GIS Day at the State House Thursday, November 16, 2006 10 AM - 2 PM    Massachusetts State House, Great Hall

 
In recognition of Geography Awareness Week and GIS Day (Geographic Information Systems), the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs’ (EOEA) Office of Geographic and Environmental Information (MassGIS) will host its annual GIS Day on Thursday, November 16th, 2006, from 10 AM to 2 PM in the Great Hall at the Massachusetts State House.

Highlights will include:

A Noontime speaking program with State Representative Stephen Kulik; David Davies, IT Director for the Division of Local Services at the DOR; Middlesex North Register of Deeds Richard P. Howe, Jr.; and Dave Beck, Town of Hull Assessor and Chairman of the Massachusetts Association of Assessing Officers GIS Committee discussing the Usefulness of GIS in State, Regional, and Municipal Government settings.

Throughout the day, visitors will circulate among more than 25 exhibits, where they will learn about interesting and current GIS mapping projects. Exhibitors currently scheduled to attend, with their affiliation and the subject of their project, include:

• The Massachusetts Association of Assessing Officers will be represented by Dave Beck from the Town of Hull, Linda Swadel of Westborough, Ellen Blanchard of Carver, and Gail Fitzback from Eastham, Dick Finnegan from Duxbury, and Britt Hall from Newton. GIS and Digital Parcel Mapping has increased efficiency and easy data access for the staff and citizens of these Municipalities.
• Jerrard Whitten, GIS Manager for the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission will exhibit Aerial Imagery of the 2006 Spring Flooding and demonstrate the Merrimack Valley Means Business Economic Development online mapper.
• Matthew Barrett, GIS Coordinator for the Town of Concord will demonstrate an Online Assessing Information and Mapping Program, which he has created.
• Aleda Freeman and Saul Farber MassGIS' Internet Mapping Programmers will demonstrate a variety of online mapping applications they have created, including: Well Drilling Data, Legislative District Demographics, High Wind Resources, and many more.
  
• Johanna Meyer from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency will demonstrate the Use of GIS in Event Management.
• Brian Egnitz and Dan Bibel from the Massachusetts State Police will show how they use GIS for Tactical Crime Analysis and for Analysis of Troop Jurisdictions and Barracks Locations.
  
• Christine Slinko from the Office of Coastal Zone Management will demonstrate the CZM Public Coastal Access Locator, a web mapping product that allows users to search for public access to the Massachusetts shoreline.
• Kathleen Attfield of the Silent Spring Institute will demonstrate their new online mapping program, which displays Health and Environment Maps for each municipality.
• Jamie Portolese and Garrett Walsh from the GIS Department in the Town of Weymouth will highlight the Online Weymouth Property Viewer and other municipal GIS use.
• Brian Cummings from the Department of Social Services will demonstrate the uses of mapping technology in the Delivery of Human Services.
• Justin Mierz and Braden Miller will demonstrate how the Department of Public Health uses GIS for Environmental Health Tracking
• Dan Neville from The Fingold State Library will be on hand to discuss Mapping Resources Available at the State House.
• Mark Berger from the Commonwealth’s Office of Transportation Planning will present Multimodal Transportation Planning.
• Brian Broduer and Philip Murphy from the Department of Environmental Protection will demonstrate The DEP Online Map Viewer.
• Allan Bishop, Tarin Comer and David Dosreis from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council will exhibit some of the latest Metro Boston Data Common Online Mapper and will conduct on-the-spot Town Based Future Growth Scenarios.
• Stephen Mabee is the Official State Geologist and will demonstrate the Usefulness of GIS for Geology and will display a 3-Dimensional Geologic Map of the Marlborough Area.
• Philip John is MassGIS’ Imagery Specialist and will examine the Latest Developments in Aerial Imagery.
• Several High School GIS teachers and their students will exhibit projects they have undertaken.Laraine Hawkins and students Bryan Bierman, James Clarizio, Max Evers, David Silva, Joshua Yell, Michael Ippoliti and David Yellin from Franklin High School; and Maria Baze and students from the Odyssey High School in South Boston will all be there.
• Many State Colleges and Universities have GIS programs and two will be exhibiting at GIS Day. Darcy Boellstorff and her students Patrick McDonough, Matthew Desmarais, and Jamieson Wicks from Bridgewater State College will exhibit their work on Effects of Landscape Development on Climate Variability in Southeastern Massachusetts; David Merwin from Framingham State College, along with his students will be in attendance.
  

In addition, the event will feature a map and poster gallery. Included will be submissions from:

• Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game
• Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination
  
• Department of Education
• Department of Agricultural Resources
• Children’s Hospital
• Massachusetts Sentencing Commission
  
• Office of the Probation Commissioner
• Central Transportation Planning Staff
• Massachusetts Department of Public Health – Office of Emergency Medical Services

Please join us. The event is free and handicapped accessible, and light refreshments will be served. If you have any questions about the event, please contact paul.nutting@state.ma.us.

For directions see the Guide to State House Entrances and Parking maps: JPG (811 KB) | PDF (5 MB).

Review GIS Day 2005 events.

---

A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computer system used by millions of people across the globe to visualize and analyze myriad spatial data related to geology, oceanography, demographics, resource protection, real estate, defense, emergency management, health, and many other disciplines. GIS Day is a grassroots event that formalizes the practice of (GIS) users and vendors of opening their doors to schools, businesses, and the general public to showcase real-world applications of this important technology. The event is principally sponsored by the National Geographic Society, the Association of American Geographers, University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, the United States Geological Survey, The Library of Congress, Sun Microsystems, and ESRI. Colleges, universities, K-12 schools, cities, and private industries are participating in GIS Day, giving the general public an opportunity to see how GIS technology is applied in many interesting and exciting ways. EOEA and MassGIS are in good company as they join hundreds of GIS Day sites worldwide. For more information see http://www.gisday.com.