GIS technology is proving itself to be a valuable tool for organizing data for both the public and private sectors -- for municipal infrastructure maintenance and record-keeping, regional planning, real estate, land use, and tourism. At the same time, scholars are using the technology in disciplines that embrace the humanities, the social sciences, the physical sciences, and medicine.

Now, PACSCL invites current and potential GIS users to gather to think about new uses for a geographic based resource, new users from a range of disciplines, and new ranges of contributors and contributions. The purpose of this symposium is to focus less on the "how" of building a GIS and more on the "why." We will concentrate on finding ways that data from all of these sectors -- when organized with a sense of place and time -- can offer new insights into connections across these disciplines.

Panel discussions in the mornings will be followed by facilitated small group discussions and information sharing in the afternoons. Participants will be grouped according to potential GIS uses (history, social sciences, city/regional planning, human services, public health, etc.) and users (professional affinity groups) for the small group discussions. PACSCL's objectives in hosting this event are to foster increased cooperation among a widened range of current and potential GIS users and to give participants the opportunity to consider issues of how best to work together in the presence of a lively and informed group of colleagues. The results of this symposium will be used to further shape the Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory Network.

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