Urisa and the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) are pleased to announce three workshop opportunities at the 16th Annual GIS/CAMA Technologies Conference taking place in San Antonio, Texas March 12-15, 2012. These full-day courses will be presented on Monday, March 12, offering a rare educational opportunity.

1. Land Records and GIS Integration – This workshop will be of interest to those who want to understand their role in Land Record/GIS integration; Clerks/Recorders, and their staff members who are interested in playing a major role;  IT interests and business partners will also be quite interested in understanding the keys, workflows, data models and specifics of integration.

2. Introduction to Valuation and Spatial Analysis – This hands-on workshop introduces concepts in data analysis, residential valuation models, and location analysis using generic statistical software and geographic information systems software for location analysis. This workshop is for anyone who has limited experience with GIS or CAMA/AVM systems and wants to review basic concepts.

3. Spatial Statistics for Assessors: Using Advanced Tools in ArcGIS and the Spatial Analyst and Geostatistical Analyst Extensions – Learn about existing tools within ArcGIS that are useful to assessors in the valuation process, with an emphasis on statistical models that incorporate location using GIS. This course is designed to give the technical appraiser a better understanding of the existing tools for statistical analysis and visualization that are available in GIS, and explain/demonstrate their typical use in an assessment context.  This workshop is especially suited to experienced valuation modeling staff, GIS staff that support assessors, and valuation consultants wishing to learn more about where GIS tools can help in the assessment/valuation process. (Sponsored by IPTI and Esri)

An Exhibit Hall reception follows the full-day workshops on Monday and the conference begins with a keynote address from Michael Amezquita, Chief Appraiser of the Bexar Appraisal District, on Tuesday morning.

The conference has been organized according to three themes with multiple breakout sessions covering each topic:

Get It Done – At a time when budgets and staff sizes are dwindling, getting your work done better and more efficiently is critical.  Presentations in this track are designed to give you ideas for improving processes from field data collection to data integrity.

Run the Numbers – Accurate and equitable valuations are the cornerstone of an assessment office.  Learn new ways of analyzing data and take away the lessons learned from statistical models that are being used all over the world.

Serve It Up – Public confidence can rise and fall based on the effective sharing and communication of property data and values with taxpayers, businesses, and other entities.  Let peers show you how they have stepped up to the challenge and changed the ways or methods they utilize, display, and communicate data.

Specific workshop and presentation information, registration details and more, available here.