Isolde Conferences
Welcome to Isolde Conferences website!
This site was built to keep the memories from the ISOLDE meetings alive.
International Symposium on Locational Decisions (ISOLDE) is a triennial symposium devoted to the inter/multi-disciplinary subject of Location Analysis. Researchers belonging to fields such as Mathematics, Operations Research, Management Science, Economics, Engineering among others, present their recent advances in modeling, theory, and applications at ISOLDE meetings.
This website was built to keep the memories from the ISOLDE meetings alive.
ISOLDE I: Banff, Alberta, Canada (1978)
ISOLDE II: Skodsborg, Denmark (1981)
ISOLDE III: Boston and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA (1984)
ISOLDE IV: Namur and Faux-les-Tombs, Belgium (1987)
ISOLDE V: Fullerton and Lake Arrowhead, California, USA (1990)
ISOLDE VI: Lesvos and Chios, Greece (1993)
ISOLDE VII: Edmonton and Jasper, Alberta, Canada (1996)
ISOLDE VIII: Coimbra and Estoril, Portugal (1999)
ISOLDE IX: Fredericton and Saint Andrew, New Brunswick, Canada (2002)
ISOLDE X: Seville and Islantilla, Spain (2005)
ISOLDE XI: Santa Barbara, California, USA (2008)
ISOLDE XII: Nagoya and Kyoto, Japan (2012)
ISOLDE XIII: Naples and Capri, Italy (2014)
ISOLDE XIV: Toronto and Hunstville, Canada (2017)
ISOLDE XV: University of Wuppertal, Germany - Online (2021)
ISOLDE XVI: Kaiserslautern and Baden-Baden, Germany (2023)
ISOLDE XVII: Chicago, Illinois, USA (2026)
ISOLDE Conferences
MEMORIES
Share your ISOLDE memories.
ISOLDE before there was ISOLDE I
Nigel Waters wrote on November 2025
How did ISOLDE come about, what was the Genesis? How did a bunch of Geographers who were interested in optimizing location problems get together with a bunch of operations researchers who were also interested in location problems and optimization?
Memories from ISOLDE XII
Antonio Medrano wrote on March 13, 2021
I have many more photos in my photo album here.
Two of my favorites:
Memories from ISOLDE VI
Vlad wrote on January 5, 2021
Dear friends,
Just by chance, I found this great description by Susan Neuman of what was the VI version of our conference. Unforgettable!
Memories from ISOLDE VII
H.A. Eiselt wrote on January 22, 2015
Here is a tidbit about the ISOLDE 1996 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. As usual, one day of the conference was devoted to an outing. This time, the organizers took us to Fort Edmonton, which was interesting in its own right, but the highlight (to me, at least) was our very own John Hodgson (who describes himself as an “old hippie”) who took out his guitar and sang “Paddin’ the old CV.” I took a shot of him during that performance. You can actually find the tune recorded at the Alberta Faculty Club in 2011 on youtube.
Memories from ISOLDE IV
Sibel Alumur Alev wrote on January 22, 2015
Daniel Little McFadden who won the 2000 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences attended ISOLDE IV in Belgium. He is the only ISOLDE participant who received a Nobel Prize.
Memories from ISOLDE III
H.A. Eiselt wrote on April 19, 2013
ISOLDE iii in Boston in 1984 was my first ISOLDE. I had just switched topics from networks to become a locator, & now was sitting in a cab with Louis Hakimi, the founder of modern location theory. What a wonderful experience for a (then) relatively young academic, especially as he was really human! (Where I came from, people of his standing are seen to be walking the halls of Valhalla, rather than mingling with the mortals). This experience even made up for the unpleasantness of the cabdriver & the fact that the guy had no clue where he was going.
Memories from ISOLDE II
Jakob Krarup wrote on December 15, 2012
In all modesty I seem to recall that ISOLDE II was organized by Peter Pruzan and myself. It is likely that also Richard M. Soland, The George Washington Univ., Washinton D.C. should be credited as member of the organizing team. A tragic event occurred in conjunction with ISOLDE II, the untimely death of Jonathan P. Halpern. An obituary can be found in J. Krarup, P.M. Pruzan, “Jonathan Halpern (1940-1981)”, EJOR 12 (1983) 1-2. Otherwise only fond memories from a series of truly golden days are left with me.
Memories from ISOLDE XI
Sibel Alumur Alev wrote on December 3, 2012
There were three busses in the wine tasting tour. One of the busses was dedicated as the “soccer” bus. This bus was going to stop at fewer wineries in order to make it for the Euro 2008 final between Germany and Spain. Most of the German and Spanish participants were on that bus in addition to Gilbert Laporte who was on board by mistake.