Some sessions that some of my colleagues and I are involved with at GeoWeb Wednesday
are

Wed 10:45 National Critical Infrastructure Data Models: Implications for Local Government and Utilities
Panel:
Paula Rojas, CGDI Content Coordinator, GeoConnections / GéoConnexions; Ed Riegelmann, VP, Global Director, Enterprise Spatial Solutions, CH2M
HILL; Carsten Roensdorf, Principal Data Consultant, Ordnance Survey;
James Fee, GIS Developer, RSP Architects.; and Clemens Portele, Consultant and
Analyst, Interactive Instrumentsb
Moderator: Geoff Zeiss

Federal Governments in the US and Canada are developing data models
for the exchange of data about critical infrastructure for emergency
planning, security, and first response. Outside of government,
organizations such as LandXML.org, Open Geospatial Consortium,
International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI), Multispeak.org, and
IEC have adopted domain specific open standards for data exchange such
as LandXML, GML, IFC, Multispeak, and CIM, that are widely implemented
by local governments, industry, and utilities. This panel will
discuss the proposed government data models, how they related to open
standards, and their implications for local government.

Wed 14:45 Convergence Management: Thriving in an Era of Global Climate Change, Aging Infrastructure, and Shrinking Workforce
Geoff Zeiss

Compared to the low cost airline industry, the banking industry, and the automobile manufacturing industry, where IT has dramatically reduced costs by streamlining operations, in some sectors IT has hardly begun to scratch the surface.  But there are signs that external factors such as shrinking workforce, sustainability, and aging infrastructure are forcing a change.  A fundamental problem in organizations responsible for maintaining network infrastructure is that the flow of essential infrastructure data is inhibited by islands of information, inefficient paper-based information flow, and redundant data and processes.  Typical symptoms are as-built backlogs which can extend to years, paper-based business processes that inhibit data quality, and declining productivity.  Convergence offers solutions that can dramatically improve information flow and business processes by reducing paper flow, eliminating redundant data, and enabling the collective intelligence.

Wed 17:10 A Look at Three Open Source GIS Servers: GeoServer, MapGuide, and MapServer
Panel:
Robert Bray, Engineer, Autodesk; Justin Deoliveira, Engineer, The Open
Planning Project; and Paul Ramsey, Engineer, Clever Elephant
Moderator: Michael Gerlek, Software Architect, LizardTech, Inc.

Free and Open Source software continues to be a key part of today’s
GIS infrastructures, and servers are perhaps the most prominent part of
such an open spatial data infrastructure. This presentation will
introduce GeoServer, one of the major open source servers available
today. The presentation will cover the server’s particular strengths,
its support for OGC interfaces and other interop/compatibility
features, the depth and strength of its user base and developer base,
and more.