TGIC e-News
January 28, 2008
Information about file formats.
January 28, 2008 e-News – PDF (303 KB)
Note: Accessible version is below.
Contents:
- Barr, DeVaughan, White and Zercher will serve TGIC 2008/09 Officer Positions
- TGIC Quarterly Meeting January 30th at Government Technology Conference
- The Council on Competitive Government Selects GIS for Study
- Texas Demographer Named New U.S. Census Director
- Space Shuttle Columbia Remembered January 26 – February 9
Barr, DeVaughan, White and Zercher will Serve TGIC 2008/09 Officer Positions
Nominations were closed for the 2008/09 TGIC Elected Positions on January 18, 2008. We received one accepted nomination for each of the four positions: TGIC Chair, TGIC Vice-Chair, TGIC Technical Advisory Committee Chair and TGIC Technical Advisory Committee Vice-Chair. After conferring with the TGIC Steering Committee is was decided to fill the positions through the nominations process as there was an insufficient number of accepted nominations to hold an election. TGIC’s new officers are:
TGIC Chair: Bruce Barr, Texas Association of Counties
Bruce is the GIS Analyst and Floodplain Manager for the Texas Association of Counties and served TGIC as the 2006/07 TGIC At-Large Member.
TGIC Vice-Chair: Claire DeVaughan, U.S. Geological Survey
Claire is the U.S. Geological Survey’s Geospatial Liaison for Texas, NSDI Partnership Office, and served TGIC as the 2006/07 Vice-Chair.
Technical Advisory Committee Chair, Robert White, Texas Legislative Council
Robert is GIS Associate in the Mapping and Redistricting Section of the Texas Legislative Council and served TGIC as the 2004/05 At-Large Member.
Technical Advisory Committee Vice-Chair,Darryl Zercher, Texas Dept of Transportation
Darryl is the Branch manager for Surveying, GPS & GIS Support in the Technology Services Division of TxDOT and has been involved in TGIC for approximately 1½ years as his agency’s representative.
Please take the time to thank Bruce, Claire, Robert, and Darryl for their willingness to serve the Texas geospatial professional community and the citizens of Texas. Please also extend a very big thank-you to Lorelei Weitzel (TGIC Chair 2004/07) and Felicia Retiz (TAC Vice-Chair 2006/07) for their past service to TGIC.
TGIC Quarterly Meeting January 30th at Government Technology Conference
The next TGIC Quarterly Meeting is January 30, 2008 1:00–3:00 pm in conjunction with the Government Technology Conference at the Austin Convention Center in meeting Room #7, 3rd floor.
The meeting will include agency updates presentations on the use of aerial drone technology to collect remote sensing data for GIS applications, (Dr. Thomas B. Hardy, Ph.D., Utah State University) and a presentation on the Council for Competitive Government Study on GIS (Dustin Lanier, Director CCG) (see article below). The agenda is attached as a PDF document and includes links to a Convention Center map and a parking map.
Following the January 30th TGIC Meeting, GTC is having an attendee reception and will have the exposition hall open. GTC provides business and technology training for government and is the largest technology expo in Texas.
More information in on the website for the Government Technology Conference.
The Council on Competitive Government Selects GIS for Study
The Council on Competitive Government has identified the provisioning of geospatial technology as an identified state service and authorized a feasibility review of alternative approaches. The Council is a venue for state leadership to identify business processes in Government that should be reviewed across state agencies to yield savings, improved capacity, speed and efficiency, transparency, and advance a citizen centered government.
Dustin Lanier, director of the Council on Competitive Government, will speak at the next TGIC Quarterly Meeting (January 30th, 1:00–3:00 pm) about why now is the right time for GIS provisioning to be a focus area, give examples of what should be looked at, and discuss how the process will work in collaboration with the GIS community.
Texas Demographer Named New U.S. Census Director, Meredith Gillum, U.S. Census
 The U.S. Senate has confirmed Steve Murdock (pictured), the state's demographer, to head the U. S. Census Bureau as it steps up preparations for the year 2010 national count.
Steve replaces another Texan, statistician Louis Kincannon, who resigned 13 months ago. He was nominated by President George W. Bush last June.
Steve was the director of the Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Steve earned a doctoral degree from the University of Kentucky. He received his bachelor’s degree from North Dakota State University and his master’s and doctorate from the University of Kentucky. He taught at North Dakota State University in his home state before joining the faculty of Texas A&M University in 1977. In 2003, he moved to the University of Texas at San Antonio where he served as a professor of demographics.
Space Shuttle Columbia Remembered January 26–February 9
P.R. Blackwell, Columbia Center
 An exhibit including displays from NASA, the Columbia Memorial Museum, FRI, The Columbia Center, and others will be open for 2 weeks from Saturday, January 26th through February. 10th in the old John S. Wyatt building in downtown Nacogdoches. On February 2nd, there will be a reception for the general public. This will be an informal come and go affair.
We will be videotaping oral histories from anyone that would like to record their memories of the disaster or the recovery effort. Interested parties should contact Lynn Clark at 936-468-6100 to schedule an appointment for the taping.
Suggestions and contributions for articles to the TGIC e-News are always welcome. To subscribe or unsubscribe to the TGIC e-News contact Michael Ouimet with subscribe or unsubscribe in the subject line.
TGIC e-News is edited by Mike Ouimet and Rob Aanstoos and published as a service to TGIC member agencies by the Department of Information Resources.
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