State of the Map Venue

This year's venue is the Conference Centre at Aston University Business School. (View on OSM)

Aston University is situated in the heart of the City, within 10-15 minutes walking distance of all the main railway stations and coach station. It is at the end of the Aston Expressway, the motorway link to the M6, and is also two streets away from Birmingham’s Inner Ring Road. Importantly it is within walking distance of the main centres for shopping, restaurants, bars, clubs and entertainment!

The venue provides a range of accommodation from hotel standard in the Business School itself (160 rooms) to standard accommodation in a brand-new student accommodation block situated 5 minutes walk away. A discount code for accommodation will be given to all attendees after they register for the conference.

Plenary sessions and breakout streams will take place in the university’s Main Hall and G11/G63 lecture theatres. All the rooms are adjacent and are on the Ground Floor. They are equipped with AV and the university will supply a support technician. Streaming video opportunities will be investigated. Aston Business School is in an adjacent building some two minutes walk away from the lecture halls and will be where lunches are held. There is also a large comfortable lounge which can be used by delegates for “chill-out” or ad-hoc meetings and coding/hacking sessions.

There is WiFi access throughout the University Campus and each delegate will be assigned a unique ID by the University on registration.

All delegates will have access to the sports centre. Just ask for a day pass at the conference centre reception each day you want to use it, and present this at the sports centre reception.

Lowered kerbs, lifts and adapted facilities, along with the compact and flat nature of the 40 acre campus, all help facilitate the mobility and general well-being of those with disabilities. Disabled car parking is available but spaces will need to be booked in advance.

For journey planning, the street address of the venue is: Aston Business School Conference Centre and Hotel, Aston Street, Birmingham B4 7ET. If using sat nav, note that Aston Street is no longer a through road (as shown on some sat navs) and access is from the Woodcock Street end.

Accommodation options

Because booking for State of the Map and accommodation are separate, you have a range of choices whether to stay on-site or elsewhere. Details of how to book a room at the university, at special prices for attendees, will be sent to you after you register for the conference.

• At the venue itself (the business school) there are three categories of room; for details see Conference Aston
• Also on-site at the university there are larger numbers of rooms in the student residence; these are the same standard, and price, as the "Classic" rooms at Conference Aston
• The university is on the edge of the city centre where there are a wide range of hotels
• There are also backpackers' hostels such Birmingham Central Backpackers Hostel or Hatters (cheaper but a longer walk).

These are pictures of the university residences accomodation: