Pedometrics 2005
Frontiers in Pedometrics

Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club l Naples, Florida, USA

Pedometrics  =  The application of mathematical and statistical methods for the study of the distribution and genesis of soils.

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Recent technological advances in soil mapping, data acquisition and management, and computational capabilities have had major impact on pedometrics. This conference will focus on Frontiers in Pedometrics highlighting trends and cross-discipline pedometrical applications. The conference is designed to bring together leading international scientists involved in pedometrics and those who have interest to improve our understanding of soil-landscapes. We will critically discuss emerging soil mapping concepts and quantitative methods that will shape the next generation of soil-landscape models.

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The technical program consists of plenary sessions featuring keynote speakers and selected invited and voluntary contributed papers. In addition, the conference comprises a poster session and a forum discussion.

There will be an oral/poster presentation award for students.

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• Soil sensor and remote sensor applications

• Interfacing GIS and geostatistics

• Pedometrics interfacing with other disciplines

• Environmetrics applications

• Advances in soil mapping

• Advances in soil sampling and monitoring

• Pedodynamic modeling

• Advances in soil information systems

• SCORPAN, CLORPT and hybrid applications

• Integration of pedometrics into routine soil surveying programs

• Reconstruction of soil-landscapes

• From point to globe – scaling issues

• Space-time modeling

• New concepts for soil-landscape modeling

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Potential conference participants are invited to submit abstracts for oral and poster presentations no later than May 8, 2005. All approved abstracts will be published in an abstract book to be distributed at the conference and on the conference web site. Authors will be notified if their contribution is accepted by June 1, 2005.

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Friday & Saturday, September 9-10, 2005

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Monday, September 12, 2005

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Thursday, September 15, 2005

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Jay Bell is Professor in the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate at the University of Minnesota.  He received his BS and MS Degrees in Agronomy from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University where he spent 4 years as a Research Associate conducting research on coal surface-mine reclamation in the Southern Appalachians.  He received his Ph.D. in Agronomy from The Pennsylvania State University in 1990 and joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 1991.  He teaches courses in Soil Genesis and Landscape Relations, Wetland Soils, Introduction to Environmental Science, Freshman Seminars, and conducts soil-geomorphology field tours.  Dr. Bell is also the director of the Environmental Science undergraduate program which currently has about 90 students.  His research program focuses on understanding soil genetic processes from both a quantitative and a landscape perspective and he as worked with U.S. National Cooperative Soil Survey. His current research projects are investigating soil hydrology, the genesis, morphology, and biogeochemical processes of transitional soils from uplands to wetlands, digital terrain analysis techniques, and quantitative modeling spatial patterns of soil properties.  He has expertise with multi-scale databases for geographic information system applications with particular emphasis on the development, interpretation, and use of soils, topography, and land-use information.  Dr. Bell is an editor-in-chief of Geoderma and has worked internationally in Morocco and Australia for extended periods of time.   He was also chair of the International Soil Resource Assessment Conference held in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1999.

Dr. J. C. Bell
Department of Soil, Water, and Climate
439 Borlaug Hall
University of Minnesota
St. Paul, MN  55108-6028
Email: jaybell@umn.edu
Phone: 612-625-6703

Harold M. van Es is a Professor of Soil and Water Management at Cornell University, holding a position in extension, research and teaching in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences.  He is a native of the Netherlands and received degrees from North Carolina State University (Ph.D.), Iowa State University (M.S.), and the University of Amsterdam (B.S.).  He directs the Cornell Computational Agriculture Initiative, serves as Director of Graduate Studies, and teaches courses in Soil and Water Management and Applications of Space-Time Statistics.  He published over 50 refereed scientific journal articles and co-authored a book titled Building Soils for Better Crops.   Dr. van Es’ research focuses on precision management of crop inputs (esp. nitrogen), soil health, and soil statistics.  Related to the latter, he has focused on improved experimental design, variability structures in field studies, and the application of data mining methods.

Dr. Harold van Es
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-1901, USA
Email: hmv1@cornell.edu

Marc Van Meirvenne graduated as an agricultural engineer at the Ghent University, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Belgium, where he obtained his PhD on the use of geostatistics in soil science in 1991. Since 1993 he lecturers in GIS and spatial statistics.

Since the foundation of the working group on Pedometrics, he became an active member. He participated in all Pedometrics conferences and most workshops. Between 1998 and 2002 he was chairman of the working group on Pedometrics and he was chairman of the local organization committee of the “Pedometrics 2001” conference held in Ghent. He was co-author of a paper which was awarded the “best paper in Pedometrics” prize in 1998.

His current research interests remain linked with Pedometrics. Topics include the application of Pedometrics in tropical environments, the use of soil sensors to provide auxiliary soil information and environmental applications of geostatistics (delineation and sampling of soil pollution).

Dr. Ir. Marc Van Meirvenne
Dept. Soil Management and Soil Care
Faculty of Bioscience Engineering
Ghent University
Coupure 653, 9000 Gent, Belgium
Phone:  + 32 (0)9 264 6056
Fax:  + 32 (0)9 264 6247
Email : Marc.Vanmeirvenne@ugent.be

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Registration Fee (includes: one copy of the conference abstract book to be distributed onsite, a canvas bag, a Welcome Social on Sunday evening, daily morning and afternoon refreshment breaks, a Poster Reception on Monday evening and dinner on Tuesday.)

Early Registration deadline is July 1, 2005.
To qualify for the early registration fee, payment must accompany your registration on or before this date.

Refund Policy: Requests for registration refunds will be honored if a written notification of cancellation is received by the Office of Conferences & Institutes on or before August 1, 2005. A $50.00 processing fee will be deducted from each registration refund. Sorry, no refunds will be honored for cancellations after August 1, 2005.

Special Needs: Participants with special needs can be reasonably accommodated by contacting the Office of Conferences & Institutes at least 10 working days prior to the conference. We can be reached by phone at 1-352-392-5930, by fax at 1-352-392-9734, or by calling 1-800-955-8771 (TDD). The TDD number can only be accessed from within the State of Florida.

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Pre-Conference Workshop:
September 9-10, 2005,
Gainesville, Florida, USA

Registration is CLOSED

QUANTITATIVE VISIBLE AND NEAR-INFRARED (VNIR) DIFFUSE REFLECTANCE SPECTROSCOPY (DRS) FOR SOIL CHARACTERIZATION

• A block of rooms has been reserved until August 1, 2005 at the Cabot Lodge Gainesville (1-352-375-2400). Please make your hotel reservations as soon as possible and state that you are a "Pedometrics Pre-Conference Workshop Participant". There is no guarantee of room availability if you wait until after August 1st.

• Transportation provided - Gainesville to Naples, FL only. Pre-Conference Workshop Participants should make arrangements to fly out of the Ft. Myers airport on their return flight home.

• Limited to the first 20 participants.

• Workshop Fees - $250 per person

• Instructors: Dr. David Brown (Montana State University, Bozeman, MT) and Dr. Fred McClure (North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina)

We plan to cover the science, engineering and quantitative analysis techniques of soil VNIR-DRS. This will include: (a) the basic physical chemistry responsible for VNIR absorptions; (b) a discussion of the instruments used to measure VNIR reflectance; (c) standard spectral processing techniques; and (d) a range of quantitative analysis techniques which could include Fourier analysis, chemometrics (PLS regression), data mining (e.g. CART), and continuum removal for mineral identification.

Bonus materials: Recognizing that many pedometricians do not have ready access to a spectroradiometer, we will provide all participants with a 4000+ sample spectral library and associated soil characterization data obtained from the U.S. Soil Survey archives. We will also provide R code for spectral processing, chemometrics and other analytical techniques as time allows. Participants should be able to leave the workshop with the data and tools to initiate their own work in quantitative VNIR-DRS.

Pre-Conference Workshop Agenda

Friday, September 9, 2005 - Theory and Instrumentation
   Location: G001 McCarty Hall D

Saturday, September 10, 2005 - Modeling
   Location: CALS Computer Teaching Laboratory McCarty Hall B 2103

Post-Conference Field Trip:
September 15, 2005,
Everglades, Florida USA

Registration is CLOSED

• Tour Fees - $75 per person. Fees include: transportation, boxed lunches, drinks and Park Fees.

• Limited to the first 20 participants

FIELD TRIP ITINERARY

The post conference tour will take you to some of the natural communities prominent to the Greater Everglades Ecosystem. Much of the Everglades is inaccessible and luckily so to keep it as minimally impacted as possible, but our trip will take you to one of Florida’s more unique State Preserves where extremely rare plants, orchids and a lush old growth cypress strand is accessible by board walk. Then experience the thrill of an airboat ride through the River of Grass while seeing first hand what the heart of the Everglades looks like. We will also get a bird’s eye view of the Everglades from a xx ft. tower along the West side of the Park and a good opportunity to see the more common wildlife in the area.

Depart Hotel in vans
8:00am

Travel
8:00-8:45am

Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve
9:00am-10:00am

The Fakahatchee Strand is the major drainage slough of southwestern Big Cypress Swamp and the largest and most unusual of the strands. Although logging, drainage and other human actions have had a serious impact on the swamp, it is still one of the state's most unusual natural features.

The natural values of the Fakahatchee Strand may be greater than those of any area of comparable size in the state of Florida. It contains the largest stand of native royal palms and largest concentration and variety of orchids in North America, as well as other species of plants that are extremely rare. The unusual wildlife of the Fakahatchee Strand includes some threatened or endangered species. The Florida panther, wood stork, Florida black bear, mangrove fox squirrel and the Everglades mink have all been documented within the preserve area.

A 2,000-foot long boardwalk at Big Cypress Bend, meanders through the old growth cypress and will be our destination at this site.

Travel to Everglades Safari Airboat Tours
10:00am-11:00am

Airboat tour of Everglades
11:00am-12:30pm

The Everglades is a relatively inaccessible area due to limited roads and the types of vehicles that can operate in wetland conditions. Transport by airboat offers an unusual but effective way to get around in this environment. We will take a one hour airboat ride into the heart of Shark River Slough in the southern Everglades. This Stop on the tour will give you a unique look at a relatively undisturbed area of the Everglades.

Travel (7 miles west on Tamiami Trail) eat lunch in vans
12:30pm-1:00pm

Shark Valley: Everglades National Park
1:00pm-3:00pm

There are few opportunities to get a bird’s eye view of the Everglades, but the tower at Shark Valley gives you a good look from above. In addition to the Tower, a Tram ride on a 15 mile loop road that juts about 7 miles into the Everglades will give you a good look at much of the wildlife common to the Everglades and a feel for the transitional zone between the longer hydroperiod sawgrass marshes to the east and the mixed cypress and marl prairies to the west.

Travel back to Naples
(with a possible stop at Big Cypress National Preserve - time and weather permitting.)
3:00pm-5:00pm

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Conference Location

The conference will be held at The Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club, one of southwest Florida’s most prestigious conference facilities. The Hotel also boasts its own 18-hole championship golf course, tennis courts, large free form pool, and many activities for the enjoyment of everyone in the family.

September weather in Naples is absolutely ideal, with an average temperature high of 80ºF (27ºC) and an average low of 60ºF (15ºC). Informal dress will be appropriate throughout the conference, and many of our social functions will be held outdoors overlooking the scenic Gulf of Mexico.

Just Where is Naples, Florida?

Naples is situated on the edge of the Florida Everglades, 110 miles (180 km) west of Miami and Ft. Lauderdale and 150 miles (240 km) south of Tampa. The city is easily reached by air or by automobile. Most major domestic carriers and international airlines provide frequent service into Southwest Florida International Airport, just 40 minutes from the hotel, and shuttle service is available. There is frequent commuter service from Tampa, Miami, Orlando and Jacksonville to the Naples Airport, less than 10 miles (16 km) away. 

NOTE: Accompanying persons can arrange for visits to local points of interest by contacting the Concierges Desk at the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club.

Hotel Accommodations

The Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club located at 851 Gulf Shore Blvd. North, Naples, Florida 34102, is offering participants of the Pedometrics 2005 Conference, a very special guest room rate of $99.00 (plus nine percent tax) with one or two people in a room. The group rate will be honored three days prior and three days following the conference, based on availability.

To qualify for the special rate, reservations must be made prior to August 1, 2005. Be sure to specify you are attending the Pedometrics 2005 Conference. After August 1, 2005, guestrooms and the group rate may no longer be available. As this is a discounted group rate, it is not commissionable to travel agents.

Please contact the hotel directly by telephone at 1-800-237-7600 (within the U.S.) / 1-239-261-2222 (outside the U.S.) or complete and submit the "Hotel Reservation Form."

(PDF format)

You may also book online through The Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club website: http://www.naplesbeachhotel.com/rates/rates.htm by clicking on Group Reservations and entering password: UF 0909.

 

Special Instructions: A first night’s room deposit must be made with a credit card to ensure confirmation of your hotel reservation. For any reservations that "no show", this deposit will be forfeited. Room deposits will be considered non-refundable if canceled within eight (8) days of your arrival date.

Please visit the Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club web site www.naplesbeachhotel.com to learn more about some of the hotel's special features including golfing, tennis, complimentary valet parking and much more!

(PDF format)

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Airport Shuttle Transportation Information

Maxi-taxi Shuttle Transportation / Phone: 239-598-2600

• Maxi-taxi will pickup Pedometrics participants who have made shuttle reservations from the Southwest Florida International Airport in Ft. Myers within 30 minutes of their arrival and take participants to the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Course.

• The shuttle service will also be providing transportation to other stops in the Naples area. Therefore, travel time will vary from 45 minutes to 1 hour and 45 minutes, depending on traffic and if maxi-taxi makes additional stops. The Maxi-taxi shuttle will stop a maximum of three times on any given run in order to keep travel duration to a minimum.

• The Maxi-taxi driver will be waiting inside the airport terminal, across from baggage claims, near the escalators. Look for a person with a Maxi-taxi and Pedometrics identification sign. If you have any questions upon arrival, please go to the information transportation booth outside the airport’s entrance.

• Reservations MUST be made no later than 48 hours in advance to receive transportation.

• The following rates will be honored

ONE WAY Transportation cost*: One Pedometrics participant = $35 one-way, per person Two Pedometrics participants = $40 - one-way, per person cost = $20 Three Pedometrics participants = $45 one-way, per person cost = $15 Four or more Pedometrics participants traveling together = $13 one-way, per person *Transportation cost will be based on the number of Pedometrics participants on the shuttle using the above scale. *Additional charge of $5 will be added for arrivals after 11:00pm or pick-ups in Naples between 4:30am - 5:30am. *20% gratuity for the driver is recommended.

• To make a reservation, call Maxi-taxi at 239-598-2600. Be sure to have the following information:

Shuttle from the Southwest Florida International Airport to the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club     1) Name of Conference - Pedometrics 2005     2) Number of Passengers in your group requesting shuttle transportation     3) Name of Passengers     4) Arrival date     5) Arrival time     6) Flight information

Shuttle from the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club to the Southwest Florida International Airport     1) Name of Conference - Pedometrics 2005     2) Number of Passengers in your group requesting shuttle transportation     3) Name of Passengers     4) Departure date for pick-up from the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Course     5) Departure time for pick-up Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Course     6) Flight information

• Call Maxi-taxi at 239-598-2600 to find out more about their private direct services.

Maxi-taxi also offers private transfers beginning at one passenger $55 (one-way). Call Maxi-taxi to find out more about their private direct services.

This shuttle information is also available as a printable PDF file. CLICK HERE.
(You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open and print the PDF form file.)

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Gerard Heuvelink
ALTERRA and Laboratory of Soil Science and Geology, Wageningen University and Research Centre,
the Netherlands

David Brown
Dept. of Land Resource & Environmental Sciences, Montana State University, USA

Pierre Goovaerts
PGeostat, LLC & Biomedware Inc., USA

Budiman Minasny
Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources,
The University of Sydney, Australia

Sabine Grunwald
Soil and Water Science Department, University of Florida/IFAS, USA

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