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The Massachusetts Geographic Information Council (MGIC) is an advisory body to MassGIS (See About MassGIS). In keeping with provision's of MassGIS' legislative mandate, this advisory function was officially established in its current form in 2001; at that time it was called the "Statewide Geographic Information Advisory Committee". In 2006, the name was changed to MGIC, in an attempt to eliminate some on-going confusion between the advisory committee function, educational meetings coordinated by MassGIS called "MGIC", and the historical origins of the MGIC acronym. Thus, MGIC now refers to MassGIS' advisory group. The educational seminars previously referred to as MGIC are now called the "MGIC Seminar Series".
In continuing the role of the legislatively mandated advisory group, MGIC meetings are an opportunity for a) the Massachusetts' geospatial community to express their views and concerns and b) for MassGIS staff to seek advice from individuals representing MassGIS' many constituencies. MGIC meets every other month (except in the summer), for a total of five times annually, to learn about current MassGIS projects and to advise MassGIS staff on those projects and on current issues. The legislature did not provided guidance on the membership of the advisory group; they also did not specify how the group's members would be appointed, although a draft of the legislative language had speficied composition of the advisory group. Based on the original draft language, the members of the original advisory group were appointed in January 2001 by then Secretary of Environmental Affairs, Bob Durand. The advisory group, now "MGIC" or "the Council" has since advised MassGIS staff that, particularly since its meetings are public anyway, it is in the best interests of geospatial coordination in Massachusetts if the meetings are open to all who want to be more fully engaged in geospatial developments in Massachusetts. Thus membership in the Council is based on interest and attendance. For more information or to receive notices of future Council meetings, contact Neil MacGaffey at (617) 626-1057 or at neil.macgaffey@state.ma.us. Alternatively, contact one of the regular council attendees listed below; they each represent a specific part of the geospatial community in Massachusetts; they can be contacted with questions or concerns that can then be brought to the attention of MassGIS staff.
Historical Origins of MGIC
In its first incarnation, in the early 1990s, MGIC was the name of a group of people with a professional interest in GIS; they came from a variety of public and private professional affiliations. The group came together partly to provide educational and networking opportunities and partly to work towards establishing state-level coordination of GIS activities. Through MGIC there was also an attempt to revive the State Mapping Advisory Committee, which historically had advised the U.S. Geological Survey on state priorities for USGS' mapping work. For a time MGIC was a quasi-formal professional association. It had "governing guidelines" and if you paid a small fee ("dues"), you received paper announcements concerning the group's events. At this time, MGIC meetings typically included some sort of educational presentation followed by a business meeting. Over time, the activities of the group waned. Subsequently, MassGIS revived the meetings with a focus on educational presentations and networking. Thus the seminar series is the remnant activity of the original MGIC meetings that took place in the early 1990s. The MGIC educational forum has served a useful educational and networking function that will be continued.
Regular Council Attendees
First Name
Last Name
Title
Affiliation
Affiliation Type
Phone
Dave
Beck
Chair
MAAO GIS Committee
NGO
781-925 2205
maaogis@yahoo.com Mark
Berger
Data Resources Manager
EOT-Office of Transportation Planning
STATE
617-973-8064
mark.berger@state.ma.us Dan
Bibel
Program Manager
Crime Reporting Unit, State Police
STATE
508-820-2111
Daniel.Bibel@state.ma.us Allan
Bishop (2)
GIS Manager
Metropolitan Area Planng Council
RPA
617-451-2770
abishop@mapc.org Lynn
Bjorklund
State Liaison
U.S. Geological Survey
FED
508-490-5074
lcbjorklund@usgs.gov Tim
Brennan
Executive Director
Pioneer Valley Planning Comm.
RPA
413-781-6045
tbrennan@pvpc.org David
Davies
Director, Info. Technology
Div. Of Local Services, Dept. of Rev.
STATE
617-626-2383
David.Davies@state.ma.us Pete
Duggan
Board Member
New England Chapter GITA
NGO (UTIL)
508-277-6735
rpduggan@keyspanenergy.com Brian
Egnitz
GIS Manager
State Police - Fusion Center
STATE
508-988-7228
brian.egnitz@pol.state.ma.us
Joe
Ferreira
Professor
MIT
EDU
617-253-2022
jf@mit.edu Joan
Gardner
Principle
Gardner Associates
PRIV
jngardner37@comcast.net Christian
Jacqz
Director
MassGIS - EOEA
STATE
617-626-1056
Christian.Jacqz@state.ma.us Niels
LaCour
Planner
Planning Department
LOCAL
413-256-4040
lacourn@town.amherst.ma.us Karen
Loh
Real Estate Info. Consultant
PRIV
781-893-3825
kkloh@comcast.net Steve
Mabee
State Geologist
UMASS-Amherst
EDU
413-545-2842
sbmabee@geo.umass Johanna
Meyer (1)
GIS Coordinator
Mass. Emergency Management Agency
STATE
508-820-2005
johanna.meyer@state.ma.us Nigel
Pickering (3)
Sr. Engineer
Charles River Watershed Association
NGO
617-965-5975 x222
npickering@crwa.org Mike
Terner
Vice President
AppGeo, Inc.
PRIV
617-292-2001 x102
mgt@appgeo.com Feng
Yang
GIS Manager
MIS Department, Town of Brookline
LOCAL
617-730-2005
feng_yang@town.brookline.ma.us
(1) For John Tommaney, Director of Operations
(2) For Marc Draisen, Executive Director
(3) For Robert Zimmerman, Executive Director
Last Updated 9/20/2007
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