In this Issue:
New board members
Census 2000 information
URISA GIS salary survey
Next board meeting
User groups and meetings
Conferences
Board Members Lindsey Galyon, President; Vice President-to be filled; Jennifer
Higgs, Secretary; Chris Baker, Treasurer; Marie Colson, Dan Hawk, Joe Sewash,
Jeannette Jones, Star Lakavage, Jon Walden, David Speight, Jason Duke, At-Large;
Dennis Pederson, Past President.
Contact information can be found our website at www.tngic.org
A message from the President--Lindsey Galyen Our annual forum was a
great success. Beginning with keynote address from Ms. Susan Carson Lambert,
Executive Director of the Kentucky Office of Geographic Information, through the
closing session when our membership actively responded to the Board's appeal for
a higher level of individual participation. We grew as an organization. Our
responsibility level matured as evidenced by the strong show of support for our
strategic plan and the associated committees. We must now focus on organizing
and implementing our work plans.
We elected the following new board members: Jason Duke of US Fish and Wildlife,
David Speight from Infocode and Jonathan Walden from UT County Technical
Assistance (CTAS). I welcome them and praise their commitment to serve on the
board.
The vendor community as well as our MTSU host contributed greatly to the success
of our annual forum. I encourage our membership to actively support this vendor
community and let them know how much we appreciate their participation.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone for the support and encouragement given
to me as I approach this next year. You have my sincere commitment to leading
our organization forward through the challenges ahead.
Lindsey Galyen-TNGIC President for 2001--Lindsey Galyen , the 2001
TNGIC president, is the principal and owner of G Squared, LLC a photogrammetric
engineering firm located in Fayetteville TN. A Certified Photogrammetric, with a
Bachelors Degree in Geography from the University of Arkansas, he has lived and
worked in the Middle East and Europe, as well as in Alabama.
Lindsey has served the past two years on the TNGIC Board as conference chairman
in 2000 and vice president.
Rick Stieg, City of Bartlett GIS, presented TNGIC GIS Champion Award--Rick Stieg, founding member of TNGIC, past president of TNGIC and board member was awarded the GIS Champion Award for 2000 at the TNGIC Annual Conference in Murfreesboro, March 29. This award has been presented annually since 1999 to a TNGIC member for his or her enthusiastic promotion of the use of GIS. Rick is employed as Assistant City Planner for the City of Bartlett and has provided technical support to other adjacent counties and communities as well as being instrumental in the establishment of the GIS Associates Degree Program at Southwest Technical Community College.
Next TNGIC Board Meeting-May 9, 2001 at 10:00 CDT-- The next board meeting is scheduled for May 9, 10:00 CDT at the Fayetteville Municipal Building, 110 Elk Avenue South, Fayetteville, TN, just off US 64, east of US 431. The Fayetteville Municipal Building is located on the East side of the square in Fayetteville. The meeting room is on the second floor across from the elevator. Parking is located in the rear of the municipal building or on the square. All TNGIC members are welcomed.
New Board Members for TNGIC-- New board members were elected at the
2001 Annual TNGIC conference held in Murfreesboro, March 28-31. Departing board
members are Tom Nolan, MTSU, Dennis Pederson, State of Tennessee and Brenda
Dugger, Shelby County Public Health. Our thanks to Tom, Dennis and Brenda for
serving on the board.
New incoming board members are Jason Duke, David Speight and Jon Walden. Their
terms expire in 2004. Board members are elected for a three year term.
Jon Walden, Manager of Information Technology Services, for the University of Tennessee County Technical Assistance Service, CTAS, Nashville. CTAS provides technical assistance to all county officials including legal and financial assistance, law enforcement, IT and GIS. Walden's work includes a wide range of experience with GIS and its applications with particular emphasis on its applications within county governments, specifically in developing and utilizing GIS systems and encouraging the use of GIS.
David Speight, InfoCode Corporation, Nashville. David graduated from Tennessee Tech, BS in Electrical Engineering. He served as Engineering Manager for Cookeville Electric, then GIS coordinator for the City of Cookeville. Speight also worked with TTU's Center for Electric Power to integrate GIS data with power system modeling as well as worked with the Cookeville Fire Department to become the fires department in the state to implement mobile GIS based software in their fire engines. Currently the director of GIS for InfoCode he is responsible for project management, product and business development for the GIS division. He served as 2001 TNGIC conference coordinator.
Jason Duke, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Cookeville. Jason serves as the GIS coordinator for USFWS since 1993. He holds a BS in Information systems from Tennessee Tech. Duke serves as the Region 4 (southeaster states) GIS committee Chairman for USFWS and is the chair of the Tennessee Federal GIS Users Group. He maintains the TN Federal GIS Data server and helps to distribute GIS data to hundreds of people annually.
Virus handling and the TNGIC List Server--As the case with most
computer viruses or worms, it is spread unknowingly. In late February a virus
was released via the TNGIC website. Our list server monitor, John Farrar was
immediately on the case and developed the following procedure for dealing with
messages sent to the TNGIC list server with attachments. A filter was installed
on the list server that will "defang" any potentially dangerous
attachments (executables, VBScripts, etc.) but will still let the mail pass.
This procedure will assure that no mail gets lost, but that dangerous mail can
be rendered harmless rather than just thrown away. Other than filtering out bad
stuff, the group will probably not even be aware that the filter is there. If
you notice any problems, contact John D. "Trix" Farrar, TN Dept. of
Environment & Conservation, trix@tdec.state.tn.us
At the annual meeting, a few people are still having problems joining the
TNGIC list server. John Farrar is the contact to assist with working out these
problems.
Instructions for subscribing to the TNGIC list server are on the back of your
newsletter, to the left of the address label. Instructions are also posted on
the TNGIC website located at www.tngic.org.
URISA Salary Survey Results--URISA News, Jan/Feb 2001, Issue 181 URISA
(Urban and Regional Information Systems Association) recently released the
results of its 2000 Salary Survey for IT/GIS Professionals. Greatly expanded
since the 1998 edition, it includes details about GIS staff members, computer
skills required at work, education level, years of experience and more. The
primary objective for this survey was to determine specific data with regard to
IT/ GIS positions and salaries. The data presented has been culled from the
results of URISA's salary questionnaire that targeted a comprehensive and
representative sample of both the IT and GIS communities.
Based on the survey, the average respondent has 12.8 years of professional
experience, 7.4 years of GIS professional experience. They work, on average,
43.2 hours in a typical week, hold a bachelor's degree or higher with four out
of 10 degree holding respondents earning a post graduate degree. Most often
their degrees were in geography, followed by GIS, planning, engineering and
computer science. Most hold GIS related job titles.. Respondents jobs require
them to be somewhat proficient with a variety of GIS software. Mirroring recent
software industry market studies, ESRI's ArcView and ArcInfo were the most
popular followed by AutoDesk's AutoCAD. Other skills deemed important for their
jobs included project management, report writing, technical support and teaching
or training. You can order a copy of the survey via the URISA website at
www.urisa.org or call URISA, 847.824..6300. Cost per copy is $49 for URISA
members, $69 for non members. URISA plans to conduct a survey every two years.
What's on the TNGIC Website?-- In April 2000, Costi Tudan of EnSafe
made the TNGIC website much easier to find by having our domain name changed to
www.TNGIC.org. The site is still hosted at UTK and managed by TNGIC member,
Joanne Logan.
What can you find on the website? TNGIC applications, board meeting dates and
minutes, the most recent issue of the TNGIC newsletter, procedures for accessing
the TNGIC list server, contact information for all board members and committee
chairman for the strategic planning committees and a list of GIS users groups.
What will you find on the site in the coming months? Email addresses for the
speakers at the annual conference, links to other state GIS sites and sites of
GIS interest.
Census 2000 Redistricting Data Files--David Wiggins, US Census Bureau
Census 2000 Redistricting or Public Law 94-171 (PL) data is now available for
viewing on the Census Bureau's web site (www.census.gov) in the American
FactFinder section. However, the user can only create and view tables for a few
areas at a time through American FactFinder.
To manipulate the data freely, you will need to obtain three data files and load
into a database or spreadsheet. These are available for downloading from the
Census Redistricting site, http://www.census.gov/clo/www/redistricting.html.
Select the "Download State Files" link and follow the directories to
your state. The files also are on a CD-ROM that can be ordered.
Also see the Tennessee State Data Center web site at: http://cber.bus.utk.edu/tnsdc/sdcmain.htm
TIGER (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing), the
Census Bureau's digital mapping system are text files that must be reformatted
for use in GIS. To download TIGER/Line files, view and download pdf files of
census maps or to get more information about TIGER, go to http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/index.html
To create ArcView shape files or MapInfo MID/MIF files from TIGER/Line, go to http://www.gistools.com
to purchase a TIGER translator or download a free version for Tennessee.
The Redistricting or PL data documentation is available at http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/pl94-171.pdf
More information on data structure and database formats for Redistricting
Data Files is available at: http://www2.census.gov/census_2000/datasets/redistricting_file--pl_94-171/0File_Structure/
Contact David Wiggins or Robert Bustle for additional information, at the
Charlotte Regional Census Center 3300 International Airport Drive Suite 600,
Charlotte, NC 28273. Telephone 1-888-688-6948 (from within the Charlotte Region)
or email David at david.h.wiggins@census.gov
Tennessee Census Information-- Dennis T. Pedersen, Office of Local Government In addition to the State of Tennessee Comptroller's web site listing population data for redistricting at http://www.comptroller.state.tn.us/cpdivlg.htm, the University of Tennessee, Center for Business and Economic Research, has detailed 2000 census totals and census tract maps available via the web at: http://cber.bus.utk.edu/census/tnpopdat.htm Confused about TIGER 2000? As of December 2000, the Census Bureau has released the TIGER 2000 redistricting files and two versions of TIGER 2000 pre-release files. The most recent files are called TIGER 2000 Redistricting Files. These files, along with the TIGER 2000 test files, comply with TIGER99 format and can be processed with version 4.01 or higher of TGR2SHP and TGR2MIF. Simply choose the TIGER99 option when processing these files. The Census Bureau also has produced a version of TIGER called TIGER 2000 Dress Rehearsal. These do NOT conform to the same format as the 2000 Redistricting Files. To process these, use the Dress Rehearsal option in TGR2SHP or TGR2MIF.
TN Federal Website Offers New Data--Jason Duke, US Fish and Wildlife
Service The TN Federal Webserver grows daily with new GIS data for you. You can
access the site by it's new domain name at http://tngis.fws.gov.
Accessing via http://63.148.169.50 still
works and is the permanent address. Please note that we are actively developing
the site. That means that some links may not work or may not work correctly.
Please be patient as we are developing this site in our "spare time".
Our goal is to have the vast majority of data up by April 1, 2001. A lot of good
data is already there now. Look for more data layers soon!!
The TN Federal Group has set a priority on acquiring the following layers of
Tennessee data for public distribution: Roads, 12-digit HUCs, Recreational
Atlas, 1:24K County Boundaries from NRCS, Quads in Polygon Coverage, Link to
Census and TIGER data. Physiographic Provinces and EcoMap, EPA 1:100K NHD
Streams, MRLC, USGS Land Use Poly Coverage from late 70's, City Limits, Tiger 98
data by County, Geoquads, DRGs are really coming soon along with DOQQs.
Note that we still need to acquire some of this data and obtain permission to
host this data. Just because we have listed it does not mean that we yet have
permission or will get permission. Send us links to data or data itself. We need
your help to help you in return. If you have any regional, county, or statewide
data that other folks can use, please contact us!!! You can contact Jason Duke
at jasonduke@fws.gov or call 931.528.6481
at the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Cookeville, TN
Everyone wants the news but... Help the TNGIC newsletter provide
timely news of interest to the Tennessee GIS community. TNGIC newsletters will
be mailed in mid July, October, January and April. We have one volunteer to keep
TNGIC Today up to date on GIS news in West Tennessee. Contact Tijuana Barrett,
Shelby County Election Commission 3612 Edgefield Dr., Memphis,TN 38128 telephone
(901) 545-411 or email to barret-t@co.shelby.tn.us
to provide her with news or items of interest to the West Tennessee GIS
community or to all TNGIC members. Ms. Barrett will be specifically covering the
Western Division, including Obion, Lake, Weakley, Henry, Benton, Gibson, Dyer,
Carroll, Crockett, Lauderdale, Decatur, Henderson, Haywood, Madison,Tipton,
Chester, Hardeman, Hardin, Shelby, Fayette and McNairy counties.
Volunteers are needed for East and Middle Tennessee. To help out, contact Star
Lakavage, 865.457.8242 or email to ae_gis@bellsouth.net. Plans are to add a page
with sections covering each Grand Division of the State.
Committees for Accomplishing Goals Set in the Strategic Plan--At the annual TNGIC conference, all committees formed during the strategic planning process met with potential volunteers to discuss tasks to be achieved and to solicit the help to achieve our goals. It's not too late to volunteer! Following is a list of the existing committees, their goal and the committee chairman.
Communications-Goal: Sustain effective communication between the TNGIC membership, the Board of Directors, and the geospatial community. Committee Chairman: Star Lakavage - AEgis Services, PO Box 160, Clinton, TN 37717. Phone 865-457-8242, Email: ae_gis@bellsouth.net
Professional Development-Goal: Promote professional development and foster educational opportunities and excellence for the TNGIC membership and the geospatial community. Committee Chairman- Sergei Andronikov, Austin Peay State University, CMC GIS Center, 601 College St., Clarksville, TN 37044. Email: andronikovs@apsu.edu
Member Activities-Goal: Support opportunities and mechanisms for the TNGIC membership input, participation, and networking. Committee Chairman- Chris Weber, Metro Nashville Public Schools, 200 Plus Park Blvd., Nashville, TN 37217. Email: cnweber@yahoo.com
Technical-Goal: Advance the state of GIS technology in the geospatial community on behalf of the TNGIC membership. Committee Chairman- Costi Tudan, EnSafe, Inc 5724 Summer Trees Drive, Memphis TN 38134-7309 Email :ctudan@ensafe.com
State map 2001 edition is last to be updated manually--Hayes Hickman,
Knoxville News-Sentinel, 2/26/01 For most people, the Official Tennessee Highway
Map is nothing more than a handy-dandy road guide you can pick up free at rest
areas and never can seem to refold the right way. But for one artist of sorts,
the map has been a hand-drawn work-in-progress for the past 11 years. With an
office full of computers, the state Department of Transportation's Mapping
Section in Nashville digitally produces hundreds of maps each year. But for the
annual highway map, they put mouse pads aside and turn to the steady hand and
precision tools of Marvin Steelman, who updates each edition by
"scribing." The 2001 edition is the last state highway map that will
be updated by hand. TDOT has produced the annual map in-house since 1978, taking
over the job from Rand-McNally. Steelman has been adding hand-drawn updates to
the master copy since 1990.
Steelman collects the updated data for each new edition over the course of six
months and spends another four months drawing the new information with his
tools. The work is tedious, and while Steelman has taken pride in the task, he's
welcoming the chance to digitize his artwork. "I think it's really
interesting to learn this new phase," said Steelman, who hopes the
computerized process will eliminate that end-of-the-year crunch time. He said a
digital map will not only offer a sharper, crisper image, but new routes and
realignments can be added immediately as road projects are finished. "We
can make the change in an afternoon," he said.
The faster turnaround time provided by computers will allow Steelman and the
staff to improve the state map. They are considering adding another 15 city
insets to the back of the map, which currently has insets for nine cities. The
traditional criteria for an inset is that a city should have a population of
50,000 or more. The staff receives requests each year from fast-growing areas to
be added on the back of the map. Cities already there ask for landmarks, such as
Nashville's Adelphia Stadium or Bristol International Motor Speedway, to be
denoted.
Sometimes requests come from unexpected quarters. Members of a fifth-grade class
at Martin Elementary School in Crossville wrote TDOT Commissioner Bruce Saltsman
with a suggestion after using last year's highway map in a geography lesson. As
a result the 2001 Tennessee Highway Map, while being the last one updated by
hand, will be the first to include a north directional arrow. "It's
something we always overlooked ... all these years," Steelman said.
"It hit us like a ton of bricks." The complimentary maps are available
at welcome centers and rest areas throughout the state. Members of the public
can order a copy from TDOT's Web site at www.tdot.state.tn.us
with a click on "Driver Information." Approximately 1.7 million copies
of the 2001 edition highway map were printed.
Conference Notes-- One third of the membership attended pre conference
training in 2001.
CEU certificates have been mailed to those attending pre conference training. If
you did not receive your certificate, please contact David Speight ,
615.269.6930 Ext 146.
Users Groups-- ET Map Info Users Group-Contact Reid Gryder at
865-482-7919 or at GryderRK@aol.com for quarterly meetings in the Knoxville/Oak
Ridge area.
Oak Ridge/Knoxville Area ESRI Users Group-Contact Pat Wurth at 865-481-4729 or
at patsy.a.wurth@saic.com . Email
Pat to receive meeting notices.
ESRI Users Group in Middle Tennessee-Contact Jennifer Higgs at the Metro
Nashville Planning Commission (jennifer_higgs@metro.nashville.org)
for meeting dates.
Middle Tennessee GIS Users Group-Contact Suzanne White email suzanne.o.white@amec.com
or telephone 615-333-0630 for meeting dates. This non-software specific group
discusses general GIS topics.
Intergraph Users Groups-There are several in the Huntsville, AL area covering
FRAMME, Geomedia and MGE. For additional information contact Ron McLeroy ,
telephone 256-882-8112.
TN Federal GIS User Group-Meets twice a year at the US Fish and Wildlife Service
offices, 446 Neal Street, Cookeville, TN. Contact Jason Dukes at US Fish and
Wildlife Service, at 931-528-6481 ext. 216 or email jason_duke@fws.gov.
Next meeting date is 29 August, 9:00 AM CDT.
West Tennessee GIS Users Group - Contact Costi Tudan, EnSafe, Inc at
901-372-7962 or email to ctudan@ensafe.com
Meetings and Conferences-- Making Public Works-May 6-8, Rosemont,
Illinois. Sponsored by URISA and Public Works Magazine. Visit www.Urisa.org
or www.pwmag.com for additional information.
Society of American Military Engineers National Education and Training
Conference-May 29-June 1, Nashville Contact Jack Wood (615) 252.4220 for
information or visit their website at www.same.org.
Intergraph Geospatial Users Community International Conference-June 18-20,
Atlanta, GA. Visit www.intergraphi.com/geospatialworld
for additional information.
Education User Conference - July 6-8, 2001, Hyatt Regency Hotel, San Diego, CA.
Visit www.esri.com\gisedconf for
additional information. Sponsored and hosted by ESRI.
ESRI Annual Users Conference - July 9-13,, San Diego, CA. Visit www.esri.com
or call 909.793.2853, ext 1-1363 for additional information.
TNGIC List Server--The TNGIC-L listserver, hosted by TDEC, is located
at tngic@tdec.state.tn.us.
To subscribe, use the following instructions: 1. Use your regular e-mail
functions 2. Send a message to tngic-request@tdec.state.tn.us 3. In the
**SUBJECT** field, enter the word "SUBSCRIBE"
You should receive a return message indicating the status of your subscription
and guidelines which you should retain. Send outgoing messages to the TNGIC
group to tngic@tdec.state.tn.us.
Report any problems to John Farrar at : trix@tdec.state.tn.us.
TNGIC Website--Access the TNGIC website by using www.tngic.org. Any materials for consideration for the website should be forwarded to Joanne Logan at loganj@utk.edu. TNGIC membership applications are available on the website. List Server and Web Site April 2001
Please report any address changes to the editor by emailing to ae_gis@bellsouth.net or calling 865-457-8242. Submit articles for the next newsletter to the above email address. AEgis Services P O Box 160 Clinton, TN 37717