So You Are Planning a Trip to Colorado?

National Public Radio this morning ran a story on things to do in Denver. It is aimed at the Democratic National Convention next week but contains some information of use to those of us who will be out there in September to attend the NSGIC Annual Conference in Keystone, Colorado (about 70 miles from downtown Denver, as the rental car drives).

The NPR story also has a few notes on how to avoid altitude sickness. A key concept is to stay hydrated; the area has a very dry climate.

To compensate for the climate, Honigman says most people should drink 24 to 36 ounces more water than normal.

That's the clear liquid found in pitchers evenly spaced-out along the tables in the main plenary conference room.

I have this vision of Rick Memmel standing at the front of the room instructing all of the nation's GIS leaders to take a big drink of water before going out for a break.

Ten BIG Pages of NSGIC News!

The Summer 2008 Edition of NSGIC News (PDF) has hit the newsstands!!!

Well, to the extent that you consider the NSGIC web site to be a news stand. It is public and NSGIC News is displayed there, so that's like a newsstand.

Never mind that... The Summer Edition of NSGIC News is out! It is ten big pages of news about NSGIC. And in it you can read about the latest efforts of NSGIC's leadership to help coordinate among state, local and federal agencies!

You can read about The National Map! And about a new addressing white paper! And about the Annual NSGIC Conference!

Learn more about COGO! (What is COGO? We refer you to the latest NSGIC News; page 4.)

But that's not all! Meet Katherine Kapo, NSGIC's newest state coordinator and the one-woman focus-group who bravely tested the new NSGC "webterview!"

But wait, there's more!

We also present the results of the first-ever NSGIC Six-Word "How-To" Challenge: How will we achieve a true National Spatial Data Infrastructure?

And we're not even telling you all that is found in the latest NSGIC News. It is really hard to maintain this breathless excitement while typing; but just you trust us, there's more!

And it is all for you in the Summer 2008 Edition of NSGIC News (PDF).

A Discussion of the Roles of the GIO and the State GIS Coordinator

The latest Directions on the News podcast features a discussion of the implications of the recent announcement of plans to appoint a GIO (Geospatial Information Officer) for the Department of the Interior. Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg explore two basic some questions about the idea: is there time to find the right person? And, what should be the role of a GIO for such a large agency?

Two models fro the GIO role were discussed. One is a CIO focused on geographic issues. Ms. Shutzberg noted that a CIO tends to be a technology leader, someone who focuses on the technology sides of things but not as much on coordination with other levels of government.

The other model is that of the GIS Coordinators who make up much of the NSGIC membership, whose role "tends to be more about ... being the champion for GIS in the state."

Ms. Shutzberg added that a State GIS Coordinator does have to have some technical savvy (and that some have a great deal of technical savvy) but that the coordinator role is broader.

"...unifying the troops. Getting the partnerships together. Creating the vision. Working with the Governor and other state agencies. And it is far more of a, dare I say, political sort of role."

Joe Francica added that the State GIS Coordinator also serves as a liaison between the local and federal levels.

Both agreed that the GIO for a large federal agency such as Interior will need to fit the political role, and be able to coordinate among agencies and levels of government, with strong technical know-how. They concluded that the new GIO will have to be a "high-powered individual" and that it is a real question whether or not there will be time to find and appoint the right person before the end of the current administration.

This podcast makes interesting listening for all of those who work with agencies within the Department of the Interior, for those who now work as GIOs and for those who are State GIS Coordinators. Our roles are growing and changing as we adapt the shifting geospatial industry and the rapid growth of the use and sharing of geospatial data and information.

A More Formal COGO Announcement

The URISA Coalition of Geospatial Organizations (COGO) page now features a formal announcement of the "officialization" of COGO. The announcement includes a more complete list of founding member organizations and founding advisory organizations and a word from NSGIC president (and COGO Chair) Cy Smith, of Oregon:

"I know I speak for all organizations that have joined this coalition when I say that we are excited and optimistic about the potential to accelerate the advancement of a variety of national geospatial issues."

NSGIC is among the founding members, so we'll keep an eye on, and link to, COGO developements as they occur.

A Calendar of GIS Conferences

It started as a question: When do the various states plan to hold their statewide GIS Conferences? That question developed into a collection of items in an internal database at NSGIC HQ. That collection generated more questions about the different other GIS and Geo-related events that might conflict with those state conferences.

So we've started collecting a GIS Events Calendar at Google:



We hope to keep this going, and expand on it. We want to give it a home on the NSGIC web site. And a vacation place in the blog's side-bar? Maybe a pied-a-terre on some other blogs?

We'll see.

Meanwhile, if there's an event that you know about, but that we don't appear to know about (that is, it does not appear on this calendar), why not drop us a line?

UPDATE (8/8/08): Many thanks to those of you who have shared event ideas with us! We were also pleased to learn about the Wisconsin Geospatial Events calendar. Who else is using this sort of technology?

Also, we've added the events in list form to the sidebar to the right. Thanks to Jim Lacy for the suggestion!

Coalition of Geospatial Organizations Becomes Official

The Coalition of Geospatial Organizations (COGO) came into official being during a regularly scheduled meeting on August 4, 2008, at the ESRI User's Conference in San Diego. Representatives of several organizations attended via conference call and WebEx.

The following founding member organizations voted unanimously to approve a set of Rules of Operation and Procedure that brought COGO into existence:

• American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM)
• American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS)
• Association of American Geographers (AAG)
• Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CAGIS)
• Geospatial Information Technology Association (GITA)
• GIS Certification Institute (GISCI)
• International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO)
• Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors (MAPPS)
• National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC)
• University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS)
• Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA)

The group also elected its first group of officers:

• Chair: Cyril R. Smith (NSGIC)
  
• Chair-Elect: Curtis W. Sumner (ACSM)
  
• Secretary: George Donatello (IAAO)

The next meeting of COGO is expected to be held in conjunction with the next meeting of the Federal Geographic Data Committee, in October.

An Example of Dynamic Map/Data Visualization

The Flowing Data blog posted a nifty time-series map of the spread of the Walmart franchise: Watching the Growth of Walmart Across America. (Via Planetizen)

This map visualization of change over time draws on data from Freebase (an open source database of databases, I think) and uses the flash-based map-tile tool Modest Maps.

Is it GIS? It is certainly a good example of using map data to make a simple point.

And, if we're being honest with ourselves, it's fun to watch the little green lights flashing across the map.