On December 13, 2004, the British Columbia Chapter of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA BC) hosted a one day seminar entitled:

GIS in Planning and Transportation

Date: December 13, 2004
Time: 8:30 am – 4:00 pm
Location: Ramada Plaza Conference Resort 10251 St. Edwards Drive, Richmond, BC

The purpose of the one-day seminar was to showcase how GIS and other technologies are being used by planning and transportation professionals.
The seminar had two tracks: Planning and Transportation. The keynote presentation focussed on technical trends in use of GIS in Planning and Transportation.

Planning Track: The presentations in this track illustrated how GIS is used by the Planners to anticipate future land development, develop population projections, and prepare land use scenarios and urban growth models. The underlying data and technology used for modelling and analysis were highlighted. A presentation on 3D Visualisation illustrated the technology used to preserve views and its role in development review process. The Vancouver port Authority discussed the process of evolution from CAD to GIS for real estate planning and management including GIS tools and applications.

Transportation Track: The transportation track focussed on GIS applications in municipal transportation operations, travel survey, demand modelling and development of transportation plans. The presentation discussed the role of GIS/GPS based regional travel time survey in development of regional EMME/2 transportation model. Some of the issues and challenges to plan and manage municipal transportation infrastructure were highlighted. Two case studies illustrated the use of GIS in development of a transportation plan.

The seminar concluded with a presentation on emerging remote sensing technology InSAR and its use for Planning and Transportation.