Members in the News

January 4, 2010 - St. Charles, IL – The Sidwell Company is pleased to announce that Bill Wetzel, one of their National GIS Account Managers, has accepted an appointment to serve on the Mapping and GIS Section of the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO). In his role as the Vice Chair of the GIS and Mapping Section, Wetzel will work with the committee to support the membership of IAAO, promote the exchange of information and ideas among those involved in mapping and geographic information systems (GIS) in the assessment communities.

Bill has more than 10 years experience working in the cadastral industry, helping to educate local government officials in automated parcel management and adopt new technology. He has also led dozens of educational sessions and workshops at regional and national conferences focused on assessment and land records management, and GIS technology.

Domenico named CCI Commissioner of the Year
Thursday, December 03, 2009 -

Boulder County, Colo. - Boulder County Commissioner Cindy Domenico (and URISA Past President) has been named 2009 Commissioner of the Year by Colorado Counties Inc. Domenico received the award in Colorado Springs at the CCI annual winter conference.

"I'm humbled and honored by this recognition," Domenico said upon her return to Boulder County. "It is a great feeling to be recognized by your peers and I am so thankful for the support and collaboration of my colleagues."

Among her accomplishments this year, Domenico represented CCI as a member of the Business Personal Property Tax task force established by the Colorado General Assembly during its 2009 legislative session. She effectively articulated the consequences to both large and small counties of eliminating the tax's revenue stream and ultimately shaped the decision of the task force to postpone any reduction or elimination of the tax outside of a comprehensive examination of Colorado's state revenue structure.

"The Commissioner of the Year award is our highest honor," said CCI Executive Director Larry Kallenberger. "It is presented to the commissioner who best exemplifies leadership on issues of importance to county governments and their citizens. Commissioner Domenico's good spirit, reputation for fairness, and broad experience and knowledge are just a few of the reasons why her peers chose her for the award."

Domenico was also heavily involved in the Tax Increment Financing/Urban Renewal working group, representing the perspective of all counties that lose tax revenues when TIF is used. The group, made up of representatives from Front Range cities and counties, crafted a legislative compromise to revise state statutes governing the use of TIF.

Most recently, when the Governor's Child Welfare Action Committee recommendations were released in September, Domenico played a major and critical role in defining the CCI response to those recommendations. Working with fellow commissioners on the Health and Human Services Subcommittee, in conjunction with staff from Boulder and other counties, CCI, and the Governor's office, Domenico facilitated a message of collaboration and unity.

Domenico is vice chair of the Boulder County Board of Commissioners. She was appointed in 2007 to fill the seat left vacant when Commissioner Tom Mayer passed away and was elected in 2008 to complete the remainder of the term, which runs through 2010.

Domenico served as Boulder County Assessor from 1997-2007 after starting as a staff member with the Assessor's Office in 1984. She is lifelong resident of Boulder County, growing up on her family's farm in Lafayette and receiving a bachelor's degree in environmental science from the University of Colorado. She lives in Lafayette with her husband, Ken, and daughter, Julia.

October 8, 2009 - Will Craig of the University of Minnesota, URISA Past President and recent inductee into URISA's GIS Hall of Fame, will lead the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) as President for the coming year. Congratulations Will!

June 25, 2009 - Minnesota Administration Commissioner Sheila Reger appointed URISA member David Arbeit as Minnesota's first Chief Geospatial Information Officer (CGIO). Arbeit will oversee the Minnesota Geospatial Information Office, created by the 2009 Legislature to coordinate geospatial information technology and its use across state government.

Modeled after a chief information officer (CIO), the GIO position -- instituted in some federal agencies and this March in California -- has served to acknowledge the importance of geospatial data and its coordination.

Arbeit joined state government in 1994 as director of the Land Management Information Center (LMIC), the predecessor of the Minnesota Geospatial Information Office. He has served as director of the Office of Geographic and Demographic Analysis, a division of the Department of Administration, since 2005, overseeing the programs of LMIC, the State Demographer, the State Archaeologist and the Environmental Quality Board. He holds an undergraduate degree in engineering and master's and doctoral degrees in regional planning from Cornell University.

June 18, 2009 -

Pictometry Promotes Hepp to VP of International Business Development

Rochester, NY - June 17, 2009 - Pictometry International Corp. announces the promotion of Alex Hepp to Vice President of International Business Development.

In this new position, Hepp is responsible for growing Pictometry’s international product sales and working directly with the Company’s international licensees. Pictometry’s international business currently has eight international technology licensees, each of which utilizes Pictometry’s proprietary technology to provide imagery to government and commercial customers, together covering more than 140 countries and territories around the world. Pictometry’s extensive international image library currently includes coverage of more than 1,500 cities and locations in Europe, the Americas, Australia, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.

Hepp joined the company in 2006 as Manager of Assessment Operations and has been instrumental in helping Pictometry develop and grow its product offering and brand awareness among users in tax assessment and valuation. Prior to joining the Company, he was Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Mobile Video Services, Inc. Kansas City, Missouri, a leading imaging and field data collection company.

December 1, 2008 -
The NAACCR GIS Committee is extremely pleased to announce the publication of an authoritative and comprehensive new book entitled ‘A Geocoding Best Practices Guide’ authored by Daniel W. Goldberg from the University of Southern California (USC) GIS Research Laboratory. This document was developed with guidance from the NAACCR GIS Committee. The book provides a guide to cancer registries for understanding, utilizing, standardizing, and improving the geocoding processes. The reader is guided through each technical step of the geocoding process, the sources of error inherent to geocoding, as well as the repercussions errors may have on subsequent research. More than 60 geocoding best practices are presented throughout the book. While ‘A Geocoding Best Practices Guide’ was written specifically for cancer registries it will serve as a rich reference manual for anyone who wants to inject more science and less art (uncertainty) into their geocoding tasks.

Please visit the NAACCR web site at www.naaccr.org for more information.

November 20, 2008

URISA Caribbean Chapter President, Valrie Grant-Harry, GISP, announces GeoTechVision Enterprises, Ltd ., specializing in innovative spatial technology solutions for the Caribbean.

Friday, November 14, 2008
Mayor Fenty Announces Winners of Apps for Democracy Contest -
47 Applications in 30 Days for $50K

Today District of Columbia Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Vivek Kundra announced the winners of the District’s “Applications for Democracy” technology contest. The contest, launched on October 14, 2008, invited software developers to compete for the best new applications to make D.C. Government data more accessible and useful for the public.

“My administration is committed to making government more accessible and more transparent, and through this contest we’ve gotten help from the most talented developers,” said Mayor Fenty. “I’m delighted with the responses. With these innovative applications, we can put government literally in the hands of the people.”

The competition, open to the general public, asked developers to create mashup applications (a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool) for the District's data using popular consumer technologies like the iPhone, Facebook, Google Maps, and others. Contest entries were required to use open source programming. Entries were judged by an appointed jury based on criteria including usefulness to citizens, usefulness to government, and originality.

The District collects and maintains vast stores of data on every aspect of government operations, from government contracts to crime statistics to economic development and much more. The District has already organized and published this data in a real-time data catalog with more than 200 data feeds at http://data.octo.dc.gov . Applications for Democracy solicited the best and most cost-effective ways to package and present this data for easy viewing, analysis, and repurposing by the public.

“While the immediate goal of the Applications for Democracy contest is to develop innovative software to present District data, its long-term goals are broader,” said District CTO Vivek Kundra. “By making government data easy for everyone to access and use, the District hopes to foster citizen participation in government, drive private-sector technology innovation and growth, and build a new model for government-private sector collaboration that can help all governments address the technology challenges of today and tomorrow.”

The contest attracted more than 25 innovative applications, all licensed as open source and freely available to government and the public. Gold and Silver contest winners include:

Gold Prize Winners:

Application: DC Historic Tours--a slick Google Maps mashup that combines custom walking tour creation with Flickr photo feeds and Wikipedia entries. Users can click through to create a custom map, save it and reference it later when they’re ready to tour the city.

Agency--Boalt Interactive

Application: iLive.at-- presents users with information tailored to that exact location, cleanly organized into categories. The “Errands” category indicates how far the nearest shopping center, post office and convenience store are, among other things. “Crime” tabulates recently reported offenses in the area, and “The People” displays colorful pie charts giving demographic information. Users can also click on a category and the relevant items will be plotted on a map of their neighborhood.

Independent Developers: Travis Hurant, Tim Koelkebeck and Brian Sobel.

Silver Prize Winners (6):

Application: Park It-- an application that allows you to check a specific area in The District for parking information. Allows users to check parking information before leaving the house and to see which streets are available for parking. Users can also check which meters cost money and which are free. Park It DC will even help users find out if they’re parking in a residential parking permit zone!

Independent Developer: Shaun Farrell

Application: Where’s My Money, DC?-- a forum based Facebook application that encourages users to discuss procurements made by the DC government.

Independent Developer: Keith Bradner

Application: DC Crime Finder—Determines the user’s location and will return specific instances of various crimes based on a one-, two- or three-mile radius.

Independent Developer: Mark Headd

Application: Stumble Safely—an online application that helps users find the best bars and a safe path to stumble home on.

Agency: Development Seed

Application: Point About—a realtime, location-aware DC alerting tool for the iPhone, which includes crime reports, building permits and more.

Agency: Point About

Application: We the People-- a peer-led community reference website that allows users to edit based on Washington, D.C. public data. We the People empowers everyone to make D.C. a more responsive community where all voices are heard and everyone can make a difference. Like Wikipedia, users can link any expression to its definition or another page.

Agency: Chrys Tarvin

Bronze winners and Honorable Mentions are listed at www.appsfordemocracy.org . Votes are also being accepted for the People’s Choice Award.

A full list of submissions can be viewed at appsfordemocracy.org. To learn more about DC Government technology initiatives, visit www.octo.dc.gov.

September 25, 2008 - LAND INFORMATION COUNCIL RECOGNIZED AT REGIONAL CONFERENCE

The achievements of the Land Information Council of Jamaica (LICJ) were recognized at the recently concluded 4th Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) Caribbean Conference held in the Cayman Islands. URISA is a non-profit association of professionals involved in improving urban and regional environments through the use of information technology.

The URISA conference was held under the theme ‘Evolution and Next Steps’ and focused on the effective application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and other information technologies within the Caribbean. Mrs. Jacqueline DaCosta, former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Land and Environment and Chairperson of LICJ, was awarded the GIS Pioneer Award by the URISA Caribbean Chapter. She was lauded for her tireless and valuable contribution to the development and advancement of GIS in Jamaica and recognized for her role in modernizing and reforming the planning, land policy and land management sectors.

The LICJ was also recognized at the conference and was the first recipient of the URISA Caribbean Spatial Vision Award for extraordinary achievement in GIS in the Caribbean. The LICJ was selected because of its contribution to the advancement of GIS in the region through inspiring leadership, outstanding training programmes and community involvement.

LICJ has been coordinating the use and development of GIS and GPS technologies, standards and guidelines and has facilitated the growth of workers in the sector in Jamaica. The council has also equipped many countries in the region with GIS professionals.

January 31, 2008: Gerry James Forms New Geomatics Consulting Firm

Carteryx draws on the over 12 years of GIS and data management experience of it’s founder, Gerry James, to help bring its clients a full compliment of consulting services. The company’s first major project has been the creation of a comprehensive data management system for one of Canada’s most successful junior mining companies. Carteryx has been working with Roca Mines Inc. to create a system that will centralize the data stores of this mining and exploration company and give all appropriate staff fingertip access to pertinent data. The system uses a combination of open source and commercial software configured to allow it to grow with the clients needs.

Carteryx will also provide other consulting services such as system design, application customization and training for its clients. In addition the company is working on strategic alliances that will provide access to hundreds of technicians making the company competitive on a global scale.

For more information and a complete list of the company’s services please contact Gerry James at 778.668.5025 or you can email him at gerry.james@carteryx.com. Alternatively, you can get more information about Carteryx by visiting their website at http://www.carteryx.com .

January 10, 2008 - Croswell Forms New Consulting Practice

Peter Croswell, former President of the Urban and Regional Information System Association (URISA) and long-time IT and GIS practitioner and consultant, has formed a new consulting practice doing business as, Croswell-Schulte Information Technology Consultants. Mr. Croswell and his associates will carry out system and organizational assessments, design, planning and implementation support for state and local government, regional agencies, and utility organizations. Projects will focus in enterprise IT and GIS architecture, geographic information systems, records/document management, asset management, business process evaluation, and organizational development.

Contact information:

Peter Croswell, President
Croswell-Schulte IT Consultants
406 Winners Circle
Frankfort, KY 40601
pcroswell@croswell-schulte.com
(502) 848-8827
www.croswell-schulte.com

January 4, 2008 - Barry Wellar Appointed Program Director for Geography Awareness Week 2008

Dr. Barry Wellar, Professor Emeritus at the University of Ottawa, and a URISA Past President, has been re-appointed Program Director, Geography Awareness Week, by the Canadian Association of Geographers.

Geography Awareness Week 2007 in Canada was the first national program to use theme days to link geographic education, applied geography, and public awareness about the role of geography in society. The idea of theme days was introduced to illustrate how geography affects Canadians from coast-to-coast. Weather and Climate Day, Water Day, Geographic Information Systems Day, Transportation Day, and Food and Health Day were selected to launch the program.

As part of the 2007 program, 50 non-academic organizations -- government agencies, businesses, advocacy groups, and research groups – were enlisted to participate through their websites. After selecting ten outstanding Canadian websites for each theme day, a network of resources was created that can be accessed by going to the Canadian Geographers’ website at http://www.cag-acg.ca/en/geography_week_2007.html, and then linking to any of the 50 participating websites.

Participants selected for Geographic Information Systems Day included Canadian Geospatial data Infrastructure, ESRI Canada, GeoConnections, Statistics Canada, and URISA Canada.

More information about Geography Awareness Week is available from the websites of the Canadian Association of Geographers (see the URL above), Transport 2000 Canada (transport2000.ca), and the Laboratory for Applied Geomatics and Geographic Information Systems Science (LAGGISS) (http://www.geomatics.uottawa.ca/index_e.html) at the University of Ottawa.

Questions about Geography Awareness Week in Canada should be directed to Dr. Barry Wellar. His email address is wellarb@uottawa.ca.

May 31, 2007 - Ken Spitze, President and founder of Destiny Resources, Inc, in Denver, CO was recently awarded the designation of Geographic Information Systems Professional (GISP), having met the minimum standards for ethical conduct and professional practice as established by the GIS Certification Institute. Destiny Resources is a GIS consulting firm in Denver, CO, providing mapping technology services to legal, engineering and governmental clients across the United States.

May 29, 2007 - Dudek today announced it has added several key professionals to its multi-office geographic information systems (GIS) group in response to continued strong client demands. The enhanced team provides data collection, mapping and modeling analysis services, producing multi-layered, integrated, and digital analyses to help public and private clients design, permit and construct projects. Lisa Lubeley, who previously managed GIS programs for the Cities of San Diego and Escondido during her 17 year career, joins the firm as GIS manager. She also worked for the San Diego County Water Authority and San Diego Association of Governments. Lubeley is a member of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA), the California Geographic Information Association, and the San Diego Regional GIS Council.

February 22, 2007 - Lucas County Auditor Larry A. Kaczala announced the retirement of his Director of Real Estate and Chief Assessor, Jerome C. (Jerry) German. Mr. German is retiring after 33 years of service to five different County Auditors. Jerry, as he is more fondly known, is a veteran assessor and administrator. His interests are wide and varied, including biking and rowing. He brought that curiosity and pioneering spirit to the Auditor’s office, revamping and streamlining the Auditor’s Real Estate Division into the award-winning, tightly run machine it is today. Under his leadership, the office has kept abreast of technological advancements including the adoption of a GIS and a CAMA system. Smooth and successful transitions to the new systems ensured the high esteem that the Lucas County Auditor’s Real Estate Division has among its industry peers. The Auditor’s Real Estate Division and its staff have been quoted in well-regarded national journals in addition to international industry journals from Great Britain to Japan. Its staff has won numerous awards in their respective specializations on behalf of Lucas County. Jerry’s tried and tested recipe for success produced frequent invitations for him and his staff to lecture and share their knowledge at several venues.

January, 2007 - The Canadian Association of Geographers has reappointed Dr. Barry Wellar to the position of Media Program Director for Geographic Awareness Week and GIS Day 2007. New activities under development for 2007 include the GIS-Transportation Competition that will be done in partnership with Transport 2000 Canada, and Weather and Climate Day that is being discussed in partnership with the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society.

Dr. Wellar is a former URISA President and Horwood Award recipient. He retired from the University of Ottawa in 2005, and established Wellar Consulting Inc. His appointments include Distinguished Research Fellow at Transport 2000 Canada, Distinguished Geomatics Scientist at the University of Ottawa, and he is a continuing member of the Safety and Security Panel of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

October, 2006 - Dr. Barry Wellar, Professor of Geography (ret.) at the University of Ottawa has been appointed Media Program Director, Geography Awareness Week, by the Canadian Association of Geographers. Professor Wellar is the recipient of numerous awards, including the President’s Award, University of Ottawa, for Service to the University Through Media and Community Relations, and the Canadian Association of Geographers’ Award for Geography in the Service of Government or Business.

According to Chris Sharpe, Past President of the Association, participation in Geography Awareness Week is a new venture for the organization, and they are fortunate to have someone with Dr. Wellar’s experience and energy heading up the media component. “Barry Wellar has an exceptional ability to communicate with politicians, corporate leaders, citizens and members of the media, and he is very knowledgeable about many aspects of geography. The task of initiating Geography Awareness Week project is a major challenge to our membership, but we are confident that the media program being developed by Professor Wellar will ensure a successful launch of the Week.”

Professor Wellar believes that the Association is up to the challenge, and he is looking forward to doing his part to heighten the awareness of Canadians about how the physical and human geography of this country is changing, and to inform the public of the social, cultural, economic, political and environmental implications of those changes. “Geography is becoming increasingly important to the everyday affairs of all Canadians, and it warrants attention on a daily basis. We believe that by starting with Geography Awareness Week, which runs November 13-17, we can build a foundation of interest in geography for the entire year. That is what we believe; now we have to make it happen”.

June 26, 2006 - The Wisconsin chapter of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC WI) recently presented Fred Halfen with the 2006 President’s Award. Halfen was also elected president of the Wisconsin Land Information Association (WLIA) and kicked off his 2006 term at the group’s annual conference this spring in Wisconsin Dells.

Since 2000, ACEC WI has presented the President’s Award to individuals who exhibit outstanding service on behalf of the organization. For the past nine years, Halfen has served on numerous ACEC WI committees and is currently chairman of the legislative committee, which focuses on legislation that affects the engineering community. Halfen’s contributions have included
writing letters of concern to public officials, testifying at City Council meetings, and participating in various other efforts that protect the interests of the design professional community.

As the 2006 WLIA president, Halfen is leading an ambitious agenda for the grassroots organization, which represents Wisconsin professionals interested in land records modernization and geographic information systems (GIS). Agenda items include the development of a statewide strategic plan for GIS use. Part of the WLIA’s mission is to work toward the establishment of government policies and programs that support effective and efficient uses of GIS and related technologies.

Halfen, a certified photogrammetrist, is vice president of Ayres Associates' photogrammetry operation and vice president of the engineering/architectural firm's Madison office. He has been at Ayres Associates since 1976.

Tobias Wolf

joined HDR as GIS section manager based in the firm’s San Diego office. Prior to joining HDR, he was the GIS group manager for AMEC Earth and Environmental. Tobias is the Treasurer for the Southern California Chapter of URISA.

June 6, 2006 - Barry Wellar, URISA Past President and Horwood Award winner has been appointed by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to the Strategic Safety and Security Panel for a three-year term. Dr. Wellar was previously a member of the Selection Panel, Joint Interdependent Infrastructures Research Program funded by Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.

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