IVOA Interoperability meeting
Venue Information

Meeting Location

The meeting will be held at the NCSA building located on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign at 1205 W. Clark St., Urbana. The building is within walking distance (2 blocks) of the Hampton Inn; from other hotels, transportation is necessary.

Registration can be found just inside the main entrance in the building lobby. Plenary sessions will be held nearby on the ground floor in the auditorium. Break out rooms are located on the ground and second floors.

Program

See the program page.

Registration

Coming soon

Travel Information

Getting to Urbana

By Air

The most convenient way to get to Urbana from afar is to fly into Champaign's Willard Airport (CMI). It is served by American Airlines with 6 flights in and out per day connecting to Chicago O'Hare (ORD, 5 flights) and Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW, 1 flight).

To get to your hotel from Willard, you have three options:

• rent a car (see "By car" for directions).
• take a taxi (recommended)
  • Typically, there are cab drivers waiting in the lobby with a sign; vehicles are clearly marked as commercial cabs.
  • Taxis charge a flat fee of ~$15 for transport from the airport to destinations in the Champaign-Urbana area.
• hotel shuttle (check with your hotel; not available from all hotels)

Alternatively, you can fly into one of the airports listed below in order of proximity to Urbana. Each of these have on-site desks for the major car rental companies.

• Bloomington (BMI) is a 45 minute drive west of Urbana
• Indianapolis (IND) is a 2 hour drive east of Urbana
• Chicago Midway (MDW) is a 2.5 hour drive north of Urbana
• Chicago O'Hare (ORD) is a 3 hour drive north of Urbana
• St. Louis (STL) is a 3 hour drive west of Urbana

Note that it is possible to take trains from the Chicago airports; see below.

By Train

Champaign-Urbana are served by Amtrak with 3 trains daily from Chicago and connections to other cities.

It is possible to take trains from Chicago airports to Champaign-Urbana, though it can be a bit involved, time-consuming, and involves a small bit of walking. (In other words, it's not well suited for people coming off long or late flights). Often an connection to fly into Champaign can be about the same price as the train option. Amtrak leaves from Chicago's Union Station; use the "El" (subway) to get there:

• from O'Hare
• from Midway

Trains arrive into Champaign's Illinois Terminal. From there, one can take a taxi or a city bus. For a bus, use the MTD's trip planner to plan your trip. The Orange Bus stops right behind the Hampton Inn (just past the hospital).

By Car

Urbana is easily accessible from Interstates 57 and 74; see these instructions for driving to the NCSA building for details, including for driving from Willard Airport. Unless you are coming from the airport, you will probably enter town from the Lincoln Avenue exit off of I-74;

Getting to the NCSA building

Accommodations

We have blocks reserved at the following hotels:

• Hampton Inn
  1200 West University Avenue (map)
  Recommended: within walking distance of the meeting. There are limited rooms available in our block.
  Room Rate: $119
  To reserve, visit Hampton Inn's IVOA reservation page or call +1-217-337-1100 (mention "IVOA Meeting")
  Block rate deadline: May 4, 2012

• Holiday Inn
  Requires car or use of city bus
  Reservation information coming soon.

Other hotels are available in the area, some closer to the venue than the Holiday Inn.