Great to see the importance of managing spatial data reflected on the program schedule. The presentation by John Powell, Who needs a traditional GIS?, argues that you can combine Java and SQL to build sophisticated, distributed and customised applications with all of the powerful capabilities of GIS. John has been doing this kind of work in the UK for the web mapping company eMapSite (who I help out with media relations). One example is in the real-time monitoring of boats involved in off-shore wind farm construction. Should be an interesting session.