The Society for Location Analysis

'Future Forum 2009'

Date: Thursday 29th October 2009

Venue: Phoenix Centre, London WC1

Time: 09:30am - 16:30pm

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This will be the SLA's sixth annual Forum, and as before, we will be looking forward with a line-up of excellent speakers. This year's speakers will cover the gamut, from the philosophical to the technical. Speakers will review the effect of the recession on consumers, and the consumer response going forward; the growth of, and prospects for, e-commerce; how new forms of geographic visualisation can enhance area classifications; the geographical impact of the recession; prospects for software as a service; and an update on the economiic effects of the downturn. We believe the day will be full of interest to all those involved in location planning. It is sure to stimulate debate and discussion. As usual with SLA events, the Forum will be free of charge. You cannot afford not to be there.

Event Speakers & Brief Synopses:

Speaker #1 - Michael Willmott, Founding Partner, Trajectory.

Michael will start with a ‘Where are consumers now ?’ session. He will then draw heavily on his recent Harvard Business Review article ‘The post-recessionary consumer’. Thus, the presentation will cover the recession and its impact on consumer spending, and possible impacts over the next year or so. Then it will move onto the post-recessionary consumer, which looks a bit further out – the next few years up to the next five.

Speaker #2 - Jonathan Reynolds, Academic Director of the Oxford Institute of Retail Management, Said Business School, University of Oxford.

In this session, Jonathan Reynolds will review the current evidence for the takeup and nature of e-commerce adoption during the recession; the spatial impact of online trading; and will provide a contemporary assessment of the medium and long-term effects of e-commerce on the pattern of retailing.

Speaker #3 - Alex Singleton, Researcher, University College London.

Geographic Visualisation: Neogeography and Area Classification (Alex Singleton, University College London) In this talk the technical developments in web mapping technology and spatial data infrastructures which have fundamentally changed how users collect, share and interact with information online will be reviewed. Specific reference will be made to how the new tools for Neogeography can aid in disseminating and visualising area classification.

Speaker #4 - John Fisher, Director, Local Futures Group.

John Fisher, will draw on work they have undertaken for local authority clients to map the geographical impact of the recession. Most of the publicity around the recession has related to job losses, by place of work. Yet job losses in one place, depending on commuting patterns, can affect communities elsewhere. For this reason they have looked at the potential impact of the recession from both an economic perspective (by place of work) and social perspective (by place of residence). In the first part of his session he will present the key findings of this research. Local Futures is also working with local authorities to help them better understand their citizens, customers and communities – using the Output Area Classification (OAC). Their work in this field is being increasingly recognised at a national level, where OAC is now being promoted as a common language for understanding communities. In the second part of his session, John will introduce OAC and demonstrate its potential, both as a research tool and as a resource for informing customer insight.

Speaker #5 - Christopher Royles, Technical Strategy UK - Pitney Bowes Business Insight

"Software and Data as a Service"- Connected software is smarter. It can leverage sources of information from the community, it can behave intelligently based on semantics, it can be scaled in an elastic fashion to answer complex questions in real-time and it can deliver the latest information, on demand. By combining software with data, and delivering both as a service, will change the game for decision support, strategic planning and agile business change. This session will discuss a number of initiatives being undertaken by PBBI, the benefits that can be achieved from working in the cloud, and by considering software as a service in future projects.Lets support the decision makers, by providing them with information, of appropriate quality, derived from large volumes of data, in the timeframe appropriate to their needs.

Speaker #6 - to be confirmed

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To reserve your place at our 'Future Forum' event please email thesla@mapinfo.com or contact Nichola Carter on 01753 848268

A: Minton Place, Victoria Street, Windsor, Berkshire, SL4 1EG
T: +44 (0)1753 848200
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E: thesla@mapinfo.com