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Every December, an astonishing 15,000 geoscientists gather in San Francisco for the American Geophysical Union's Fall Meeting. One of the best-attended sessions at the conference is the Virtual Globes session, returning for its fourth year (previous sessions 2006, 2007, 2008). It provides a forum for scientists, educators, developers, and GIS specialists to meet and discuss developments in the use of geobrowsers. Presenters in previous years included the authors of some of the most popular geoscience KML files on the web, as well as many well-known geo bloggers and industry developers. The session includes both talks and interactive demonstrations, with the latter involving large plasma screens, poster board displays and high-speed internet for each presenter.

This year's AGU Fall Meeting is December 14-18, and the deadline for submitting abstracts is September 3, which is coming up fast! We encourage all scientists, educators, developers, and GIS specialists to submit abstracts relating to uses of GeoWeb technologies for better scientific understanding, public outreach and education about our "real" world. The Virtual Globes session is even going to be webcast this year, which means that talks will reach more than just the live audience at the conference!

The Virtual Globes website has details of how to submit your abstract and links to more info on the rest of the AGU conference. Those interested in attending can register online. We'll post a full schedule of the Virtual Globes talks and demonstrations in mid-October.