Join us for CalConnect XXXVI Hong Kong, April 18-22 2016

Monday, April 18, 2016 to Friday, April 22, 2016

Subscribe to the CalConnect Week Calendar.

Recent Changes:

April 12, 2016 - link to map of Cyberport showing the location of our meeting room added to the Location section

April 4, 2016 - The Saturday tours have been combined into a single trip.

March 21, 2016 - Full information for the CalConnect Public Day on wednesday April 20th has been added in its own event page.

March 15 & 20, 2016 - Full Test Event Schedue added; Conference schedule updated and some sessions rearranged.

March 9, 2016 - Test Event list of Developer Discussion Topics has been revised and expanded with descriptions of the topics and issues to be discussed.

March 3, 2016 - The Conference Schedule has been added to the Conference Section. A link to registration for the Public Day added to the Registration section of this page. Information about the optional Tours on Saturday has been provided.

CalConnect XXXVI, consisting of a CalConnect Interoperability Test Event and a CalConnect Conference (Members Meeting), will be held in Hong Kong on April 18-22, 2016, hosted byhttp://www.ribose.com[Ribose]andhttp://www.ogcio.gov.hk/[OGCIO].

The Interoperability Test Event will take place all day Monday and Tuesday April 18-19. Wednesday April 20 will be an all-day Public Event hosted by CalConnect at the Hong Kong ITFest. The Conference will be Thursday and Friday, April 21-22.

CalConnect Interoperability Test Event: The Interoperabilty Test Events are open to both members and non-members as participants or asobservers; please see Next CalConnect Interoperability Test Eventfor current information (this will refer to the January CalConnect event until mid-January and then will be reinitialized for CalConnect XXXVI; however the link offers useful information about Interoperabilty Test Events in general). Check back often as this will be updated as more information becomes available.

Please Note: You do not need finished or polished code to participate in the IOP testing; in fact as soon as you have something working at all, testing against other participants can help debugging and code development, especially in identifying red herrings and wrong decisions.

CalConnect Public Day: The Public Day is Wednesday April 20 at the Hong Kong Convention Centre. The schedule for the day is available at https://www.calconnect.org/events/calconnect-public-day-hong-kong-it-fest. Please see:https://www.itfest.hk/template?series=2&id=141&lang=en# for more information about the Hong Kong ITFEST and the Public Day.

CalConnect Conference: The CalConnect Conference will offer a variety of sessions on technical and higher-level topics, informal BOFs (Birds of a Feather sessions), plus additional sessions and committee meetings. All attending member representatives andobserversare welcome.

The last session on Friday afternoon will be the full Plenary meeting of the Consortium, open to all participants. This session will include report-outs from all Technical Committees, and establishment of future goals and directions for the Consortium.

International Visitors

Hong Kong does not require visas. Your (valid) passport is sufficient. There are plenty of cash tills (Automated Teller Machines/ATMs) in arrivals from which you can draw HK dollars. As of mid-November the exchange rate is approximately 7.75 HK dollars to 1 US dollar.

Conference Details

Morning coffee and rolls, lunch, and morning and afternoon breaks will be served to all participants in the Test Event and Conference and are included in your registration fees. The Monday and Thursday group dinners are hosted by CalConnect.

Dress at all CalConnect events is casual to business casual.

Registration is now open for CalConnect XXXVI; please see Event Registration to register for the test event and/or the conference. Note that you must register separately for the interoperabilty test event and for the conference, however you may request a single invoice and payment.

We recommend booking your hotel accommodations as soon as possible. Not only will hotels be filling up quickly, the three hotels offering special rates (see below) will start to reduce their room blocks beginning in mid-February.

Registration for the Public Day is not required for CalConnect participants. If you wish to attend the Public Day but are not attending the CalConnect Test Event or Conference, you may register at: https://www.itfest.hk/template?series=46&id=141&lang=en. CalConnect Participants who wish to attend other ITFEST events may also register at https://www.itfest.hk/template?series=46&id=141&lang=en.

The Interoperability Test Event (April 18-19) and the Conference (April 21-22) will take place in Cyberport 3, Training Rooms 1-3, at Cyberport, an IT incubator and meeting facillity about 20 minutes from Central Hong Kong. The Wednesday April 20 Public Event will be at the Hong Kong Convention Cente, Room S221, in Central Hong Kong. The Tuesday evening HKU Seminar will be at the Hong Kong University campus in the KK Leung Building, Room KK201.

This map shows the location of Training Rooms 1-3 (Location "S" in Cyberport 3) at the far end of the Cyberport complex from the Le Meridien Hotel (maybe a 5 minute walk).

https://www.cyberport.hk/en/about_cyberport/about_cyberport_map

Airport Information: Hong Kong is served by Hong Kong International Airport, on the island of Chek Lap Kok. Direct flights are available from many international destinations.

Ground Transportation:

The Airport Express train runs from the airport to (Central) Hong Kong Terminal every 12 minutes and costs about $100 Hong Kong dollars; it takes about 25 minutes. From there if you are going to the Le Meridien hotel they offer an hourly shuttle, or you can take a taxi for about $90 HK.

A taxi from the airport directly to Cyberport takes about 45 minutes and costs about $380 Hong Kong dollars. Uber is illegal in Hong Kong.

Three hotels are offering room blocks and a special rate for CalConnect attendees, the Mandarin Oriental and Landmark Mandarin Oriental in Central Hong Kong, and Le M©ridien at the Cyberport (where our event is located). You may book at any of these hotels immediately, but you must do it via telephone, or by filling out a reservation form and faxing it to the hotel. Please note that the special rate is available from two days prior to two days after our event; that is between 16 and 24 April 2016.

All hotel fees are inclusive of internet and offer a choice of king/double beds and smoking/nonsmoking rooms.

Additionally, we have identified three additional hotels within a 10 minute taxi ride which may have availability.

Le M©ridien Cyberport
Cyberport 1, 100 Cyberport Road, Hong Kong
+852 2980 7788

30 Smart rooms, 10 Deluxe Ocean. $1,280 / $1,780; plus 10% service charge. Buffet breakfast charged separately at $150+10%/person.

Room block: 20 released at 60 days, 10 more at 45 days, and the remaining 10 at 30 days. However the CalConnect rate will still be offered if they have availability up to the week of the event.

Cancellation policy: before 17 March 1 night charged; after 17 March full booked period charged.

To book contact:
Ms Wency Au, Assistant Conferences & Events Manager>br> wency.au@lemeridien.com
+852 2980 7812 (Monday to Friday (0900 — 1800hrs))
Or download this booking form, fill out and fax to the number provided on the form. (You may also send the completed booking form as an attachment to Ms. Au at her e-mail address above; if you do this you may leave the credit card information out and call her with those details later to complete your booking.)

The Landmark Mandarin Oriental
15 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong
+852 2132 0188

L450 room for HK $3,700 including breakfast for two; plus 10%Q service fee.

Room block: 20 rooms until 60 days out; 10 rooms until 30 days out; block released 30 days out.

Cancellation policy: Before 17 March no penalty; after 17 March full booked period charged.

To book contact their reservation Hotline: +852 2820 4202
Quote "CalConnect Conference" to obtain the rate by phone booking. Email: mahkg-reservations@mohg.com

The Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong

5 Connaught Road Central, Hong Kong
+852 2522 0111

Superior room HK $3,600 including breakfast, $HK $3,350 without breakfast; plus 10% service charge.

Room block: 10 rooms until 60 days out; 5 rooms until 30 days out; block released 30 days out.

Cancellation policy: before 17 March no penalty; after 17 March 1 night charged.

To book contact their reservation Hotline: +852 2820 4202
Quote "CalConnect Conference" to obtain the rate by phone booking. Email: mohkg-reservations@mohg.com
Or download this booking form, fill out and fax to the number provided on the form.

Other Area Hotels

The Ovolo Aberdeen Harbor (12 minutes by taxi):
http://www.ovolohotels.com/en/hotels/hongkong/ovolo-aberdeen-harbour/

Hotel Jen (11 mins) which is opened by Shangri-La:
https://www.hoteljen.com/hongkong/westerndistrict/about/

L’hotel which is quite new (10 mins):
http://www.lhotelgroup.com/en/hotel/lhotel-island-south/Home

Ovolo Southside (12 mins):
http://www.ovolohotels.com/en/hotels/hongkong/ovolo-southside/

In general Cyberport is far from tourist areas so there are not many choices around.

The April 18-19 2016 CalConnect Interoperability Test Event will take place as part of CalConnect XXXVI, hosted by Ribose and OGCIO in Cyberport, Hong Kong. The test event consists of actual desting, and developer discussions of in-depth technical issues.

The Interoperability Test Event begins at 0800 Monday morning and runs all day Monday and Tuesday, plus Wednesday morning.

Please Note: It is our intention to make this Interoperability Test Event as useful as possible for members and non-members. To this end we welcome suggestions from interested parties on what they might want to test, and with whom.Tuesday late afternoon is the Seminar at Hong Kong University, 1700-1900; some people may need to leave early in order to participate in the Seminar.Wednesday will be our Public Day at the Convention Center in Central Hong Kong; we encourage everyone to attend the Public Day and participate or offer support. We expect to offer transportation to and from the Convention Center on Wednesday.

Test Event Agenda

The Conference takes place all day Thursday and Friday April 21-22.