S P RI NG 201 2

Q u a r t e r l y N e w s l e t t e r o f t h e T e n n e s s e e G e o g r a p h i c I n f o r m a t i o n C o u n c i l , I n c .

TNGIC Today T o p r o m o t e e t h i c a l , p r o f e s s i o n a l a n d t e c h n i c a l e x c e l l e n c e w i t h i n t h e

T e n n e s s e e G e o g r a p h i c C o m m u n i t y

Letter from the President

The 2012 conference was a great success. Thank you

all for making it one of the best statewide GIS

conferences in the Nation. This year we had over 250

attendees, 17 exhibitors and sponsors, 30 innovative

presentations and workshops, and 2 very interesting

keynote speakers. The quality of the information

shared in the presentations and discussions

strengthened my belief that we have some of the

industry’s best professionals right here in Tennessee.

The preconference events added unique training and

networking opportunities. The Experience GIS in

Tennessee is a great training class and is getting very

good reviews. I encourage those of you that have not

taken it to keep an eye out for the next time that it is

offered in your area. The golf tournament, geocache

event, and the balloon aerial photography

demonstration went great and are good opportunities

to have fun and network as well as win some nice

prizes donated by some of our sponsors. The

Montgomery Bell State Park provided ideal facilities and space to host these events

and we look forward to doing them again next year.

As we continue to grow this organization, we look to the members to get involved

and help make TNGIC a special statewide group. A few of you expressed interest in

joining one of our committees. If you would like to be a part of TNGIC, please reach

out to one of our board members. We need your help and can match your skills to

the right committee so you can make a bigger impact with a small amount of your

time.

TNGIC Annual Conference

GIS Champion

TNGIC Board Members

Conference Review

Social Event

Cornhole Tournament

Balloon Aerial Photography

Geocache & Golf Tourney

Map Gallery

4-H Map Gallery

Shawn Anderson—Federal 100 Winner

Continued on Page 2

1

PRESIDENT S P RI NG 201 2

Continued from Page 1….

Our membership is the foundation of TNGIC. Your $20

membership fee helps us organize and host events throughout

the state. For TNGIC to grow, we need more members. You will

see more notices about joining TNGIC in the next few weeks as

part of our membership drive. Please pass that information on to

your coworkers and friends and encourage them to join.

We have made a push to increase our use of social media for

TNGIC. The TNGIC facebook page is being updated often with articles and links that

you might find interesting. If you have not already, please “like” us and share

information with those that are TNGIC facebook friends.

Social media is providing many opportunities to share geospatial data with many

people in a short amount of time. New location-based applications are appearing in

app stores and websites every day. The majority of the users have no idea that they

are GIS users. I get lost in my own thoughts when trying to come up with new ways to

apply geospatial data to solve problems or support decisions. It is exciting to think

about the countless ways we, as GIS professionals, can put our experience to use

with this rapidly changing technology. You can make a big splash in a short amount

of time with those in your office by identifying an opportunity to speed up an old

process with new technology. Pick one of the many available tools and apply it. You

will quickly become a rock star in your office while spreading the use of GIS.

Finally, please make plans to attend one of the three regional events this fall. These

are great opportunities to connect with GIS users and learn about how GIS is being

applied in your area. Keep an eye on the TNGIC website and facebook page for

more information on these events.

Justin Graham

TNGIC President

2

2012 TNGIC Platinum and Gold Sponsors

TNGIC BOARD & GIS CHAMPION S P RI NG 201 2

TNGIC Board & GIS Champion

THANK YOU!!!

To the following board members,

whose terms expired at the 2012

TNGIC Annual Conference. We

appreciate everything you have

given to TNGIC!

Jason Duke Sam Moffat

Gayle Moore David Light

TNGIC Board members in action at

the Annual Conference.

2012 GIS Champion

Suzanne White

3

TNGIC BOARD S P RI NG 201 2

TNGIC Board Nominees

Justin Abart

Kimberley

Denney

Jason Duke

David

McMillen

Sam Moffat

Jason Duke

Kimberley Denney

Sam Moffat

David McMillen

Gayle Moore

Justin Abart

Marc Pearson

Introducing YOUR

newest TNGIC Board

Members:

Tim Prather

4

2012 TNGIC Board

Not pictured: Shawn Anderson

ANNUAL CONFERENCE S P RI NG 201 2

2012 Annual Conference Review

Wow! What a great conference! It was really nice to be back in Middle Tennessee

after 5 fun years in Chattanooga and Gatlinburg. Montgomery Bell State Park really

turned out to be a nice place to host the 2012 TNGIC Conference! Wednesday’s

keynote was “GIS Data Management & Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill” by David

Gisclair, LA Oil Spill Coordinator Office TAP Director. Thursday’s keynote was

“Geospatial Intelligence: Deriving Actionable Knowledge from Geospatial Data” by

Max Baber, USGIF Academic Programs Director. Dennis Pederson, TN OIR GIS

Services Director, presented “Tennessee Base Mapping Program Update:

Implementation of the Statewide Enhanced Elevation Business Plan”. In addition, we

had 31 wonderful presentations / workshops covering a variety of topics. And if that

wasn’t enough, there were 18 vendors to visit with.

The 2012 TNGIC Conference had 252 attendees. The Conference was closer to West

Tennessee than ever before and we therefore had an increase in attendees from that

region! There were 31 students (including 4-H) in attendance. TNGIC provided 20

student scholarships to the 2012 Conference.

The food and weather were superb. We ended up providing two evening meals for

the first time at TNGIC. This enabled even more networking opportunities! The first

night we had an excellent Fajita Bar. The second night we had BBQ and played

cornhole with entertainment provided by a local band. Congratulations to Zach and

Johnny who won the tournament that consisted of 26 teams!!

5

ANNUAL CONFERENCE S P RI NG 201 2

2012 Annual Conference Review

There were several training sessions and activities prior to the Conference.

“Experience GIS in TN” had 10 students on Monday. On Tuesday, there were 15

students in the “Cartographic Design Fundamentals” class. Many thanks to our

instructors and map contest judges for their time and expertise! They included

Jason Duke, Kurt Snider, Jim Beasley, Tim Prather, David Ladd, and Tim Buchanan.

There were lots of maps to view in the map gallery. Activities consisted of the TNGIC

golf tournament, GeoCaching, and (TNGIC’s first ever and possibly last) balloon

aerial photography demonstration. The balloon aerial photography was very

interesting and we hope to do it again.

The staff at Montgomery Bell State Park was very friendly and accommodating. They

were really proud or their work and it showed! The Conference planning committee

consisted of 26 hardworking folks including Carl Alexander, Shawn Anderson, Bill

Avant, Katharine Bennett, Tammy Bilbrey, Bryan Blackburn, Kim Denney, Jason Duke,

Susan Finger, Justin Graham, Debbie Harris, Cliff Hoeffner,

Jeanette Jones, David Ladd, Ryan Latimer, David Light,

Silas Mathes, Stacey McDaniel, Kim McDonough, David

McMillen, Sam Moffat, Gayle Moore, Marc Pearson, Tim

Prather, Greg Rhinehart, and Kurt Snider. Each of them

played a critical role in pulling everything together and did

an excellent job. I would like to thank each of them for their

efforts with the Conference. Finally, I’d like to thank Mrs.

Silas Mathes (Julie) for a beautiful Conference logo!

6

TNGIC EXHIBITORS S P RI NG 201 2

Exhibitor Hall

7

ANNUAL CONFERENCE S P RI NG 201 2

Conference Sessions

SAVE THE DATE

Upcoming Regional Conferences

East Regional - Sept. 18, 2012 in Kingsport

MTNGIS - Nov. 7-8, 2012 in Murfreesboro

West Regional - Oct. 3-4, 2012 in Jackson

MAGIC - Nov. 15 or 16, 2012 in Memphis

8

SOCIAL EVENT S P RI NG 201 2

TNGIC BBQ Social Event

Entertainment provided by the

Highland Rim Bluegrass Band.

9

SOCIAL EVENT S P RI NG 201 2

TNGIC BBQ Social Event

10

CORNHOLE TOURNAMENT S P RI NG 201 2

1st Annual TNGIC Cornhole Tournament

Cornhole

Tournament

Winners:

Zach Mahr

(G-Squared)

and

Johnny Stephens

(Maury County)

11

AERIAL BALLOON DEMO S P RI NG 201 2

1 2

Balloon Aerial Photography Demonstration

AERIAL BALLOON DEMO S P RI NG 201 2

Balloon Aerial Photography Demonstration

1 3

GEOCACHE & GOLF S P RI NG 201 2

TNGIC Geocache and Golf Tournament

2012 TNGIC Geocache Winners

1st Place

4-H - Ty Petty, Stephen Moughon

2nd Place

Roane Co Red Necks—Philip James,

Renee Crowe, Luke Crass

3rd Place

MTSU - Raiders - Anne Maples Vaught,

Diana Dennis

Winners of Golf Tournament (shooting a 61):

Carl Alexander & Chris Robinson from City of Franklin

Rick Wallace from Surdex & John Totty from Palmer Engineering.

A huge THANK YOU

to the sponsors of

the golf tourney:

True North, Fugro,

Sanborn, Surdex,

KCI Technologies,

and AMEC.

THANK YOU to GEO-Jobe, sponsors

for the geocache competition.

14

MAP GALLERY S P RI NG 201 2

On behalf of TNGIC and the map

judging team, I want to thank

each Map Gallery participant for

the hard work and creativity

represented. I always learn a lot

about maps when I study

others' work, and it is a

challenge to score the maps that

all have different intended audi-

ences and uses.

Tim Prather

Results of the 2012 TNGIC Map Gallery

Best Cartographic Design is awarded to the map that

artistically employs the elements of cartography with-

out compromising use and functionality.

1st place:

Fine Print Presses of the World

With works in the Vanderbilt Library 'Book as Art' exhibit

Jacob Thornton, Vanderbilt University

2nd place:

The Cumberland Trail State Scenic Trail - Tennessee's First Long Distance Hiking Trail

- A Work in Progress

Jim Brannon. Cumberland Trail State Scenic

15

TNGIC Map Gallery

MAP GALLERY S P RI NG 201 2

Results of the 2012 TNGIC Map Gallery

Best Analysis is awarded to the map that is

best designed to display the results of

spatial data analysis and presents the

information in an unbiased way, allowing the

viewer to extract their own conclusions,

utilizing the map as a tool.

1st place:

2007-2011 Customer Reported Electric

Service Interruptions

Katharine Bennett, Erwin Utilities

2nd place:

Southern Forest Change 1976-2006

US Fish & Wildlife Service

Best Student Project is awarded to the best

overall student project. Submitted maps may be

cartographic or analytically focused.

1st place:

West End Neighborhood - Neighbor-

hood Revitalization Initiative,

Cookeville, TN

Nicolas Glover

2nd place:

Pinnacle Fire Tower Trail - Unicoi, TN

Unicoi County 4-H GIS Team

Viewer's Choice:

Avoiding the Zombie Apocalypse

Eric McMillan, Rutherford County

Planning Department

TNGIC Map Gallery

16

4-H MAP GALLERY S P RI NG 201 2

I want to thank TNGIC for supporting the 2012 Tennessee 4-H GIS Contest. Operating any contest

like this takes a lot of planning and promotion, and judging the 4-H project entry forms and maps

requires a fair amount of time from the TNGIC members that served as judges.

For the sake of TNGIC members that may not have kept up with this event, the Tennessee 4-H GIS

Contest is an opportunity for youth to demonstrate their GIS knowledge and skills in a state-wide

competition that incorporates the three elements of the 4-H Roundup competition that is used to

select state winners in other projects. There is a written entry that tells about the project, a brief

interview that is pre-recorded, and a physical map that is exhibited in the map gallery at the TNGIC

Annual Conference. The entries are scored by TNGIC members and the winners announced during

the TNGIC Annual Conference.

The winning teams from the Tennessee 4-H GIS Contest are nominated to the National 4-H GIS-GPS

Leadership Team and provided travel support for the trip to the team activities in San Diego, CA.

The National 4-H GIS-GPS Leadership Team conducts service learning activities for the USFWS

Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge the day prior to the ESRI Education Users Conference,

collecting GPS data and the converting it into maps for the Refuge using ArcGIS. The team then

participates in the EdUC and UC, and each state’s team is expected to deliver a brief oral

presentation and to exhibit and discuss their maps at the map galleries of both conferences. After

the conferences, the National 4-H GIS-GPS Leadership team meets by videoconferences throughout

the year to find ways to promote GIS through 4-H.

Thanks to TNGIC,

NETGIS and some

other sponsors, there

will be three 4-H

teams representing

Tennessee at San

Diego this year.

Winners of the

Tennessee 4-H GIS

Contest is

Pinnacle Fire Tower

Trail - Unicoi, TN —

Unicoi County 4-H

GIS Team: repre-

sented by Dylan

Roberts and Lydia

Huggins

GIS mentors:

TNGIC members Ty

Petty and

Stephen Moughon

TNGIC 4-H Map Gallery

Unicoi County 4-H GIS Team:

Elisabeth Moughon, Stephen Moughon, Dylan Roberts, Ty Petty – Extension

agent, Lydia Huggins, Dara Carney-Nedelman, Jason Duke – TNGIC

President at time of the contest, and Tim Prather, UT Extension Specialist. Continued on Page 18...

17

4-H MAP GALLERY S P RI NG 201 2

Continued from Page 17…. TNGIC 4-H Map Gallery

2nd place map:

City of Brownsville Storm Drainage Structures: Phase 1-South Forked

Deer Watershed Northern Brownsville — Haywood County 4-H GIS 'Flood Chasers,' represented by

Andreas Fritz. GIS mentors: Shawn Anderson (TNGIC member) and Allen Williams

Additional team representing Tennessee and funded by local sponsorship:

Recycling Dropoff Locations in Unicoi County —- Unicoi County 4-H GIS Team, represented by

Elisabeth Moughon and Dara Carney-Nedelman. GIS mentors: TNGIC members Ty Petty and

Stephen Moughon

Adult chaperones for the trip will be Ty Petty, UT Extension Agent in Unicoi County, and Stephen

Moughon, 4-H alumnus and member of the 2011-2012 National 4-H GIS-GPS Leadership Team. I

will be there in a technical support role to help team members and their leaders with the GPS data

collection, transfer and mapping activities. If you will be at the EdUC or the UC this year, please get

in touch with me and plan to join our group for lunch (Dutch treat somewhere in the Gaslamp

District) on Monday, July 23.

The Tennessee 4-H GIS Program is still in its infancy, and I am hoping TNGIC members (that’s you)

will volunteer to serve as GIS mentors in their communities. We just completed in-service training

on this program for our UT and TSU Extension agents, and there is a lot of excitement and interest.

We are expecting a big turnout for the 2013 contest at the TNGIC Annual Conference, and I hope

your county will be represented there. If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity

to extend TNGIC’s reach into your community and to stretch your GIS knowledge, please visit these

websites to learn more and then contact your local UT Extension office to speak to one of the 4-H

Extension Agents, or contact me and I’ll fill you in.

Esri 4-H GIS Grants Program:

UT Extension:

TN 4-H Youth Development:

Visit and ‘Like’ us on Face-

book:

Tim Prather

TNGIC Education Committee

Chair

Extension Specialist

Biosystems Engineering &

Soil Science Department

University of Tennessee Ex-

tension

tprather@tennessee.edu Haywood County 4-H ‘Flood Chasers’

Josh Williams, Theresa Fritz, Andreas Fritz, Jesse Williams,

Holt Kendrick, Miranda Kendrick, and Johannes Fritz. 1 8

SHAWN ANDERSON S P RI NG 201 2

19

Federal 100 Winner Shawn Anderson, GISP

Shawn P. Anderson , GISP

Director, Geographic Information System

Department

Tipton County, Tenn.

The work: Providing maps and timetables to

aid disaster relief during the Mississippi River

flooding in 2011.

The impact: His information, updated hourly,

helped ensure an orderly evacuation and no

loss of life during the worst flooding in Tipton

County since 1937.

The nuts and bolts: When the Mississippi

River crested 14 feet above flood level in May

2011, Anderson provided timely information

on predicted and actual flooding and

evacuation routes to disaster relief and

emergency services personnel. After the

floodwaters receded, he developed an

interactive website with similar information to

be used in future disasters. He is also

involved in an engineering study to enhance

the countywide emergency communications

system by upgrading equipment to meet

federal mandates and eliminate dead spots

in law enforcement and fire service radio

communications.

For more information visit http://fcw.com/GIG/

FCW/articles/2012/03/30/Federal-100-Anderson-

Shawn.aspx

The opportunities listed here by no means limit the scope of the committees, each

is as unique as its members. The committees are designed to be flexible so that

what you have to offer will fit in—somewhere.

Contact a Committee Chair or Board Liaison Today !!!

JOIN TODAY S P RI NG 201 2

TNGIC Committees Sign Up Today!!

Communication Committee Chair—Kurt Snider, kurt_snider@fws.gov

Board Liaison–Katharine Bennett, kbennett@e-u.cc

The purpose of the Communication Committee is to sustain effective communication between the

TNGIC membership, the Board of Directors and the geospatial community. We produce the

quarterly newsletter “TNGIC Today” and strive to improve the communication throughout TNGIC

through email news, web site content, brochures, and membership outreach.

Education & Outreach Committee Chair–Tim Prather, tprather@utk.edu

Board Liaison–Suzanne White, suzanne.white@tn.gov

The goal of the Education & Outreach Committee is to foster educational opportunities and pro-

mote awareness of TNGIC throughout the geospatial community. These opportunities may include:

training, maintaining academic contact lists, promoting/supporting the regional meetings,

student/University outreach, student scholarships, and GIS day activities.

Web & Data Committee Chair—Jason Duke, jason_duke@fws.gov

Board Liaison–Bill Avant, bill.avant@tn.gov

The goal of the Web & Data Committee is to maintain a web presence for TNGIC and facilitate data

sharing and distribution for the geospatial community. This committee is always on the look-out for

new data to share and metadata to upload to the metadata server. It is also responsible for

creating and distributing lists of internet mapping sites, GIS job postings, and the SharePoint site

content, promotion and maintenance. If you have ideas for how to make any of these servers or the

TNGIC web site better for the TNGIC members, then join the committee and let your voice and ideas

be heard.

Conference Committee 2013 Conference Chair—Gayle Moore, gayle.mooore@tn.gov

Board Liaison–Suzanne White, suzanne.white@tn.gov The purpose of the Conference Planning Committee is to organize, plan and facilitate the TNGIC Annual GIS

Conference. This committee handles all of the details and decisions that are required to make this a

successful event for TNGIC members. Major duties include conference coordination, preparing the

conference program, coordinating attendee registration with Regonline, distributing student activities and

student conference scholarships, establishing pre and post conference training, setup and judging of the

map gallery, and seeking corporate sponsorship for the conference.

2 0

The Tennessee Geographic Council was established in 1994

to improve the linkages between the various agencies

working with GIS in Tennessee. At present, there are over

400 members representing many varied agencies.

Tennessee Geographic Information Council (TNGIC) is a

non-profit group of Geographic Information System users,

designers and those who influence the use of GIS in federal

state and local governments as well as private sector

representatives within the State of Tennessee.

TNGIC holds quarterly board meetings and an annual general

membership meeting in March. The annual meeting

includes panel discussions, work-shops, vendor displays and

poster displays. Other channels for communication among

GIS professionals across the state are the quarterly

newsletter.

TNGIC

P.O. Box 330906

Nashville, TN 37203

TNGIC Today Spring 2012

ET Map Info Users Group

Contact Reid Gryder at 865-482-7919 for quarterly

meetings in the Knoxville/Oak Ridge area. Also at

GryderRk@aol.com

Geo-spatial Information Network of East Tennessee

(geoNET)

Regional GIS users group serving the 16-county re-

gion of the East Tennessee Development District

(ETDD) centered around Knoxville. Non-software spe-

cific group that meets bi-monthly. Contact Blake Sar-

tin at blake.sartin@tys.org or contact him at 865-342-

3027.

North East Tennessee GIS Users Group (NETGIS)

Regional GIS users group with membership open to

any person living, working, or having interest in North

East Tennessee and Surrounding Areas. Contact

David Light at dlight@eastman.com or call him at

423-229-2189.

Oak Ridge/Knoxville Area ESRI Users Group

Contact Pat Wurth at 481-2000 ext 2275 or

Wurth_Pa@rscc.cc.tn.us. Email Pat to receive meet-

ing notices.

Middle Tennessee GIS Users Group

Contact Suzanne White, email Suzanne.white@tn.gov or tele-

phone 615-253-4799 for meeting dates. This

non-software specific group discusses general GIS topics.

Clarksville—Montgomery County (CMC) GIS Users Group

Contact CMC GIS Secretary at 931-221-7500 or CMC-

GIS@apsu.edu for information. CMC GIS Website—

http://gisweb.apsu.edu.

Intergraph Users Groups

There are several in the Huntsville, AL, area covering FRAMME,

Geomedia, and MGE. For additional information contact Ron

McLeroy, at 256-882-8112.

TN Federal GIS User Group

Meets twice a year at the US Fish and Wildlife service offices,

446 Neal Street, Cookeville, TN. Contact Jason Duke at US

Fish and Wildlife Service at 931-528-6481 ext. 216 or email

Jason_duke@fws.gov.

Memphis Area Geographic Information Council (MAGIC)

MAGIC was established in 2003 with the purpose to stimulate

and encourage the advancement of GIS in the Mid-South Re-

gion. Contact Shawn Anderson at 901.476.0234

or directors@midsouthgis.org for more information.

Write for TNGIC Today!! Contact Joyce

Pierson, joyce.h.pierson@gmail.com

to submit articles.

www.tngic.org

TNGIC S P RI NG 201 2

GIS User Groups in Tennessee

21

Contact Jan Light, TNGIC Office

Manager, for questions or comments

at officemanager@tngic.org