1. Introduction

Oulu is the largest city in Northern Finland. Founded in 1605 by King Karl IX of

Sweden opposite the castle built on the island of Linnansaari. Oulu is situated by

the Gulf of Bothnia, at the mouth of Oulu River, which is an ancient trading site.

The name “Oulu” comes from a word in the Sami language meaning “floodwater”.

Oulu has been the capital of Oulu province since 1776. From being a town known

for tar and salmon, Oulu has evolved into a growing modern centre of competence.

2. General information

Oulu has the sixth largest population amongst Finnish towns.

In January 2007, the city had about 130000 inhabitants.

The area of Oulu is 411 km².

• Coordinates: 65.01° N, 25.28° E

• Elevation: 0 meters (0 feet)

• Region: Oulu, Finland

• Time Zone: East European Daylight Time (GMT + 2:00)

3. University of Oulu

Oulu has also almost 100 different teaching establishments. The most significant of these is University of Oulu, where the conference LALS-2010 will be held (Erkki Koiso-Kanttilan katu 3, 90570 Oulu, Finland). Oulu region is also well known for its rapidly growing high technology industry which sells its products throughout the world.

University of Oulu (founded in 1958) is an international science community, whose core strength lies in multidisciplinary basic research and high-quality education based on it. Although its academic offerings span over 70 disciplines, the university’s concentrated research policy channels the efforts of researchers into three focus areas: Information Technology and Wireless Communications, Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine as well as Northern and Environmental Issues.

Its tasks include promoting free research, education and culture and strengthening the national competence base to improve competitiveness and well-being. In addition, the university strives to ensure the availability of a well-qualified academic labour force and researcher base.

4. How to get here

Oulu is easily accessible by railway and airplane. Railway station is located in the downtown and Oulu airport is about 14 km away, which is linked to the city by a bus route No. 19 and taxi. The university which hosts LALS-2010, is located about 6 km far from downtown Oulu at Linnanmaa campus. It can be reached by public transportation (bus). Useful links on means of travel can be found in the "Links" section.

Map of Oulu

Hotels in Oulu reserved for the LALS-2010 participants are indicated on this map by capital letters B [Sokos Hotel Arina], H [Scandic Hotel Oulu] and F (behind D) [Cumulus Hotel Oulu]. The LALS-2010 logo indicates the conference venue (University of Oulu).

Local transportation

Every day we will organize bus transportation from the hotels indicated in the section "Accommodation"

to the conference site, for free.

    LALS buses

    Oulu airport

LALS-2010 conference place

The registration desk, lecture halls, exhibition area and restaurants are located on the ground floor; view of the Entrance E is below:

 Conference map

Interactive map

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