A five-day conference cum training on Geographic Information System (GIS) for Urban Management was conducted recently by NIC Assam State Centre in collaboration with the Assam Administrative Staff College (AASC). Sh. B R Samal, Secy. to the Govt. of Assam, presided the conference. He emphasised the need for taking GIS on high priority for urban planning of the entire North East region and recognised the contribution made by NIC in developing the national spatial database. Dr. M Moni, DDG NIC highlighted the need for integration of spatial and non-spatial data for micro level planning. He also stressed on the issues of rural livelihood to be solved by better district planning by application of GIS and remote sensing technologies. Dr. Vandana Sharma, STD, in her keynote address mentioned the country’s map policy and the requirement of GIS in urban management as an essential component. The conference was attended by high-level State Govt. officials, and officials of the Urban Planning Department of all districts. The resource persons were drawn from UNDP, ASTEC, WWF and Urban Planning department of West Bengal. They contributed to the conference and training by presenting technical papers and case studies on GIS for Urban Management.