CalGIS 2012
Congratulations to Dan Henderson, NorCal URISA, and his CalGIS 2012 Planning Committee for a great conference. Along with URISA event managers Wendy Nelson and Pat Francis, CalGIS 2012 was a great success.
Hosted by NorCal URISA, SoCal URISA, CentralCal URISA, and CGIA, the 18th annual CalGIS conference continued a long-standing tradition of supporting the GIS community in our state.
Almost three hundred GIS professionals joined the 28 sponsors for the three-day event that included pre-conference meetings, training sessions, a levee tour, two exceptional keynote speakers, 42 presentations, 7 poster presentations, and 12 enthusiastic, fast talking speakers during the Ignite session.
CalGIS is an important event for GIS professionals and plans for 2013 will be starting soon; stay tuned for location and dates.
CGIA Awards
Each year CGIA presents awards for excellence in GIS. It is an opportunity to recognize and honor those who do exemplary work or contribute to our industry in a huge way.
This year four individuals, nominated by their peers, received awards:
Chairman's Award - granted to honor a person who has made outstanding contributions in promotion, innovation, and/or use of technology.
Dave Hansen, GISP, Soils Scientist/GIS Specialist, USBR
Dave has contributed immensely to the GIS community at all levels. He is a consistent and dependable resource who never turns down an opportunity to provide assistance to those in need in the GIS community. He has been described as a diplomat who is fair and helpful to all as well as a mentor to the highest degree.
Advancement of Collaboration Award - granted for outstanding inter-organization and collaborative efforts in GIS.
Kris Lynn-Patterson, GIS Academic Coordinator, UC Div. Ag and Natural Resources
Kris has done outreach to the California agricultural community which has grown over the years. Bringing together the ag community and scientists through the use of collaborative geospatial technology has been achieved with interactive web sites and mapping. The information gathered and studied can and will produce data that can be studied and shared providing important information for current and future decisions. Using GIS as the main tool for these endeavors not only promotes GIS but facilitates awareness of this powerful tool. As agriculture embraces technology, Kris has used GIS as an important component to ag and scientific research.
Outstanding Internet Presentation Award - granted for the outstanding integration of GIS and web technologies demonstrating in aesthetic presentation, functionality, and overall ease of use.
Mark Greninger, GIO, Chief Information Office, Los Angeles County
CGIA was in great need of revamping its web presence. It needed to be interactive, informative, and contemporary. As a member of the web committee and with direction from the board, Mark launched right into setting up a proto-type and then moving the site to production. He took concepts and turned them into workable tangibles. His efforts go far above and beyond the expectations of a volunteer board member, benefitting CGIA and the entire GIS community.
Exemplary Systems Award - granted for outstanding application of GIS technology representing innovative, elegant, or creative techniques.
Keith Russell, Ramona Water District
Keith has worked in the industry since 1986 and has a degree in engineering and computer science. After a varied career in several agencies, he went to work for a small water district in southern California to work on what he called, at the time, and ERP framework for GIS and document management. This framework can read and write to various formats of spatial, vector, and spatial database formats including ESRI's SDE, Oracle Spatial, SQL Server 2008, Katimi, and others; but it is primarily a document management system. This framework serves as a base for the entire enterprise without the use of any third party software products; it just focuses on the data.
Congratulations to all the honorees.
Remember, you're invited!
On Friday, April 27th, CGIA is hosting the second annual Geospatial Summit Series (GSS) in partnership with UC Merced on the beautiful campus of UC Merced. The GSS will showcase Using GIS to Improve Our Communities. The event is free and scheduled from 8:30 AM - 3:00 PM, with speakers from the GIS Community and various community groups in the Central Valley. Online registration and event information can be found at: http://communityresearch.ucmerced.edu/. You must be registered, and registration closes Monday April 23rd. Hope to see you there.
Good News!
Several GIS User Groups around the state are starting up again. CGIA will be listing them on the GIS User Groups page on the website as we are notified. Check with others in your area for a group near you.