As the recently elected President of the Florida Chapter of URISA, I am interested in continuing the work of my predecessor, and achieving the following GOALS over the course of my two year term:
Promote the GIS Code of Ethics as approved by the URISA Board of Directors
Encourage members to become a certified GIS Professional (GISP)
Promote and support the URISA’s Leadership Academy
Promote and fund the development, implementation and deployment of four hour workshops in conjunction with local one day user group meetings
Create and promote the implementation of the corporate sponsorship program
Promote collaborative efforts with URISA and other professional organizations to meet the educational, professional development and financial goals of FLURISA (i.e. the Joint Geospatial Conference)
Promote the inclusion of other information technology disciplines
Promote the building of a statewide GIS consortium.
The FLURISA Board is always looking for ways to increase the benefits of membership for GIS professionals in Florida. One of several initiatives includes improvement of our website. We would like to develop the following functionality we believe will make it more relevant and useful:
Allow members to track their educational and professional participation related to FLURISA sponsored events
Assist in renewal of GISP certification.
Provide open job / resume posting
Educational presentations / content sharing
Develop web-based training opportunities.
We are also working to increase the number of training workshops offered, and bring more educational training opportunities to more geographic areas in the state. Feel free to share any suggestions you may have for ways we can improve our web page, educational offerings, and workshop opportunities to make FLURISA more useful for you. As stated in the title of this letter, FLURISA is what we make it. Participate in hosting training workshops, putting together local user groups, and providing outreach to the educational institutions near you. Take a few minutes each week and reach out to GIS professionals nearby, share issues, and provide support. It takes active members to build an active organization, and develop the collaborative relationships that benefit all in this profession. To close, we are currently looking for volunteers for several vacancies on the board. If interested, see the web page on the FLURISA.org site for open positions. If have any questions about how you can participate, or input you want to share with the Florida GIS community, please contact me at (813) 281-8372 or send an email to wewalter@pbsj.com .Thank you for your interest.
William E. Walter, GISP
Florida URISA Annual Meeting
Dear Members, The Annual General Membership Meeting of FLURISA will be held on Wednesday, September 29, 2010 6:00 - 7:00 PM in conjunction with the GIS-Pro Conference in Orlando, Fl. All current and prospective FLURISA members are invited to attend the meeting. FLURISA members will also have the opportunity to attend the Vendor Social scheduled to start at 5pm, just before the meeting.
The location for GIS-Pro is the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek. Although registration for GIS-Pro is not required, it is strongly encouraged. For more information on location and registration for GIS-PRO, please see the following site: http://www.urisa.org/conferences/aboutgis-pro
Please RSVP for the Annual FLURISA meeting by emailing Will Walter at WEWalter@pbsj.com
Regards, Sam Palmer Secretary, FLURISA
Industry Thought Leaders Session to be Featured at GIS-Pro 2010
URISA is honored to welcome an esteemed group of industry thought leaders to participate in a panel discussion on Thursday, September 30, 2010 during GIS-Pro 2010: URISA’s 48th Annual Conference for GIS Professionals in Orlando. The moderated session will discuss such topics as:
* Where is the Industry going? * What are the next hot trends, issues, opportunities, emerging technologies?
The participants in this session will include:
* Ossama Alami, Geo Developer Relations Manager, Google Maps and Earth * Clint Brown, Director of Software Products, Esri * Joel Campbell, President, ERDAS * Donald Fenhagen, GIS Service Area Leader, IBM Global Business Services * Microsoft Bing Maps for Enterprise participant TBD * Xavier Lopez, Director of Product Management, Oracle Spatial Products Group * Geoff Zeiss, Director of Technology, Autodesk
URISA President, Kathrine Cargo GISP, ENP, GIS Coordinator for the Orleans Parish (LA) Communications District, is looking forward to the session. What a stellar panel! The opportunity to hear from these thought leaders, all in the same place at the same time, is extraordinary. It will certainly be a highlight of GIS-Pro 2010.
For complete program and registration details, visit www.gis-pro.org
Wendy Nelson Executive Director - URISA ** Please note our new address: 701 Lee Street, Suite 680, Des Plaines, IL 60016 wnelson@urisa.org www.urisa.org 847-824-6300
