NJ Geospatial Forum -- Executive Committee Elections
[UPDATE March 30, 2008] The NJGF Executive Committee has elected new Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary. There is also a new OPRA (Open Public Review Act) task force, co-chaired by Merrilee Torres from Burlington County, and Patty Leidner from Hunterdon County.
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First off, email me at atanas[at]entchev[dot]com if you would like a blog contributor account -- I ceratinly don't mean to usurp this blog/hog the limelight, etc.
From the NJGF website:
The New Jersey Geospatial Forum (NJGF) is an open organization, encouraging the participation of any individual interested in New Jersey's geospatial industry. We are a group of individuals from many different sectors sharing a common interest in geospatial technologies.
The NJGF is a restructuring of essentially two entities, the New Jersey Geographic Information Council (NJGIC) and the State Mapping Advisory Committee (SMAC). In many ways it is a merger of NJGIC and SMAC.
Categories: news, blog, NJGF, NJGIN, New Jersey, GIS, NJ, OPRA
Tags: news blog NJGF NJGIN New Jersey GIS NJ OPRA
Antanas,
Thank you for starting this entry. I hope we can generate an open discussion regarding the NJGF Executive Committee (EC) elections. Due to family obligations, I have not attended the last two forum meetings and have not been active on any of the task forces. I am very interested in what has transpired over the last 18 months and what people see as the future of the NJGF.
What have been the accomplishments of the current EC? Is it "encouraging the participation of any individual interested in New Jersey's geospatial industry."? and providing "a formal mechanism by which concerns of its members, from whatever sector, can be carried through the state's governance structure to decision makers at the appropriate levels."?
Is this an appropriate place to start? Please chime in if you have some place else you would like to go with this discussion.
Ron
Ron:
This sounds like an excellent starting point for discussion. I do not intend to set the tone, only to provide the forum. I believe that any discussion is better than no discussion.
I hope that more people will join soon. --Atanas
My first comment is on the Geospatial Forum in general, rather than the executive committee. I think the Task Forces have been working well. On the other hand, I don't think the Forum has done a very good job at carrying issues "through the state's governance structure to decision makers at the appropriate levels." I realize this is in the works, but the glacial pace of this process is discouraging. I feel very removed from any statewide decision-making process in regard to GIS. I have also been told by executive committee members that the state will NEVER address some issues I think are important.
"Encouraging the participation of any individual interested in New Jersey's geospatial industry" is a great goal of the executive committee. I think my vote for the EC will go to the individual(s) who recognize that a substantial time committment is required to make the group more effective. I'd also like to see more, new faces encouraged to participate in GF discussions and activities.
Can anyone summarize the NJGF meeting held last Friday? Thank you.
Ron
The meeting was well attended. The agenda can be found at https://njgin.state.nj.us/oit/gis/NJ_NJGINExplorer/docs/agenda060922.doc
The meeting followed the agenda with reports from the Executive Committee and Task Forces.
The guest speaker showcased the Newark Geographic Information Network -- an ArcIMS-based GIS portal. Interesting, but nothing new for this audience (I think).
Among the announcements were a reminder about the October 12 MAC URISA Fall meeting, the 2006 NJGF Election Summary (nominations accepted 9/22 through 10/13, voting 11/1-11/15), and this blog.
All meeting presentations will be posted on the NJGF website, according to the Executive Committee Chairman.