For the dates and locations of upcoming lectures, speeches, or other presentations by Castle Consulting, please send an e-mail to gil_castle@yahoo.com. The following are other recommended sources.
 

The seminal text on GIS in the private sector—including real estate—is the 400-page book edited by Gil Castle entitled Profiting from a Geographic Information System, published by GIS World, Inc. In 1998 another book edited by Gil Castle, entitled GIS in Real Estate: Integrating, Analyzing and Presenting Locational Information was jointly published by GIS World, Inc. and The Appraisal Institute.

Important GIS periodicals, in recommended order of reading:

1. Business Geographics
2. GeoWorld
3. Geo Info Systems
4. URISA Journal
    

Conferences that Castle Consulting attends, again in recommended order:

1. Annual Business Geographics Conference
2. Annual URISA Conference
3. REIPA Conferences

Comprehensive lists of GIS-related conferences:

• GeoPlace
• Geo Info Systems
   

In answer to the question "What is GIS?" and for innumerable and diverse GIS-related Internet sites worldwide:

• United States Geological Survey (USGS)
• Geographic Data Technology, Inc. (GDT)
• Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI)
• Information Center for the Environment, University of California at Davis
• Association of Geographic Information (AGI)
   

• Autodesk (including MapGuide)
• Caliper
• ESRI
• Intergraph
• MapInfo
• Scan/US
   

• Geographic Data Technology (GDT)
• U.S. Department of Commerce (TIGER)
• Wessex
   

• DeLorme
• GeoSystems Global Corporation (MapQuest)
• Vicinity Corporation
• SRC
• Bruton Information Inc.
   

At last count more than 300 institutions of higher learning offered courses on GIS technology, so one should first check local schools. An excellent example of a certificate-awarding program is the University of California at Riverside Extension.