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December 1997 NewsletterSubmitted by: Jeff Morrow, PSR President, 1997 Well, here we are again. The summer has passed and we are all back at work and school in earnest. Organizations change like the seasons and have their own "weather" with sunny and chilly times. ASPRS, in the company of numerous professional organizations is now going through its winter and a period of reconstruction. In our Region we are all looking forward to seeing the national organization regain its momentum and continue to provide the outstanding professional forum that it has in the past. Our Fall got off to a great start with the Information exchange at the Vancouver, WA Water Resources Education Center, a beautiful location for this type of meeting. We had 39 attendees and 21 speakers. Everyone agreed that the time spent was worthwhile. A heartfelt thanks to Spencer B. Gross for sponsoring the morning breaks and Pacer Infotec for the afternoon break. Kathie Muhlbeier, our Treasurer, did a great job putting together the 40 copies of the meeting notebook. Thanks, Kathie! We will be having another information exchange this winter in Vancouver BC. We'll have more details on that available on our Web sites. In the spirit of the Information Exchange, we are considering having quarterly joint technical meetings with NW-CAMA (Computer-aided Mapping Assoc), the Puget Sound chapter of URISA (Urban and Regional Information Systems Assoc.) and NW-CAMA. Originally, we are looking at quarterly evening get-togethers in the Seattle area with panel discussions to stimulate communications between and within our member organizations. Any corporations interested in sponsoring this type of meeting should please give us a call. You can reach us through E-mail by contacting me, Jeff Morrow (jmorrow@infomatch.com), or FAX at (604) 607-7166. We have our page on the Web mirrored at the University of Washington at http://forsys.cfr.washington.edu/~lsaw. The page will contain updated news and event information as it becomes available. As you are probably aware, the Puget Sound Region co-sponsors the Hiram Chittenden Scholarship at the University of Washington. This scholarship rotates among photogrammetry, surveying, and civil engineering students. We're pleased to announce and extend congratulations to the 1997 winners ; Ryan Miles, Nete Leth and Mark Gaines. Our 1998 Joint Annual Convention with the Land Surveyors Association of Washington (LSAW) will be held in Everett February 25-28 at the Pacific Plaza Hotel (Howard Johnson's). The technical sessions will be on Thursday and Friday (26 & 27). The ASPRS-PSR Annual General Meeting, awards luncheon, and banquet will be on Friday (27). We will post, on our website, more information as it becomes available. This Newsletter will be the last one for our current editor, Chris (Greer) Hansen. Chris has worked long and hard for the Region and has been a great resource for a number of years. More important, she has been a good friend to all of us who have passed through the organization. We wish her all the best and continued success for the future. Thanks, Chris, from all of us. That's it for me for this Newsletter. See you at our Website! Submitted by: Terry Curtis, Puget Sound Region National Director Hello to all the Puget Sound Region members and colleagues! I want to take this opportunity to update you on ASPRS issues at the National Level and on the recent GIS/LIS '97 conference held in Cincinnati in late October. The GIS/LIS conference naturally emphasized GIS technologies and applications, however, there was a strong presence of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing technology as well (Hey, where does all that GIS data COME FROM anyway?!). Attendance was down from past conferences with about 2600 attendees - still a strong showing. The exposition featured GIS technologies with a lot of Softcopy Photogrammetric solutions and systems also on display. Many of the vendors based in the Denver area had some trouble getting people and equipment to the site due to a huge snowstorm in Colorado that closed airports and highways just before the conference. The special forum on the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) study of U.S. Geographic Information Resources which will make recommendations on the future roles of government agencies and the private sector in meeting the nation's geospatial information needs drew a lot of interest. Everyone is eagerly awaiting their final report due out later this year. On the ASPRS business side, the Board of Directors and Executive Committee focused on evaluating the current structure of ASPRS, it's standing committees and sub committees, mission, focus, finances, and an assessment of what ASPRS' role should be in the future to best serve it's membership and the public at large. Along those lines, the theme adopted for the 1998 Annual Conference in conjunction with Resource Technology Institute is A New Vision. Another hot topic of discussion continues to be the licensing of photogrammetrists (and GIS professionals) as land surveyors. Last year's issuance of a Model Law by the National Council of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors (NCEES) caused quite a stir in the photogrammetric community (see Jan.97 PSR Newsletter). The ASPRS Professional Practice Division is working with representatives from ACSM, ASCE, MAPPS, and NSPS to prepare recommendations for changes to the Model Law. All the groups felt it was important to have a unified stance on the matter and to that end, are near completion on submitting the committee's proposed changes to the current Model Law. It is hoped that the proposal will be submitted by Thanksgiving. Bill French has retired as Executive Director of ASPRS after 20 years of dedicated service. Bill''s long service to the Society is appreciated by the membership and officers, and we wish him well in his retirement endeavors. Well, those are the highlights on the National scene at this time. I'll keep you posted on any new developments, and on the actions taken at the next national Board Meeting scheduled for next Spring in Tampa, Florida. Have a GREAT Holiday Season, and be sure to ROOT FOR THE COUGARS in the Rose Bowl on January 1st !!! GO WAZZU !! Puget
Sound Region Annual General Meeting Planning is nearly complete for the 1998 joint annual convention of the Land Surveyors Association of Washington (LSAW), ASPRS-Puget Sound Region, and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM). The convention is titled "Navigate to '98" and will be held February 25-28, 1998 at the Everett Pacific Plaza Hotel, Everett, Washington. The ASPRS-Puget Sound Region Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held during the convention at 11:00 am, Friday, February 27th. The AGM will be followed at noon by the joint Awards luncheon at which the new ASPRS-PSR officers will be announced, along with the various ASPRS-sponsored scholarship award winners. The annual joint banquet will be held Friday evening. The main technical sessions will be Thursday and Friday, February 26-27. As with last year's convention, there will also be a terrific vendor's exhibit. A website has been created that will have more details as they become available: http://forsys.cfr.washington.edu/~lsaw So mark you calendars and see you there! Submitted by: ASPRS-Puget Sound Region President-Elect PUGET SOUND REGION WELCOMES NEW
SUSTAINING MEMBERS The Puget Sound Region extends a resounding THANK YOU! to our Region's eight Sustaining Member organizations, their proprietors, and staff for providing ongoing support of the National (and Regional) ASPRS, and for their contributions to and/or advancement of the mapping sciences through the products and services they provide. ASPRS also extends a warm WELCOME!! to our two newest Sustaining Members: LizardTech Incorporated PROGIS Corporation These organizations pay annual dues at the National level in exchange for several Sustaining Member benefits including reduced advertising rates, 4 copies of the PE&RS Journal, reduced rate and preferential exhibit space at conferences, company profile in annual Directory of the Mapping Sciences, and listing in the Products and Services section of the ASPRS homepage. Maybe your organization should consider Sustaining Membership too...... For more information contact ASPRS Membership Dept. at (301) 493-0290 or email at members@asprs.org, or download an application form from the ASPRS website at http://www.asprs.org/asprs/society/membership/memcorp.html !! In grateful recognition of all the Puget Sound Region's Sustaining Members: Cymbolic Sciences Int., Richmond, B.C. WELCOME NEW PUGET SOUND REGION MEMBERS: Frank H. Eichel The following University of Washington (Seattle, WA) students were awarded scholarships from the Hiram M. Chittenden Award: Mr. Ryan Miles, Ms. Nete Leth and Mr. Mark Gaines. Congratulations to all three of you. As well as the monetary scholarship, each student received an ASPRS membership from Puget Sound Region. The George F. Walker Memorial Scholarship will be formally awarded at the February LSAW Conference to: Mr. Valeri Vinyar and Ms. Carolyn Bryson. Due to program changes the Robert Bruce Scott Award was not awarded by the Univ. of British Columbia in 1997. Puget Sound Region reports a current balance of $3,840.63 in it's checking account. PUGET SOUND REGION FEATURED... How well did you read the November 1997 PE&RS??? What a pleasant surprise to see Puget Sound Region featured on the back cover! The Kodak advertisement on the back cover featured an aerial photo taken by Puget Sound Region's Walker & Assoc. showing beautiful Deception Pass and Canoe Pass located on the north end of Whidbey Island. Congratulations Walker & Assoc!! Gorgeous Photo! |