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In preparing
this, my last message to the Rocky Mountain Region membership
as 1999 President, I am amazed at how fast the year went by!
Certainly, I came in with optimism and ideas of what needed
to be done. A year later, I am pleased by what was accomplished,
a bit chastened by all the things remaining and excited by
the changes and opportunities I see ahead. In my year as President,
I was fortunate to have an excellent Board of Directors to
work with, and I am grateful for the hard work and dedication
they all brought to this volunteer organization.
In preparing
the Annual Region report to ASPRS National Headquarters,
I submitted a form that outlines how we did in the year
past. This form can be looked at in terms of what HQ wants
to see, but is also useful as a perspective of the activities
and functions that make a successful region. Some of the
items in the outline were pretty standard, such as how many
board meetings there were (7), and what kinds of social
and technical meetings there were (Annual Dinner and Installation
of Officers, GIS in the Rockies Conference, reception at
PECORA and the Space Imaging Open House). There were also
topics in the outline, like sponsorship of meetings, support
to HQ, support to student chapters, and how the Region communicates
with its membership. We sponsored PECORA 14 and GIS in the
Rockies. Rocky Mountain Region supported HQ by providing
information or help as needed: volunteer staff at PECORA,
issues such as Open Skies, professional certification, and
region boundaries. We support our student chapters by providing
pizza and soft drinks for student chapter meetings. Rocky
Mountain Region communicates with its membership through
mailings and newsletters (4). During the year we also worked
hard on the continuing transition to electronic information
transfer, using e-mail and our website for newsletters and
society information. We have contracted with a good friend
and past ASPRS National President, Tina Cary, to assist
the region in preparing our newsletters and improving the
information flow to our members. In addition, we have redefined
one of the Board positions, renaming a "Regional Director
- General" position to "Regional Director - Communications
Coordinator" to incorporate the duties of the newsletter
editor with Internet communications.
Through
this reporting process, I realized how much the society
and region mean to me personally and professionally. The
benefits I gain are far in excess of the effort I have expended.
I hope that, as you read this, you also find a benefit to
your membership in ASPRS, and that you will be inclined
to become more active in your region. There are many ways
in which you can participate in the Rocky Mountain Region,
regardless of where you live. Look up one of the board members,
listed in each newsletter, and give them a call. Any of
us would be happy to hear from you and willing to share
ideas.
Thanks!
Allen
Cook, Past President
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If you
have read this far into our first newsletter of the twenty-first
century, you are probably wondering what new and wonderful
things are happening and will be brought to you by your
regional chapter of ASPRS. As the incoming president of
the Rocky Mountain Region it is my job to remind you of
the purpose of the chapter level organization and to highlight
what we plan for the year ahead that should interest you.
The
reasons for the existence of ASPRS-RMR are to support some
of the functions of the national organization at the local
or regional level. Some of these roles include to increase
membership in the society of professionals in the mapping
sciences; to disseminate ideas and innovation through the
sponsorship of regular regional conferences and workshops;
and, my favorite one, to foster personal and professional
relationships among, and for the long-term benefit of, our
regional members.
As always,
a new year brings in a new ASPRS-RMR Board of Directors.
This year we have some new faces on the board, helping to
guide the direction we head for the remainder of the year.
The newest board members include Bob Wright
from EarthWatch and Jim Jensen from ERDAS.
Others who have only been on the board for about a year
include Jeff Liedtke, also from EarthWatch,
Scott Bennett from ImageLinks, and myself.
You can find all the board members on the list at the end
of this newsletter and, as can be seen, they represent quite
a broad spectrum of the industry and profession. All of
these factors together should contribute to a lot of new
energy and ideas: the region always needs to remain vibrant.
A sign that the regional board is succeeding occurred during
our election in the last quarter of 1999, which saw an actual
run-off for a number of board positions for the first time
in recent memory!
However,
just to remind you, the ASPRS-RMR is not only composed of
the officers on the regional board but also, and most importantly,
you the members of ASPRS in the states of Montana, Wyoming,
Colorado, and New Mexico. Therefore, I want to encourage
you to communicate with us regarding any subject related
to our business and participate, whenever and wherever possible,
in any of our regional events and forums.
Which
brings me to my next subject: what's going on, or what is
planned, for 2000. My goal for the year is to draw our regional
members closer together. The main event for the year will
be the "GIS in the Rockies" conference
held, as usual, in the biggest regional mapping center,
Denver, in September. This show, co-sponsored by ASPRS-RMR,
will be a terrific opportunity for you all to network with
your peers as well as become updated on the business and
science of the industry. This year's show will be even bigger
and better than ever before. Much more information can be
found on the show web site. I won't go into the many other
ASPRS nationally sponsored conferences here. This information
can all be found at www.asprs.org. Hopefully, we will have
fun to come after we get a few social events organized throughout
the summer. Some of the ideas that have been discussed include
a golf tournament or outing and an evening cocktail reception.
As you may already know we recently had our annual dinner
at the Boulder Dinner Theater. We would like to see many
more new guests there next year from places other than the
Denver Metro area. On a slightly more serious note, we will
be arranging a number of technical tours very soon that
will excite you. All of these events will not only benefit
the society and the profession but will also provide the
opportunity for you to meet new contacts, exchange information,
and perhaps even strike up a deal!
Other
items that need mention: We will finally have a new web
site up and running that will definitely be worth checking
often for regional news and information. Being Internet
savvy as we are at ASPRS-RMR, we plan to keep you all well
informed of relevant regional happenings by e-mail as well.
Students, keep your eyes on an upgraded (in dollars!) scholarship
program. Our Past President, Allen Cook,
has a plan to start up additional student chapters after
the tremendous success of the one at Colorado State University
in Fort Collins, Colorado.
I would
like to hear any comments, complaints, or queries that you
may have on anything that concerns our local ASPRS chapter
in 2000 and look forward to assisting you in any way I can.
Thanks in advance for your loyal support of ASPRS.
Rob
Eadie, President
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The
2000 Annual Rocky Mountain Region ASPRS Dinner Meeting was
held on January 21 at the Boulder Dinner Theatre. There
were about 30 participants at this year's dinner. Allen
Cook, outgoing President for 1999, conducted the
business meeting. He gave a summary of the activities that
occurred in the Rocky Mountain Region during 1999, the highlights
being the "GIS in the Rockies"
conference which was held in October and the PECORA conference
in December. Allen presented awards to several Board Members
for their contributions to the Region during the past year.
Becky Bottlemy, National Director, reported
on the National scene, including the annual conference in
Portland and the PECORA conference in Denver. Rob
Eadie, 1999 Vice President and incoming President,
then presented the scholarship award to Steve Kroeker.
Steve and his spouse attended the dinner as guests of the
Region. The new and continuing Officers were introduced,
then sworn in by ASPRS National Past President Roger
Hoffer. At that point, the Business Meeting was
concluded and we all enjoyed dinner and an excellent performance
of "Fiddler on the Roof." Everyone had a great
time!
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On the
National scene, the budget is looking good: the Society
is now operating in the black. A new Associate Membership
level is going to be offered to allow students graduating
a better incentive to join or maintain their memberships.
Headquarters is in the process of getting all of the computer
equipment and software upgraded. Just in the past few days
I have voted on nominees for the Fellowship Awards and the
projected budget for the next year. Preparations are being
made for the ASPRS 2000 Conference in Washington, DC. May
22-26.
Becky
Bottlemy, National Director ASPRS-RMR
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Last
year the Board of Directors decided that the Region ought
to do more to support its Student Chapters throughout the
Region: this means you folks in Wyoming, Montana, and New
Mexico, too! The region will pay for pizza and soft drinks
to be served at meetings of Student Chapters. Last year
we supported the chapter at Colorado State University in
Fort Collins, where they have quarterly meetings with presentations
by both student researchers and outside speakers. If your
Student Chapter is doing something along these lines, we
want to make it a little easier on your budget, so just
contact one of your Board members for more information.
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The
winner of the 1999 Travelling Scholarship to attend the
Pecora 14 conference was Steve Kroeker,
who submitted an abstract of his paper on "Integrating
Video Mapping for Environmental Management". He is
currently studying for a Masters in Science Degree in Forestry
with an emphasis in GIS and Remote Sensing at the Colorado
State University. He was a guest of the Region at the Annual
Dinner Meeting in January.
The
Board is gearing up for the Year 2000 Scholarship Program.
Stay tuned...
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International
Symposium and Field Seminar on Present State and Future
Trends of Karst Studies, September 17-26, 2000,
Marmaris, Turkey. Web site: www.karst.hacettepe.edu.tr
or e-mail to ggunay@hacettepe.edu.tr. For more information
contact Dr. A. Ivan Johnson, 7474 Upham
Court, Arvada, CO 80003-2758, voice 303-425-5610, fax 303-425-5655.
GIS
in the Rockies 2000, Applications for the 21st Century.
25-27 September 2000, Plaza at the Mart, Denver, Colorado.
Abstracts are due 1 May http://www.gisintherockies.org/
Symposium
on Spatial Methods for Solution of Environmental and Hydrologic
Problems: Science, Policy, and Standardization -- Implications
for Environmental Decisions, January 25-26, 2001,
Reno, Nevada. Abstracts are due March 31, 2000.
For more information contact Dr. A. Ivan Johnson,
7474 Upham Court, Arvada, CO 80003-2758, voice 303-425-5610,
fax 303-425-5655.
ASPRS
2000 Annual Meeting, "Launching the Geospatial
Information Age," will be at the Omni Shoreham in Washington,
DC May 22-26.
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We are
currently scheduling technical tours and networking sessions
for the year. Be watching our web site for updated information.
We will be e-mailing you with announcements as these plans
are finalized. We are also getting the web site redesigned
and updated; please bear with us as we make these changes.
Send any material for the newsletter to Sheila P. at sgp@denverwater.org.
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