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SEDRIS Technology Conference 2002

-C O N F E R E N C E . . P R O C E E D I N G S

_ _ STC 2002 was the fifth annual conference on the application of leading-edge technologies .to real world challenges
_ _ in dealing.with environmental data. _ The conference was held at The Sutton Place Hotel in the heart of Vancouver.
_ _ One of .North .America's .most .beautiful cities, .Vancouver is a world class venue with the finest shopping, arts, and
_ _ entertainment districts set amidst a majestic backdrop of mountains and sea.
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Link to Conference Events
____Tutorials
____Plenary
____Panels & Presentations
____Exhibits
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Link to Tutorials
____Introductory Tutorials
____Technical Tutorials
Link to Plenary Session
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Link to Panels and Presentations
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Link to Exhibits
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Link to Presenters
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A Word From The Conference Chair

More than ever the need for standards and common methodologies in the representation and interchange of environmental data is evident, a fact that will be clearly reflected in the proceedings of this 5th annual SEDRIS Technology Conference.

The topics, exhibits, and ideas presented at STC 2002 demonstrate the extraordinary efforts and enthusiasm by which the community, and the industry at large, is tackling the challenges we all face in dealing with environmental data and their applications.

As the volume and availability of data is growing, the need for realistic and dependable methods for the representation and interchange of environmental data is also increasing. This in turn is creating new management and technical challenges. Access to data through standard interfaces, establishment of data repositories, creation of more sophisticated applications, and common processes and techniques for rapidly dealing with large data volumes will continue to be critical areas, but at a more complex and integrated level.

The advancement of SEDRIS technologies towards international standardization continues to pave the way for tackling these challenges. But that in itself is not enough. Our community will continue to have significant and extensive needs regarding the representation and interchange of environmental data, which have to be met with inexpensive, robust, and easy to use value-added applications. These requirements are clearly going to continue to grow throughout the 21st century.

The response to these needs from the international community of participants, as reflected in the STC 2002 proceedings and among the seven countries represented at the conference (United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Republic of Korea, France, Germany, Sweden), has been truly innovative. Not only is the community of environmental data users and producers meeting the technical and management challenges, but it is again demonstrating the cost-effectiveness of SEDRIS and the related technologies to represent, interchange, and interact with environmental data. We look forward to this continuing trend and the exciting new innovations that are yet to come.

Farid Mamaghani
Chair, SEDRIS Technology Conference 2002
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SEDRIS is fundamentally about two key aspects: (1) representation of environmental data, and (2) the interchange of environmental data sets. SEDRIS does not try to judge, side with, separate, or distinguish how various domains use environmental data. Instead it provides a unifying mechanism for all of them to describe (and subsequently share) such data, without detracting from one or the other. The representational aspect of SEDRIS is much like a language or a method for unambiguously describing the environment, independent of whether the environment is geo-specific, geo-typical, or completely fictitious. The interchange aspect of SEDRIS is a mechanism for sharing the described environmental data. Put together, SEDRIS is simply an infrastructure technology. It provides the enabling foundation for Information Technology applications to express, understand, share, and reuse environmental data.

The SEDRIS web site, www.sedris.org, provides information and documentation that describe SEDRIS, its data representation model, and its application programmer's interface, among others. SEDRIS software and documentation may be retrieved for on-line viewing or downloaded for local use from the web site.


POINTS OF CONTACT:

Technical: help@sedris.org _ _ _ _ Management: se-mgmt@sedris.org _ _ _ _ Project Office: (407) 208-3968
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Copyright © 2002 SEDRIS™