2007 IGIC Conference Review

Well, the 2007 IGIC Conference, held in Sioux City, Iowa, has successfully come to an end.

The most exciting piece of the conference was the fact that Ron Koch, Conference Committee Chair, invited Jack Dangermond, Founder of ESRI, to be the keynote speaker and he accepted. Mr. Dangermond spoke on Tuesday and had a great vision of what GIS is moving towards. It was my hope that the technical difficulty he experienced during his presentation relaxed all the presenters for the conference. I mean, if Jack Dangermond has trouble, then ANYONE could. :) I thought his vision for GIS was exciting and I hope to see that come to pass. It also made me wonder how we can tie that in with what IGIC is doing.

The social on Monday night was a hit as well. The food was good and it was a nice atmosphere for reacquainting ourselves. I enjoyed viewing all the student artwork and comparing opinions with Gary Kaufman from DMACC. It was nice that Jack Dangermond won the drawing for the book on Sioux City since his mother was from there. Serendipitous for sure.

There were great sessions offered and I heard rave reviews about the food! The board meeting on Tuesday night ran late but included much good discussion. The accomodations were convenient - especially the skywalk in the pouring rain. All in all, the conference was a success and I enjoyed meeting and visiting with my GIS friends. There is nothing like being surrounded by a group of people who do what you do and love it as much as you do.

A big thank you to everyone on the conference committee!

2007 IGIC Conference Award Recipients

Congratulations to the following award recipients. Enough can not be said about the three individuals who received awards at this year's conference and what they have done to further the cause of geospatial coordination in Iowa.

The Achievement & Contribution in GIS (A member that you feel is always in the mix, always producing and trying to serve Iowa's GIS community - a member that exemplifies what we want IGIC to be known for) was awarded to Mr. Terry Brase of Kirkwood Community College

The Project Energizer (given to an individual identified as continually putting out ideas, mobilizing people, and seeing it through to completion) was awarded to Mr. Jim Giglierano of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

The Networking Award (given to individual that best repeatedly make the connections the group needs) was awarded to Mr. Herb Kuehne with the City of Sioux City Police Department

2007 Iowa GIS Conference - Poster Session Results

Thank you to the 21 entries into the 2007 IGIC Conference Poster session.

This year's poster session was broken out into three distinct categories with awards for outstanding posters in each category.

• Student Category:
• First Place: Mr. Khalil Ahmad of Iowa State University for "Early Warning Systems to Improve U.S. Biosecurity".
  
  
• Cartographic Category:
• First Place: Ms. Micah Cutler of Hardin County for "Hardin County Rural Property Map".
• Second Place: Mr. Casey Kohrt of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for "Landforms of Iowa"
  
  
• Analytical Category:
• First Place: Ms. Lauri Sohl of the City of Sioux Falls, SD for "Using Remotely Sensed Imagery to Determine Impervious Surface in Sioux Falls".
• Second Place: Ms. Robin McNeely of Iowa State University for "Iowa Digital Historic Aerial Photos".

From these awardees in each of the categories, the judges awarded a best overall poster for the 2007 conference. Judged as the best overall poster for this year's conference was "Using Remotely Sensed Imagery to Determine Impervious Surfaces in Sioux Falls" by Lauri Sohl.

Congratulations to all awardees and thank you to all participants who made the effort to display their work for all to see.

And on a final note, thank you to Robin McNeely for volunteering to head-up efforts for this year's poster session and thank you to our judges: Bob Lemen; Joe Eckmann; and Mel Obbink.

2007 Conference Registration Opens

The registration site for the 2007 IGIC Conference is not open:

https://www.ucs.iastate.edu/mnet/gis2007/quickregister.html

Multiple payment options are available.

Other dates to remember:

Important dates
January 2, 2007	Call for Papers
January 2, 2007	Registration Open
March 30, 2007	Early Registration Closes
April 23, 2007	Pre-Conference Workshops
April 24, 2007	Conference Begins

Dangermond to present conference keynote

Jack Dangermond (ESRI) has agreed to present the opening keynote address at the 2007 Iowa Geographic Information Council (IGIC) conference. The 2007 conference will mark the 8th biennial conference for IGIC and Mr. Dangermond is by far the highest profile keynote speaker the conference has attracted.

Sioux City Selected to Host 2007 IGIC Conference

2007 IGIC Conference to be held in Sioux City, IA. The Conference will be held at the Sioux City Convention Center during the fourth week of April, 2007.

Conference committee selects chair for 2007 Conference

The Conference Committee has elected Ron Koch (Woodbury County) to serve as the committee chair for the 8th biennial conference.

Exhibitor Registration Details for the 2007 IGIC Conference

Exhibitor Registration Details for the 2007 IGIC Conference:

• Price of $550.00 per 8'x10' booth space
  
• The registration price includes 3 conference registrations included.
• Electricity and wireless internet connectivity are included.
• Tentatively 2 lunches and 4 breaks will be included for each registrant.
• Exhibitor contact information will be displayed on the IGIC Conference website and included in the conference program.
• Conference hotel room rates are priced at $69.95 per night.

Details on conference sponsorship opportunities will be coming soon.