URISA News January/February 2009

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NEWS

Issue 229 January/February 2009

URISA is seeking nominations for its GISHall of Fame. The Hall of Fame recog -nizes and honors the best of us in GIS.Started in 2005, the URISA Hall of Famedocuments the contributions made bykey individuals.

2005 Inductees: Edgar Horwood , IanMcHarg , Roger Tomlinson , JackDangermond , Nancy Tosta ,Harvard Lab

2006 Inductee: Gary Hunter 2007 Inductees: Don Cooke and

Michael Goodchild

URISA welcomes nominations from anyprofession and is not restricted to thosehaving a past or current relationshipwith URISA. Criteria include:n

At least 25 years of sustainedprofessional involvement in the GIS field.

n Original and creative contributionsto the field.

N ina i ns S ugh f r URISA GIS Ha f Fa

n Well known and respected by awide range of peers.

n Consistent demonstration of soundprofessional and personal ethics.

Nominations must be submitted toURISA by May 1, 2009. The nominationshall consist of a letter of no morethan 2 pages. The letter will describehow the person or organization hasmet or exceeded the award criteria.It must be in electronic formatand emailed to [email protected]. Acommittee of past URISA Presidentswill review all nominations and makerecommendations to the URISA Boardof Directors by mid-June.

The Associat ion for GIS Professionals

IN THIS ISSUE3 P esidents Col mn

4 The G in yo IS

5 The Essence of EdHo wood that is!

6 Calling Off the H ntfo the Sna k

8 2009 ESIG Awa dApplication

10 Welcome NewurISA Membe s

The Awa dEach inductee will be honored in the

following manner:n Recognition by URISA, one of

the worlds premier geospatialorganizations

n Name and contributionsmemorialized on the GIS Hall of Fame website

n Substantial acknowledgmentthrough a press release andannouncements

n Elegant glass recognition awardidentifying the nature and date of the ceremony

n Complimentary registration to theURISA conference where the awardis given, including an invitation tothe VIP reception.

n

Complimentary hotel room for thelength of the URISA conference.

For details, see http://www.urisa.org/hall_of_fam e .

Who has made outstanding contribu-tions to the profession? Nominate that person for URISAs GISHall of Fame!


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Impo tant urISADates to remembe

CoNFeReNCeS

F bruary 27, 2009 Abstracts due for 47th Annual URISAConference

F bruary 27, 2009 Abstracts due for GIS in TransitConferenc e

Jun 5-8, 2009URISAs GIS in Public Health ConferenceProvidence, RI

August 4-6, 2009URISA/NENA Addressing ConferenceProvidence, RI

S pt mb r 29-oct b r 2, 200947th Annual URISA Conference

Anaheim, CA

N v mb r 10-12, 2009GIS in Transit Conferenc eSt Petersburg, FL

AwARdSGIS Hall of Fame May 1

Student Paper Competition May 1

Exemplary Systems in Government Awards May 11

The Urban and Regional InformationSystems Association (URISA) is thepremier professional association for those involved in improving our urbanand regional environments through theeffective use of information technology.Professionals in planning, economicdevelopment, information systems,emergency services, natural resources,public works, transportation, and other departments within state and localgovernment have depended on URISA

for professional development andeducational needs since 1963. Throughits international, national and localchapter operations, URISA serves nearly8,000 professionals.

AboutPRESIDENT Hilary Perkins, GISP AICP-East-WestGateway Council of Governments, St. Louis,MO

[email protected]

PRESIDENT-ELECT Kathrine Cargo, GISP-Orleans ParishCommunication District

[email protected] PAST-PRESIDENT Susan Johnson-Charlotte Mecklenburg [email protected]

SECRETARY Cynthia Braddock-Boulder County (CO)

Assessor's Of [email protected]

TREASURER Greg Babinski, GISP-King County (WA) GISCenter [email protected]

Clare Brown, GISP-Montgomery WatsonHarza, New Orleans, [email protected]

J. Allison Butler, GISP, AICP,MilePost Zero, Orlando, [email protected]

Michael W Lovett, GISP-CDM Camp Dresser & McKee, Maitland, [email protected]

Sandra K Majewski-Las Vegas Metro [email protected]

Juna Papajorgji, GISP - Alachua County (FL)

Growth Managementjpapajorgji@alachua. .us

Karen RM Stewart, GISP-ESRI Canada, Vancouver, [email protected]

Geney Terry, GISP-El Dorado County (CA)[email protected]

urISA Headq a te s 1460 Renaissance Drive, Suite 305Park Ridge, IL 60068Phone: 847-824-6300Fax: [email protected]://www.urisa.org

Wendy NelsonExec tive Di [email protected]

Article submissions, calendar items and industry news should be sent [email protected]

2 January/February 2009

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Hilary E. H. Perkins,GISP, AICP, East-West Gateway Council of

Governments

PReSIdeNtS ColUmNURISAs Va u in t ugh ti sBy Hila y E. H. Pe kins, GISP, AICP

Its getting rough out there. I cannot imag-

ine anyone reading this does not know of aprofessional colleague or personal friend or family member who has not been touchedby the ongoing economic downturn. Fromjob losses, to mortgage crises, to our wither -ing 401(k)s, it is hard to know when this willend and what we will come out looking likeon the other end. But this is not going to bea column on how rotten things are and howwe just have to hang on and ride it out, it isgoing to be a column about nding brightspots and the support those bright spotscan be in tough times.

URISA is, of course, one of those brightspots. As URISA thepremier Associationfor GIS Professionals grows along withthe geospatial industry, we have muchto be optimistic about. The URISA Boardof Directors, working closely with our wonderful staf f and volunteers, continueto work to put in place a more efficientand responsive organization, givingconsiderable attention to maintainingcurrent member benefits, and designingnew programs for the coming year andfuture years. Building on this foundation,

we are responding to the changing andgrowing geospatial industry through animaginative program of member benefitsthat will help you grow as a professional,and maybe even find that new job.

Rather than a laundry list of URISAmember benefits, let us just consider what is regularly noted as the single mostimportant yet in many ways intangible benefit: URISAs value in networking. Inmy first column, I mentioned that URISAhas been so vitally important to my owncareer for networking and professional

development, so let us look at somespecific ideas for you to get involved andbuild your own URISA network:n Chap rs . URISA has more than

two dozen s tate, provincial, andregional chapters many of whichhave active sections serving major metropolitan areas. Chapters hostmeetings, workshops, conferences,and social events occur regularlythroughout the United States andCanada. URISA Chapters benefit

the geographic areas they serve byhelping local professionals meet localand regional needs. See the inset map

for the locations of URISA Chapters inNorth America. Contact informationcan be found at ww w.urisa.org/urisa_chapter s. Dont see a chapter that covers your area? Start one!

What could be a better way to build your network and help out the localgeospatial community than a URISAChapter? Contact URISA headquartersfor more information about starting achapter, or see the URISA website.

n Annua C nf r nc . URISAis dedicated to offering high-

quality networking and education

opportunities. The Annual Conferenceis URISAs premier event to meetnew colleagues and share insightson tackling tough problems.Opportunities abound fromprofessionally presented educationalsessions, to the fun and excitement of the social. More information on this

years Annual Conference (to be heldin Anaheim, CA) can be found on theURISA website. Also, please consider becoming a member of the URISAProgram Committee. I can assure you,

youll learn and grow as a professionalthrough reviewing abstracts, and youwill develop friendships with colleaguethat will last throughout your career.

n Sp cia y C nf r nc s . In additionto the annual conference, URISApresents a number of specialty topicconferences each year, some of whichare presented in partnership with other associations. These niche conferencescover topics ranging from addressingto assessment to transit. The specialtyconferences provide an opportunityto network with your peers in a more

continued on page 5

January/February 2009

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Recently our new CIO, Glenn Angstadt,asked me to do a one-hour workshop onthe importance of addresses for the other IT managers at the County. I took URISAsentire one-day workshop on AddressIssues in IS/GIS Implementation and dis -tilled it down to a one-hour session--what achallenge! The entire exercise did get me/us thinking though. With the interest andsuccess of GIS, it is now time to think abouthow our GIS capabilities may be leveragedback to all (or most all) of the other IT sys -tems in place in government. Certainly the

geography of our community must providea common framework for all we do ingovernment with computers. Well, it is now time for GIS people to be a bit more forceful in helping the rest of the IT organization torecognize the power of geography beneath all of our governmental computing.

At a very rudimentary level, gettingIT people to understand the differencesbetween different kinds of addressesand the fact that they may be related todifferent entities (people, places, events or things) in our many databases and files isS p n . A persons mailing address in avoting system may be completely different

from their location (or situs) addresscritical for polling place assignment. Thissimply means that the two addresses arestored completely independently andmay even follow differing standards, oneU.S.P.S. (Postal Service) and the other maybe locally derived for the situs/location/place address. Much confusion still arises

from the postal city and the legaljurisdiction (where the person actuallylives). They may be two completelydifferent places as in a local situation:

West Chester, PA, is both a postal city anda jurisdiction city. Many people who livein West Goshen Township have a WestChester, PA mailing address. This canmake a huge difference when we mightbe talking about geo-auditing applicationsdealing with franchise fees which oftenmistakenly use a mailing address insteadof a location/situs address. In the above

example if West Chester (the postal city from the mailing address) was used for exactly locating people they would bein the wrong jurisdictionWest Chester not West Goshen Township. In this case

West Chester is both a postal city and ajurisdiction, so we really have to keep theaddresses separate.

There are literally hundreds of addresses stored throughout the manyIT systems used in government. Mailingand location/place specific addresses arethe most common but other addresses

might deal with service locations,multiple addresses for multiple structures,occupancy level addresses, etc.

S p is beginning to think aboutaddresses as unique keys, so records can besubsequently accessed or queried reliably.So often we still see fields describedas Address1 and Address2 with nointernal formatting, subcomponentdefinition or subfield edits. As GIS people,we too often think that we can clean-upor address match/geocode anything thatcomes our waywe probably can. Our goal and objective should be to captureaccurate, unique and pristine addressesat initial entry for all applications, not toprocess them after the fact using our

fancy GIS matching tools. When we do a procurement or select

a packaged system we should also beenforcing our address standards in anyCOTS solution. Any web based applicationshould especially be address specific, sinceour citizens are often confused aboutaddress formats too.

S p hr should be to edit eachand every address component (for all theaddress types captured, e.g. mailing versussitus or other) so a street name will never be misspelled again, street directionals(north, south, east, west) will always bepresent, where needed, for uniquenessand street types (ST, AV, LN, BV, RD, TR)always correct for the proper street name,directional and jurisdictional situation.Matching to the proper house number

or address range should also be edited aspossible. We should also be including andediting suite and apartment numbers,where possible, because we will need tobe much more 3-D savvy in the futuretoo. This means that every address fieldhas a separate room, suite or apartmentnumber component. These steps shouldbe followed for all GIS applications and for virtually all other automation as wellnoexceptions. The CIO should see to it. Allproper editable address componentsshould also come directly from the GIS

workflow processes, so as new streetsand parcels are added, new addresses areimmediately verified as well and availableto all applications that have addresses.

Just getting IT people to survey their automation for address fields of varioustypes and to review the lack of formattingand component edits will do much toGIS enable other automation. As partof the address survey process, it is also agood time to review other geographiccodes (geocodes) that are collected andstored in other non-GIS automation. What

edits are used to capture proper codesand how are they accurately maintained?Perhaps the geocodes should come

from the GIS applications? With accurateaddresses in other IT systems it is mucheasier to tabulate and map the valuabledata providing an entirely new vista of the information content of the data.Even simple queries are much easier toaccomplish. Having better addresses toaccomplish reprecincting using voter

files, how many County employeesactually live in the County, how manyhousing units, with unrelated individualswith different names, benefit from socialservice programs from related agenciesare just some of the possibilities with goodaddresses.

Good addresses and editable addresscomponents should come directly fromthe GIS! wh r s h G in y ur IS?

If you would like copies of our addressstandards, copies of our address survey or

th G in y ur ISBy Pei ce Eichelbe ge , GIS Manage , Cheste Co nty, PA (urISA P esident 2001-2002)

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Thank you URISA for the recognition thatcomes from the Horwood award this year in New Orleans.

The honor just got me thinking aboutURISA, Ed Horwood and the importanceof volunteering and staying involved withURISA. I met Ed probably 4 or 5 times inmy early years of URISA. None of thoseconversations were any longer than a fewminutes or so, but he always took timeto visit and make a point. I am envious of those that were his students since theyhad quality time with Ed over a much

longer period. Yet I am most fortunatethat I did get to visit and chat with Ed for all those times I did. Most current URISAnsnever had the opportunity to meet EdHorwood, one of URISAs key founders.

Most memorable was the timehe told mePeirce not only make adifference, but make it matter! WOW,such a powerful charge. Another time hedescribed his research at Boeing during

WWII. He was researching why somebombers were shot down more often thanothers. He did statistical analysis of which

planes in a formation were more likely toget hit than otherstalk about making adifference. His work led to the B-17 Gmodel that had a twin .50 caliber machinegun turret in the chin (nose) of the aircraftwhich protected it from a frontal attack byGerman fighters!

No question Eds drive and desirerubbed off on me since Im sure myinvolvement and interest in URISA camedirectly from Ed (and others too). Your interest and involvement with URISA willalso provide real personal dividends to

you in many ways, some surprising. Beinginvolved with so many URISA workshopsover the years allows you to really getinto a topic in great detail. Presentingthe material and participating in peoplesreactions really helps sharpen your wit and

your message. Those experiences serve you in good stead on many non-URISAoccasions as well too!

I could not help reflecting a little inNew Orleans this year at the conference.Some quick thoughts; URISAs address

th ess nc f e H r ha is!By Pei ce Eichelbe ge , GIS Manage , Cheste Co nty, PA (urISA P esident 2001-2002)

initiatives are more important than ever, aswe think of our larger work being G/IS, wewill recognize the universality of addressesthroughout all automation. It is time tobe more forceful about our involvementwith addresses anywhere they might exist.Clean em up, standardize em, share em,use em.truly the G in the IS. What ITreally needs in government.

Two other issues we must better understand and push3-D/subparcelvectors and more time slice GIS datastructures. The complexity of our built

environment, not to mention our legal/tax environment, will create a much morecomplex set of vector data structures for GIS. We just cannot be satisfied with 2-D,parcel polygonswe must understandexempt portions, easements, footprints,occupancy level data and air rights uponthe legal cadastral as an intimate part of the GIS data model from now on. Wemust also recognize the need to display

and show better time slices and historicalviews of our maps, imagery and databases(along with all relevant, synchronized

attributes) within all of our applications andmapping capabilities, much better thanwe have done to date. The trends are moreimportant than just the current conditions.

Ed would have wanted it that way!

Thanks URISA!Peirce Eichelberger [email protected]

intimate environment.n Car r C n r . URISA provides a

Career Center with valuable informationfor job seekers, potential employers,and internship opportunities. At www.urisa.org/career_center you will findlinks to the URISA Marketplace of jobsfor both seekers and employers; theURISA Salary Survey, a vital statisticalreference for the state of the industry;model job descriptions; and a listing of Colleges and Universities that have GIScertificate programs.

I want you to know that when thingsget daunting, as they are now, URISAis your trusted resource. It has becomemore important than ever to be a part of a community and URISA, with memberslike you around the world, embodies theGIS Community. With economies strugglingworldwide, it is essential that URISA membersgrow their personal networks, and sharpentheir skills to assist their organizations inmaking wise and efficient decisions.

I ask for your continued strong support

urISA's Val econtinued from page 3

and involvement in URISA. Your membershoffers many tangible benefits (publications,discounts, access to peers in the profession),but there is more. A constant thread that willhopefully run through my columns is thatURISA is part of our identities as professionand it provides one of the best platforms for networking, contributing to the field, andfor professional growth. When you pay yourdues and contribute time and resources toURISA, keep those intangibles in mind. Ipledge to you that URISA will remain strongactive, and a growing part of the geospatialprofession.

So expand your URISA network! Tooffer your time and talent to help URISA,contact any Board of Directors member,the Executive Director, or me if youd liketo be involved in URISA programs. Or,better yet, submit a completed volunteer form (www.urisa.org/volunteer) as a wayto indicate your interest. We will find aworthwhile way for you to contribute - and

you will find a community of professionalsthat will be supportive during troubled(and good!) times.


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He had bought a large map representing the sea,Without the least vestige of land:And the crew were much pleased when they found it to be A map they could all understand.

Whats the good of Mercators North Poles and Equators,Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines? So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply They are merely conventional signs!

Other maps are such shapes, with their islands and capes!

But weve got our brave Captain to thank:(So the crew would protest) that hes bought us the best --A perfect and absolute blank! (Carroll 1891)

Maps empower humans with a spatialcontext: I am here. This is my home.From the earliest stages of civilization,people have visualized their environment.In 1963, James Mellaart discovered whatmay be the worlds oldest map at atalHyk in central Turkey, reportedly fromthe 7th millennia BCE. (Mellaart 1964,

1967, 1976) Car tographers would strug -gle to create maps that brought a senseof reality to scenes that no person beforethe space age could hope to take in vastregions, mysterious continents and seem -ingly boundless oceans. Accurate geogra -phy often meant the difference betweenlife and death. The 1707 grounding of

four ships in Vice-Admiral Sir CloudesleyShovells eet off the Isles of Scilly, result -ing in the loss of 1400 lives (includingthe admiral), proved that dead reckoningoften left you dead. The longitude be -

came an international obsession.The characters in Lewis Carrolls

farce took comfort in their geographicignorance. Americas students cannotbut seem to be doing so. One needonly review the findings of the latestgeographic literacy study, conductedby Roeper Public Affairs for NationalGeographic, to appreciate their level of spatial discombobulation. Only 37% of

young Americans, ages 18-24, can find

Ca ing off h Hun f r h SnarkSteven B anting, Jeni e J nio High School, Lewiston ID

Iraq on a map, although American troopshave been fighting there since 2003. Afghanistan is even more mysterious, with88% of the respondents failing to locate itcorrectly. Fifty-four percent think Sudan isin Asia, even though the Darfur region of that nation has been the intense focus of media attention. Half cannot locate New

York. Three-quarters still think that Englishis the most widely-spoken language.(National Geographic Society 2006) Quite

frankly, Americans are more lost on their own planet than those characters on the

popular television program. Olivers Lawof Location appears to be the road mapdu jour: No matter where you go, there

you are. The isle of the Snark might aswell be a real destination, home to itsBoojum, Bandersnatch, Jubjub and theJabberwock.

Sadly, geography has been affordedshort shrift in the No Child Left Behindrush to stress mathematics, reading andlanguage usage. Senate Bill 727 (110thSession) A bill to improve and expandgeographic literacy among kindergartenthrough grade 12 students in theUnited States by improving professionaldevelopment programs for kindergartenthrough grade 12 teachers offeredthrough institutions of higher education

failed to survive the Committee on Health,Education, Labor, and Pensions. Its Housecounterpart (H.R. 1228) died in the HouseCommittee on Education and Labor.

Given the foregoing, what canschools do to jumpstart, energize andexcite a fundamental and long-livedinterest in geography? Here is howone Idaho school in particular provedthe truth in the Chinese proverb: Theperson who says it cannot be doneshould not interrupt the person doingit. The administrators at Jenifer Junior High School (Lewiston ID) gave us thelatitude to act; now we had to calculatethe longitude and find our way. Clearly,no curriculum would survive dependingon dead reckoning.

Step 1 involved accepting ownership,resolving to do what is best for kidsregardless of popular or convenienttrends. If you dont take the lead in pullingthe dog sled, your view of the path aheadwill not change. Geographic informationsystems (GIS) are fundamental pillarsto 21st century geography education,built on a foundation of increasedteacher technology competencies. Theemerging critical new tool of GeographicInformation Systems for the storage,analysis, and visualization of spatial data

will have methodological impact on thegeography, as well as, at least the spatialaspects of human society, allowingthe completely different view points toanalyze the world phenomena. (Marble1990)

We asked ourselves: What skillsdo teachers need to be geographicallyliterate? What skills to students need?Understandably, those skills were notexclusive. The 18 national geographystandards apply just as much to teachersas they do to students, and GIS suppliesthe tools to master a majority of thebenchmarks and explore the Earthin spatial terms. So, we embraced itsbackbone principles and how those couldbe applied to the K-12 classroom. Thelearning curve has often been precipitousand remains so as new faculty andstudents are included. There is no royalroad, but there is a road. (Brooks 1986)

Step 2 required the focusedleadership of a teacher to take thepoint, to serve as mentor, which in our case was this author, who had learnedGIS as a national Challenge Grant fellow.For most social studies and geographyteachers, GIS is as uncharted a territoryas those areas of the planet once notedon old maps with the Latin phrase hicsunt dracones, or Here are dragons. Tothe uninitiated, geographic technology

Did yo know that 28% o urISAmembe s have thei GISP ce tifcation


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oft has its gleaming teeth and fierybreath. (Branting 2008) Our premisewas simple: Well-trained teachersproduce well-trained students. Concertedinstruction during the past two years hasproduced 6 resident faculty memberssubstantially proficient with GIS.

Step 3 exploits the Internet as

a delivery vehicle for instruction,data management, and to supply acomprehensive, focused curriculum

for the faculty. Realizing that teacher education can be severely limited if

face-to-face instruction is the sole avenue for disseminating information, our courses use the best practices of distancelearning (i.e. screen captures, sequentialprotocols, punctuated reviews, et. al.).

We have invested in college in-serviceopportunities, first with ArcGIS and nowwith My World, specifically designed

for classroom settings by NorthwesternUniversitys GEODE Project.

Access our courses at www.lewiston.k12.id.us/staff/sbranting/lc1/G&H.htm.

Step 4 of our management processhas necessitated a systematic acquisitionand integration of a broad spectrum of data libraries now numbering 20 that canmeet the curriculum needs of the variousdisciplines utilizing the GIS to enhancelearning.

Step 5 depends on regular classroom

intervention. Delivery to small, selectgroups cannot compare with the effectproduced when all students, regardless of educational potential, are exposed to thecreative possibilities of GIS, when creativeand thought-provoking questions areposed for geographic solutions. The

entire student body of Jenifer Junior HighSchool, more than 620 in grades 7 to 9,now participates in the program withconsistent enthusiasm in social studies,U.S. history and earth science courses.

The final component Step 6 revolvesaround our efforts to stabilize a self-sustaining curriculum of sequential

activities that outlines a clear entry level,a manageable series of replicable lessons,and a clear vision of what proficiencyand mastery look like as students movethrough the GIS lessons. th f ingis an xa p f an in r ia

v spa ia ana ysis ac ivi y f r 7 hgra rs:

Create a black outline layer of thecounties of the United States, with thecounty outlines set to 70% transpar -ency. Create a red outline layer of thestates. Projection: State Plane UtahNorth. Zoom to the 48 conterminousStates. For layer 3, in light blue, showthose counties where the Black popula -tion outnumbers the White popula -tion, labeling it Black > White. For layer 4, in light green, show the coun -ties where the Hispanic populationoutnumbers the White population,labeling it Hispanic > White. For layer 5, in light red, show the countieswhere the Native American populationoutnumbers the White population,labeling it Native American > White.In your notes (complete sentences)on the nal map, identify which four states contain counties meeting two of three conditions shown above. Answer these questions: Are there any countiesthat meet two criteria simultaneously?How many counties meet each of thethree criteria? What tribe creates theconditions that meet the statement inlayer 5 on the East Coast? What did

you learn that you did not expect?

In 2006 a report from the NationalResearch Council (NRC) stressed theimportance of spatial thinking ineveryones life and recommendedembedding spatial thinking across theK12 curriculum. According to theCouncils findings, geographic informationsystems (GIS) technology can confidentlyplay a powerful role in promoting spatialthinking. In part, the report said: Jerome

Bruner challenged fifth-grade studentsto think spatially for themselves, using apaper outline map and a pencil. (Bruner 1958) Today, students can be challengedto think spatially for themselves, usinga database, a virtual map, and a mouse.In both cases, the responses fromstudents are based on a spatial reasoningprocess that involves critical observation,exploration, posing questions, developing

hypotheses, and generating answers. Bothsets of tools offer the power to learn.(NRC 2006)

If a sense of space is a requisite for personal and global awareness, thenGIS will serve as the stable bedrock onwhich to fix a geography curriculumthat students and teachers will joyouslycomplete and bid farewell to the Snark.

EndnotesBranting, Steven. (2008) Hic sunt dracone s,

Journal of the Association for Computing andHistory . XI, 2 (August).

Brooks , F.P. (1986) No Silver Bullet - E ssenceand Accident in Software Engineering.Proceedings of the IFIP Tenth World ComputConference , pp. 1069-1076.

Bruner, Jerome S. (1959) Learning and thinkingHarvard Educational Review . Cambridge MA:Harvard Universit y, 29(3):184192.

Carroll, Lewis. (1891)The Hunting of the Snark:an Agony in Eight Fits . New York: Macmillan,pp. 55-56.

Learning to Think Spatially: GIS as a Support System in the K-12 Curriculum.(2006)

Washington, D.C.: National Academies PresMarble, Duane F. (1990) The Potential

Methodological Impact of GeographicInfor-mation Systems on the Social SciencesIn Interpreting Space: GIS and Archaeology ,edited by K. Allen, S. Green, and E. Zubrow.London: Taylor and Francis.

Mellaart, J. (1967) atal Hyk: A Neolithic Toin Anatolia.London: Thames and Hudson.;1976[1964]. A Neolithic city in Turkey. InAvenues to Antiquity: Readings from ScientiAmerican, ed B. Faga, pp.141-150W. SanFrancisco: H. Freeman

National Geographic Literacy Study. (2006) Washington, D.C.: National GeographicEducation Foundation.

even the full one-hour mini-workshop onaddresses for IT managers do not hesitateto contact me. I will be happy to emailthem to you.

Peirce can be reached for additionalinformation via email at [email protected].

F. Peirce Eichelberger is a past URISA Presi-dent and has served on the Board of Direc-tors twice. He has been to every URISAinternational conference for the past 32years. He is the GIS Manager for Chester County, Pennsylvania.

The "G" in yo "IS"continued from page 4


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B. Jurisdiction1. Name of jurisdiction2. Population served by the organization/agency3. Annual total budget for jurisdiction4. Name, title, and address of chief elected and/or appointed official5. Name, title, address, telephone, FAX, and email for contact person for system

You must answer each of the following questions. Please cross-reference your responses to each of the topics/questionslisted below. Be sure that your responses are clearly written and sufficiently comprehensive for reviewers to develop aclear understanding of the system. Responses should be in complete sentences and as brief as possible whilecommunicating the necessary information. If appropriate, include graphics.

C. System Design1. What motivated the system development?2. What specific service or services was the system intended to improve?3. What, if any, unexpected benefits did you achieve?4. What system design problems were encountered?5. What differentiates this system from other similar systems?

D. Implementation1. What phases did you go through in developing the system?2. Were there any modifications to the original system design? Why? What?

E. Organizational Impact1. What user community does the system serve and how?2. What are the ultimate decisions/operations/services being affected? If appropriate, provide a few examples

including, but not limited to: screen input/output forms, paper products, or other descriptive graphics.3. What were the quantitative and qualitative impacts of the system?4. What effect has the system had on productivity?5. What, if any, other impacts has the system had?6. How did the system change the way business is conducted with and/or service delivered to clients? Give specific

examples comparing the old way with the new.

F. System Resources1. What are the systems primary hardware components? Give a brief list or description of the hardware

configuration supporting the system.2. What are the systems primary software components? Describe the primary software and, if a commercial

package, any customizations required for the system.3. What data does the system work with? List and briefly describe the database(s).4. What staff resources were required to implement the system? (i.e., report approximate staff and consultant

time as FTEs)

Application Deadline: May 11, 2009Join the exclusive list of ESIG Award winners (http://www.urisa.org/esig).

If youve successfully improved the way in which government operates, through the use of geospatial informationtechnology, you should apply for a 2009 URISA ESIG Award.

If you have any questions, contact URISA Headquarters at (847) 824-6300 or [email protected]


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welCome New URISA membeRS

FedeRAl AGeNCY membeRU.S. Census Bureau

CoRPoRAte membeRSESRI Platinum Corporate Member

Autodesk Gold Corporate Member Michael Baker Corporation Gold Corporate Member

Bowne Management Systems IncBritish Columbia AssessmentCDM - Camp Dresser & McKee Inc.Geographic Technologies GroupManatron IncMerrick & CompanyOGInfo.com, LLCOptimal Geomatics IncPictometry International CorpPinnacle Mapping Technologies IncPixxures, Inc.Sierra Systems Consultants IncTerraGo TechnologiesThe Schneider CorporationThe Sidwell Company

Yotta MVS

bUSINeSS membeRSData Transfer Solutions Silver Business Member eGPS Solutions Inc Silver Business Member Teach Me GIS Silver Business Member

Colorado CustomWare IncGeotek MappingGIS Innovations LtdGIS Planning IncKessler GISMGP IncMunsys IncNew Urban Research Inc.North River Geographic Systems Inc.Open Technology Group, IncOrion Technology IncSpatial Focus IncspatialestTetra TechTyler Technologies - Eagle Division

VIXXI Solutions Inc Wellar Consulting Inc

Adesola Adeyemo,Madison County Council of Governments, Anderson, IN David Ahlpo t,Mountain View, CAPascal Akl,GISP, Clayton, CAPete Alwa d,City of West Linn, West Linn, ORAlyssa Ande son,University of Wisconsin-Superior,

Superior, WI Ma tin Balikov,ESRI, Olympia, WAAmbe Beckle ,Nevada County Geographic

Information Systems, Nevada City, CAMichele Blackb n Pea man,GISP, City of

Augusta, Information Technology, Augusta, GAKim Boyd,British Columbia Assessment, Victoria,

BC, Canada

James B dd,GISP, Hall County Government,Lawrenceville, GA

r sty B o d,CALIBRE, Alexandria, VAAmy B nett,Software Techniques, inc., Winter

Park, FLA th Chan,CDM, Ann Arbor, MI Jon Connick,GISP, Nexen Inc, Calgary, AB,

Canada Peggy Co ey,GISP, Roanoke, IN James Davis,OGInfo.com, LLC, Corpus Christi, TX Tonya Elliott,Washington State, Tacoma, WABill Emison,Merrick & Company, Aurora, COChad Fe ick,OGInfo.com, LLC, Corpus Christi, TX

B ce Fichtman,GISP, Klamath County IS,Klamath Falls, OR

Colin F ase ,British Columbia Assessment, Victoria,BC, Canada

Diana Gijselae s,Alachua County, Gainesville, FLK is Gilbe t,Ogle County, Oregon, ILDiana G ove,Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN G y r. G oves,GRG Consulting, Evergreen, COT avis G mbles,OGInfo.com, LLC, Corpus Christi,

TX Scott Ha is,Bel Air, MDAlison Hayes,Geographic Magic, Red Bank, NJ Dylan Hettinge ,CFM, Denver, CO

robe t Hi sch,Baltimore County DEPRM, Towson,MD

raymond Ho ne ,OGInfo.com, LLC, Corpus Christi, TX

Michael Ito,Pearl City, HI L G Jake Jenkins,Fugro Earthdata, Frederick, MDSa a J Kidd,GISP, Hampton Roads Planning

District Commission, Chesapeake, VAJi-Yo ng Kim,ECC, Marlborough, MAThomas Lee,Discovery GIS, Philadelphia, PAKenny Legleite ,Merrick & Company, Aurora, CO

B ce Levy,Vista Irrigation District, Vista, CAT ish Long,City of Trenton, Trenton, NJ Dennis N. Loven,GISP, City of Huntington Beach,

Huntington Beach, CAFeng L ,Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc, New York, NY T ip McLa ghlin,GISP, North Line GIS, LLC,

Breckenridge, COHa y Me ce ,British Columbia Assessment,

Victoria, BC, Canada Becky Mo ton,Towill Inc, San Francisco, CAJe ey M phy,Lennon, Smith, Souleret

Engineering, Inc, Coraopolis, PASindy Nicholson,Prince Albert Grand Council,

Henribourg, SK, Canada

David No is,Community Research Partners,Columbus, OH

Thomas N wey,GISP, City of Huntington Beach,Huntington Beach, CA

Kelley ONeill,RBF Consulting, Irvine, CAMichael Pateman,University of Cincinnati,

Oxford, OH Tom Pattison,ESRI, Redlands, CADavid Pete s,ESRI, Redlands, CAJe ey Pi es,National Grid, Waltham, MAL is r ramos,GISP, Apo, AE Keith reasons,Town of Collierville, Collierville, TN Ma tha robinson,City of Mobile GIS Dept,

Mobile, ALDwayne Scallion-Pond,British Columbia

Assessment, Victoria, BC, Canada Michele Shimom a,City and County of Denver,

Denver, COu Wa Tang, University of Macau, Macau, PR

China, China Pat ick Tho stenson,Swain County, Bryson City,

NC richa d F ank T inst a,GISP, City of Fayetteville,

Fayetteville, NC Jessica Vie a-Atwell,City of Statesville NC,

Statesville, NC Pat ick Walke ,GISP, West Allis, WI

Ma c Watson,Goshen, IN Scott Weisman,GISP, Leon County MIS/GIS,

Tallahassee, FLAdam Williams,Village of Northbrook,

Northbrook, ILJohn r Wisdom,GISP, Wilbur Smith Associates,

Columbia, SC Alison Woods,City of Greensboro, Greensboro,

NC


URISA News


11/12

welCome New URISA bUSINeSS membeRS

In MemoriamC. David Hawke , 1961-2008

Dave Hawker of Tyler Technologies Eagle Divi -sion, passed away on December 14, 2008. Davewas a key member of the GIS/CAMA ConferencePlanning Committee since 1999 and was the Con -

ference Chair of the 2005 Savannah Conference.Dave was the recipient of URISAs Service Award atthe 2008 New Orleans annual conference.

Donations in Daves honor can be made to the RomanianMissionary that Dave supported: David Maynard Mid Val -ley Baptist Church, 16472 Hwy 82, Carbondale, CO 81623(checks made payable to David Maynard, Missionary).

Our community has lost a dear friend and colleague who will forever be in our thoughts.

The Open Technology Group (OTG) pro -vides training and consulting services fo -cused around Open Source technologies,including several GIS technologies. Thesetechnologies include: the PostGIS spa -tial extensions to PostgreSQL (a SpatialDatabase Engine); OpenLayers (Web 2.0map mash up application); MapServer (WMS/WFS/WCS server, as well as raster

generation from vector data); GeoDjango(Geospatial Web Development frame -work); and spatial analysis tools - such asGRASS and R. OTGs solutions allow ur -ban planners to migrate away from costlycommercial product offerings, providingrecurring cost savings and often signi -cant performance improvements.

With the current financial constraintsplaced on every sector of the economy,Open Source geospatial solutionsprovide a tangible cost benefit; are wellsupported in industry; and provide

feature rich tools to manage, store, andanalyze spatial data.

You can find out more about

OTGs product offerings - and their custom training and mentoringsolutions - via the web at http://www.opentechnologygroup.com - or bycontacting them at 877-258-8987 or [email protected].

Inner Corridor Technologies, Inc. (ICT)/TeachMeGIS is a GIS training and con -sulting rm based in Houston, Texas that

offers ESRI Authorized GIS courses. TheTeachMeGIS training center is an ESRIPartner Education Center.

OUR TRAINERS:Our team of 8 ESRI Authorized TrainingPartners helps more than 1,000 profes -sionals a year become productive withthe ESRI software suite. Our trainers havean average of 15 years of GIS consultingand training experience, and are consis -tently rated as Above Average or Ex -cellent by our students.

OUR SERVICES: We teach public courses at the Teach -

MeGIS training center in Houston aswell as at partner learning centers andprivate client sites throughout the nationand internationally. We also offer on-sitecourses with our mobile lab and writecustom curriculum for clients using localdata and work ows. We have severalsenior consultants on staff who provideexcellent on-site GIS support.

For more information, visit:www.teachmegis.com or contactJennifer Harrison: [email protected].

Chapte NewsGeorgia URISA Election ResultsThe 2009 Georgia URISA Board will becomprised as follows:President: Tripp Corbin, GISP Keck &

Wood Inc.Immediate Past President: Danielle

Ayan, GISP Georgia Institute of Technology

Vice President: Rosemary Harman, GISP Jordan Jones & Goulding

Treasurer: Jimmy McGavick, GISP Cityof Marietta

Secretary: Jason Kandrick City of Atlanta

Education & Certification Chair: Carl Anderson Fulton County

Corporate Sponsors Chair: RonMulberry BinaryBus Ltd.

North Georgia Sub-Chapter Chair:Randy Hale, GISP North River Geographic Systems Inc.

South Georgia Sub-Chapter Chair: Ed

Hawkins Flint EMCMembership Chair: Keith Hogsed, GISP Data Smarts

Events Chair: David Holmes FultonCounty

Jeff Orton, GIS Coordinator of KernCounty, started his term as president of the Central California Chapter of URISA

following the term of Matt Cieri, GISP,City of Bakers eld.


URISA News 11


12/12

Urban & Regional Information Systems A ssociation1460 Renaissance Drive, Suite 305

Park Ridge, IL 60068

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URISA 2009

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URISA News January/February 2009

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