze maximum benefit from the conference by switching from workshop to workshop to hear specific papers in different sessions.

Lunch today was sponsored by Oracle and most enjoyable. Resolutions not to eat too much seemed to be forgotten by this stage. We will count the cost in extra lbs or kilos at the end of the week.

Delegates found themselves in plenary session again this afternoon with the weighty matter of "the Global Context" in the spotlight. Six heavy weight presentations followed by much earnest discussion stimulated and controlled by Santiago Borrero in the chair left this observer contrasting these matters with the "cheap and cheerful" GIS applications described by Gordon Conway in the Hotine lecture. There seems to be a significant gulf between many of the issues discussed enthusiastically at this conference and some of the simple approaches that can be used to support development in many parts of the world.

After a long hard day in conference what better than a chance to walk on the hallowed College lawn (reserved for geese most of the time), to listen to the jazz band, to take a glass or two (or three) of refreshment and to meet and greet those folk you have not yet had a chance to talk to. And when your turn comes to jump (carefully!) into a punt for a trip up and down the river Cam. This separated the punters from the passengers although to this untrained eye one or two were tempted into the wrong category. Only one mishap was reported. The technical explanation for the sequence of events leading up to this runs to several pages - but basically Roger fell in - no harm done.

Tuesday 22nd July | Monday 21st July | Sunday 20th July