In order to facilitate the discovery, integration, and analysis of distributed data, geoscientists-in partnership with information technologists and computer scientists-have established the emerging science of geoinformatics. Geoinformatics 2006, an international conference that was attended by over 300 participants between May 10 and 12, 2006, represents the first nationally organized meeting whose primary goal was to provide a forum for the exchange of the most current research in geoinformatics.