The Symposium is now over...but do check out some post-Symposium information.

.

1998 ACM Symposium on Computational Geometry

The Fourteenth Annual ACM Symposium on Computational Geometry (SCG), sponsored by SIGACT and SIGGRAPH (the ACM Special Interest Groups on Algorithms and Computation Theory and on Graphics), will be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 7-10, 1998 . (Yes, it is a 4-day symposium this time!) The Symposium features an Applied Track, a Theoretical Track, a Video Review, several Invited Talks, a Panel Discussion, and a Problem Session. We at the Computer Science and Engineering Dept. and the Geometry Center at the University of Minnesota look forward to hosting the Symposium.

Contents


What is Computational Geometry, anyway?

If you're wondering what "Computational Geometry" is, you might consider taking a look at the homepage for last year's meeting , which includes links to many of the papers that appeared there. Or, you might want to look at a comprehensive Computational Geometry web-page or to a web-page of Geometry in Action. There's also an extensive collection of Geometry Software available.

Registration Information

Full registration information is available in the program below. Note that the deadline for early registration is May 18, 1998. Please register as soon as possible.

The registration fee (both regular and student) includes attendance to all technical sessions, the proceedings, video, four lunches, coffee breaks, reception, and banquet.


Hotel Reservation

The Symposium will be held at the Radisson Metrodome Hotel in Minneapolis, adjacent to the Univ. of Minnesota campus. A room reservation form is included in the program below.

The deadline for hotel reservations is May 9, 1998; after this date, room rates and availability cannot be guaranteed. Please make your reservations as soon as possible.

Room rates are US$90 (single) and US$100 (double), plus 12% tax. (Triple/Quad rooms are also available at US$110/US$120, plus tax. Rollaway beds may be requested at US$15/night/bed.) Please call the hotel at +1 (800) 822 6757 or +1 (612) 379 8888 for reservations/information. All-day parking is available to hotel guests at the rate of US$6.50 per day (rate subject to change). Hotel guests also enjoy complimentary access to the Univ. of Minnesota's $30 million state-of-the-art Recreation Center, located next to the hotel. The Center features an Olympic-size swimming pool, a variety of fitness equipment, as well as basketball, volleyball, racquetball, and badminton courts.

Note: Do not confuse the Symposium hotel with the many other Radisson hotels located in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The Symposium hotel is the Radisson Metrodome. It is located adjacent to the East Bank Campus of the Univ. of Minnesota, two blocks from the Geometry Center and the Computer Science & Engineering Department, and close to many campus attractions.


Program

Highlights: In addition to forty-four contributed talks and a video review, this year's Symposium also features six invited talks, a panel discussion, and a problem session. The invited talks and panel discussion, as well as the Saturday reception, are supported by the Geometry Center---an NSF Science and Technology Center at the University of Minnesota.

The full program (including registration and hotel forms) is available in Postscript, PDF, and LaTeX formats.

A schedule of events (in HTML) is also available.


More on the Symposium Location

The Minneapolis--St. Paul (Twin Cities) metropolitan area is a vibrant and dynamic one, and provides opportunities for a variety of activities, both outdoor and indoor. Outdoor activities include walking/hiking/biking along numerous park trails in the Cities and along the shorelines of the many lakes that dot the metro area, the Valleyfair Family Amusement Park, the Minnesota and Como Zoos, and historic Fort Snelling. A bit further out (about 45 minutes by car) is the scenic St. Croix River Valley. Up north (about three to five hours away) are the spectacular North Shore of Lake Superior, and the Voyageurs National Park, which includes the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

Among indoor activities, a must-see is the Mall of America, the largest enclosed shopping and entertainment complex in the U.S. It covers over 4 million square feet, and includes more than 500 shops, numerous fine restaurants, a theme park (Camp Snoopy), and an underwater aquarium (Underwater World) featuring exotic marine life. (Plan on spending all day at the Mall.)

The Twin Cities also offer a diverse collection of theaters, museums, and art galleries including: the Walker Art Center, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Sculpture Garden, and the Orpheum and Guthrie Theaters, all in Minneapolis; the Ordway Music Theater, the Landmark Center, the Science Museum and Omnitheater, the Children's Museum, and the State Capitol, all in St. Paul; the Weisman Art Museum and the Bell Museum of Natural History on the U of M campus; and the Chanhassen Dinner Theaters in the West metro. Both downtowns also feature excellent restaurants, offering a variety of dining experiences. If baseball catches your fancy, then you can watch the Minnesota Twins (in possibly their last season here) in the nearby Metrodome.

For further information on the above and more, please visit any or all of the following:

Getting around town: The Metropolitan Transit Commission (612--349--7000) provides bus service to both downtowns and to surrounding suburbs.


Travel Information

Getting There

Minneapolis--St. Paul International Airport is served by most major airlines. Northwest Airlines, the Preferred Airline for the Symposium, is pleased to offer discounted airfares. To take advantage of these savings, please call Northwest World Meetings and Incentives Reservations at 1-800-328-1111, between 7:30 AM and 7:30 PM Central Time, Monday--Friday. Please refer to WorldFile Number NEE66 to receive the discount, which ranges from 5--10% off published fares, for travel to the Symposium from within the U.S. and Canada.

Ground Transportation

The Symposium hotel is located about 15 miles from the airport, near the University of Minnesota campus and close to downtown Minneapolis. Taxi fare from the airport is about US$15--20. Another option is to take the Airport Express shuttle service (1-800-333-1532), which costs US$10 one-way and US$16.50 round-trip, and departs the airport every twenty minutes. A third option is to rent a car. Note that the shuttle counter as well as all major automobile rental agencies are located one level below the baggage claim area at the airport.

Driving Directions

From

(A) The airport: Take I 494 West to I 35W North. Follow I 35W North just past downtown Minneapolis, take Exit 17C (Minn. Hwy. 122), and then follow the signs for ``U of M East Bank''. After crossing the bridge over the Mississippi, you will be on Washington Avenue SE. Go to the third stoplight (Harvard Street), turn left, and then make an immediate right into the hotel.

(B) Points south of the Twin Cities: Take I 35 North to I 35W North (I 35 forks into I 35W and I 35E south of the Twin Cities) and follow the directions in (A) above.

(C) Points west of the Twin Cities: Take I 94 East to I 35W North and follow the directions in (A) above.

(D) Points north of the Twin Cities: Take I 35 South to I 35W South, to Exit 18 (University Ave./4th Street SE). Turn left on University Ave., then right on Oak Street, and then right on Washington Avenue. The hotel is one block down, on the right.

(E) Points east of the Twin Cities (and from St. Paul): Take I 94 West to Exit 235B (U of M) to Huron Blvd. Follow Huron to Washington Avenue and turn left. The hotel is three blocks down, on the right.

(F) Downtown Minneapolis: Take 4th Street SE (one-way eastbound), which becomes Washington Ave. SE, and then follow the directions in (A) above.

Maps

Here's a sample map from the airport to the hotel. To create other customizable maps, please see here. (Directions in these maps may be slightly different from the ones given above.)

Weather

The weather in the Twin Cities in June is pleasant. Daytime temperatures are generally in the low-70 degree Fahrenheit (21 Celsius) range, with plenty of sunshine. However, it would be prudent to bring along a sweater or light jacket and an umbrella. (This is Minnesota, after all!)

Please check here for the current weather forecast.


Post-Symposium Information

Photo Gallery!

Here are some photographs from the Symposium.

Minutes of the Business Meeting

HTML / Postscript minutes, recorded by Joseph O'Rourke.

Symposium Report

Report and unofficial minutes, as reported by Hervé Brönnimann in CG Tribune (Issue 10).

Open Problems

Problems posed during the Open Problems session.

SCG '99

Next year's Symposium will be at Miami Beach, FL, from June 13-16. The Conference Chair is Victor Milenkovic . See y'all there!

SCG '98 People

Conference Chair:

  • Ravi Janardan (Univ. of Minnesota)

    Program Committees

    Applied track:

  • Marshall Bern (Xerox Parc)
  • Jean-Daniel Boissonnat (INRIA)
  • Fred Bookstein (Univ. of Michigan)
  • Tamal Dey (I.I.T. Kharagpur)
  • Gershon Elber (Technion)
  • Steve Fortune (Bell Labs)
  • Randy Franklin (RPI)
  • Ken Goldberg (Berkeley)
  • Leo Guibas (Stanford Univ.)
  • Christoph Hoffmann (Purdue Univ.)
  • Dinesh Manocha (UNC)
  • Nick Patrikalakis (MIT)
  • Jarek Rossignac, Chair (GVU/Georgia Tech)
  • Francois Sillion (Imag)
  • Steven Skiena (SUNY at Stony Brook)

    Theoretical track:

  • Chandrajit Bajaj (Univ. of Texas at Austin)
  • Bernard Chazelle (Princeton)
  • Ken Clarkson, Chair (Bell Labs)
  • John Hershberger (Mentor Graphics)
  • Jirí Matousek (Charles Univ.)
  • Mark Overmars (Utrecht Univ)
  • János Pach (New York, Budapest)
  • Micha Sharir (Tel Aviv Univ.)
  • Michiel Smid (Univ. Magdeburg)
  • Steve Vavasis (Cornell Univ.)
  • Mariette Yvinec (CNRS, I3S)

    Video Committee:

  • Gill Barequet (Johns Hopkins Univ.)
  • Gershon Elber (Technion)
  • Dan Halperin (Chair; Tel Aviv University)
  • Leo Joskowicz (Hebrew University)
  • Matthew Katz (Ben-Gurion University)
  • Joseph S.B. Mitchell (SUNY Stony Brook)
  • Ayellet Tal (Technion)

    Planning Committee:

  • Nina Amenta (Univ. of Texas at Austin)
  • Ken Clarkson (Bell Labs)
  • Ravi Janardan (Univ. of Minnesota)
  • Jarek Rossignac (GVU/Georgia Tech)
  • Shang-Hua Teng (Univ. of Illinois)


    Acknowledgement

    Partial support for the Symposium has been provided by the Geometry Center (an NSF Science and Technology Center at the University of Minnesota ) and by Lucent Technologies.


    For further information, please email the conf. chair
    Last updated Tue Sep 8, 1998.