IMAGIN - Improving Michigan's Access to Geographic Information Networks
IMAGIN E-News - October, 2006
Current News
Bill Enslin - On behalf of the IMAGIN Board of Directors, I am sad to share the news of the passing of William "Bill" Enslin on Tuesday, October 17, 2006.   Bill was a co-founder and past president of IMAGIN. Bill's passing is a great loss to the Michigan GIS community, he was an innovator, mentor, and  friend.  His enthusiasm was irrepressible and infectious, and he brought that enthusiasm to every aspect of his life. Bill constantly shared that enthusiasm with others.
Over more than three decades at Michigan State University, Bill trained countless students and coworkers, most of whom went on to other geospatial careers in Michigan. Bill always believed that better information, in particular better geospatial information, leads to better decision making, and that the key was to empower others with the tools and training to understand and solve problems geographically. Through C-MAP, LandScan, and the Michigan Map Image Viewer, Bill helped make geospatial information accessible to local and county governments across Michigan. Bill also contributed his energy to IMAGIN and LIAA, two organizations that are committed to goal of making geographic information available to the people of Michigan.  
In Bill's memory, IMAGIN has initiated the IMAGIN  Founders' Fund for GIS education in Michigan. Although the details are still to be worked out, the intent is that the funds may be used for a variety of educational purposes such as scholarships, workshops and travel. Also, it is thought the funds would be available to both students and professionals to promote the continued development of GIS in Michigan.
Steve Aichele, IMAGIN President
New IMAGIN Management Group - After a several month proposal review and interview process, IMAGIN is pleased to announce Kordenbrock Riehl Companies, LLC of Lansing has been hired as our new management group. Jean Kordenbrock and Traci Riehl bring extensive experience in financial management, conference planning, and membership services, as well as detailed knowledge of Michigan venues and resources.
The transfer of management duties became effective October 1, 2006. Although the relationship with URISA was very successful for more than three years, a realignment of priorities and staffing changes at URISA required IMAGIN to seek out a new management group.
Through the transition, the goal is to maintain the current level of service; going forward, our goal is to increase the value of IMAGIN membership. We look forward to working with Jean and Traci to accomplish this goal.
IMAGIN Welcomes Kordenbrock Riehl Companies - Jean Kordenbrock and Traci Riehl created Kordenbrock Riehl Companies, LLC (KRC) in 2002 to unite their diverse backgrounds for the benefit of their clients in association management and support services. Jean’s legal background and analytical qualities allow KRC to offer PAC Management, Business Administration, Sponsorship Development and Strategic Planning. Traci’s expertise encompasses Member Outreach, Public Relations, Marketing, and Special Event Planning. We are a small company that focuses on meeting our client’s needs with a personal touch. We want to learn your industry and become part of your team to effectively represent your association.
On a personal note, we are thrilled with the opportunity to work with you. We have appreciated a very smooth transition from URISA guided by URISA's Executive Director Wendy Francis. Since our start on October 1, we have been very busy transitioning the member database, issuing dues invoices, redirecting communications for phone, fax and email, coordinating mailing lists for the newsletter, visiting the 2007 conference location and meeting with the conference committee. Needless to say, we have hit the ground running. Please feel free to contact us with your questions and suggestions. You may reach us via email at: kordenbrock@imagin.org (Jean) or traciriehl@imagin.org (Traci).
IMAGIN 2007 Conference Call for Abstracts Deadline Today! Help to make the 2007 Conference a success by submitting an abstract. The Conference Committee will develop the program from the abstract submissions. Submission deadline: October 26, 2006 at 5:00pm. Submit an abstract online at: http://www.imagin.org/conference/abstracts.html
For questions, please e-mail www@imagin.org.
IMAGIN to give away $500 to IMAGIN publication contributors The IMAGIN board of directors has decided to reward those IMAGIN members who contribute their time and energy by submitting items for posting on the IMAGIN web site, articles for the IMAGIN E-News and articles for the imagiNEWS newsletter. The reward will be a chance to win one (or more) of the 5 - $100 cash prizes that will be given away at the 2007 Annual conference.
For more information: See the E-News page on the IMAGIN web site.
Michigan Geographic Framework Local Data Partnerships - The Michigan Center for Geographic Information strives to form working partnerships that will result in explicit improvements to Framework. These improvements must benefit CGI and its business partners, as well as fulfill the needs of its local partners.
The goal for these partnerships is to introduce cost savings by reducing duplication of efforts while making a uniformed Base Map, thus increasing efficiency with information flow and use at local, state, and federal levels.
For those that may be interested, see the local data partnerships web page at: http://www.michigan.gov/cgi/0,1607,7-158-12761-151202--,00.html
Monthly Theme
This month's theme is "GIS in Travel & Tourism".
Michigan.org Travel Maps - While some these maps are not live GIS sites, GIS was most likely used to create the static maps on the Michigan.org web site's travel page. The static maps on this site include fall color tours, wine trails, city tours, heritage tours and maritime tours. There are also some live interactive maps that are powered by MapQuest and forms to enter your starting address with the destination address already filled in. It seems to be a very well designed site that includes static map images, interactive maps and GIS based driving directions quite effectively. See the Michigan.org travel page at: http://www.Michigan.org/travel/
State of Michigan Travel & Tourism Maps - The State of Michigan as a number of interactive and static maps to assist travelers, recreation, and tourists. These maps are a great resource for the residents of Michigan as well as those people vacationing here.
  • Map Michigan (waterfalls, directions, etc.) http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/mapmichigan/home.asp
  • Boaters Information - http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/mrbis/
  • Parks and Trails - http://www.michigandnr.com/ParksandTrails/parkmap.aspx
  • Rest Areas - http://www.michigan.gov/som/0,1607,7-192-29907_29953-60528--,00.html
  • Light Houses - http://www.michigan.gov/documents/hal_mhc_shpo_lightmap_50933_7.pdf
  • RoadsideAmerica.com - Michigan Locations - RoadsideAmerica.com uses an embedded Google interactive map to highlight a locate Michigan's offbeat tourist attractions. A good example of not needing GIS on your own web site, but being able to link to another GIS enabled web site. To find offbeat attractions near you, see the Michigan map at: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/geo/showStateMap.php?state=mi
    Great Lakes Information Network - The Great Lakes Information Network (GLIN) offers a static map of the Great Lakes Circle Tour for those people who want an up-close-and-personal tour of the entire Great Lakes. The 6500 mile long Great Lakes Circle Tour will take you around each of the individual 5 great lakes. See more information at: http://www.great-lakes.net/tourism/circletour/
    Lodging, Wine, Sports, Bridges, Etc. - There are also a number of other Michigan maps for outdoor sports, recreation, lodging, and points of interest. This list is just a short list of all the web sites with map content related to Michigan. These web sites include non-profit, commercial, and private web sites that are trying to add Geographic Information instead of just tabular information. A trend that will likely only grow in the future. Some are location specific and some are topic specific. They all have information that may be of interest to you and you may get some good ideas if putting maps on the web is in your future.
  • Munising area lodging and snowmobiling: http://www.munising.org/munising/maps.html
  • Michigan wineries: http://www.michiganwines.com/Tour_Maps/travel_and_maps.html
  • Downtown Detroit: http://www.detroit2005.com/mapo/main_area.html
  • Fishweb.com - outdoor activities maps: http://www.fishweb.com/1-a.html
  • Northern Michigan static map with zoom & pan: http://www.michiganmapsonline.com/
  • And finally, covered bridges: http://my.net-link.net/%7Emichaelf/mapmich.htm
  • New E-News Theme! - In addition to our permanent 'GIS in Michigan' coverage, we will begin having an additional theme for each monthly issue. This theme will not limit the E-News articles to only this theme, but rather it will provide an additional focus for some of the articles.
    The theme for the November 2006 issue of E-News is "GIS and Michigan's Economy".
    Send any ideas you have relating to the GIS in Michigan or the theme for next month to enews@imagin.org.
    Upcoming Events
  • October 31, 2006: IMAGIN 2007 Conference abstracts due.
  • November 2, 2006: Michigan Geographic Information Users Forum, Lansing, MI
  • January 25, 2007: IMAGIN 2007 Student Paper Competition, Schoolcraft College, Livonia, MI
  • March 12, 2007: IMAGIN 2007 Annual Conference Speaker Registration Deadline
  • May 6, 2007: IMAGIN 2007 Annual Conference Golf Outing, Kalamazoo, MI
  • May 6, 2007: IMAGIN 2007 Annual Conference Speaker Appreciation Reception, Kalamazoo, MI
  • May 7-9, 2007: IMAGIN 2007 Annual Conference, Radisson Plaza Hotel, Kalamazoo, MI
  • June 11-13, 2007: GPS World Conference & Expo
  • For more events, see the IMAGIN Calendar of Events
  • Training
    Date(s) D Organization City Description
    November 6-10, 2006   ESRI Livonia ArcSDE Administration for SQL Server
    November 13-16, 2006 Y MSU RS&GIS E. Lansing Technical Workshops
    November 13-14, 2006   ESRI Livonia Introduction to ArcGIS I
    November 15-17, 2006   ESRI Livonia Introduction to ArcGIS II
    November 27-29, 2006   ESRI East Lansing Introduction to ArcGIS for the DIHSLE Communities
    For links to Michigan GIS training facilities visit the IMAGIN training page.
    To include your Michigan GIS training in this list, send the details to: enews@imagin.org
    D = IMAGIN Members get a 10% discount on this training.
    Spotlight on Supporting Organizations
    NRCS Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) puts nearly 70 years of experience to work in assisting owners of America's private land with conserving their soil, water, and other natural resources. Local, state and federal agencies and policymakers also rely on our expertise. We deliver technical assistance based on sound science and suited to a customer's specific needs. The NRCS is part of the US Department of Agriculture. For more information: see the USDA - NRCS web site.
    Troy
    The City of Troy's GIS was developed in part to allow its citizens and employees to make informed decisions with timely, spatially accurate information. The GIS serves as a data warehouse for much of the city's infrastructure and allows city departments to analyze the physical features that currently exist in the city prior to making decisions to facilities, services and infrastructure. This ability to examine many of the factors effecting development helps the city to make more informed decisions. The City of Troy's efforts were formally started with the hiring of a GIS Administrator in November 2000 and GIS Analyst in 2001.

    Since then, the city has implemented numerous GIS enabled applications throughout city operations, including over a dozen Intranet based maps and applications. Several of these are available to the public free of charge and can be found on the city's website http://www.ci.troy.mi.us/gis. The City of Troy's GIS efforts serve as the cornerstone of their asset management activities, as well as support for public safety operations. Current projects underway include mobile field mapping tied into the city's asset management system, seamless integration to the numerous enterprise databases, along with continued development and evolution of the City's web mapping capabilities into the next generation of ESRI server based technology.
    Each month, this section will highlight one or two of our supporting organizations. If your organization would like to be in the spotlight, please contact IMAGIN headquarters about becoming a supporting organization.
    Web Mapping Site of the Month
    WashtenawVotes - Just in time for the November 7th general election, the Washtenaw County Clerk/Register's office has launched its new voter information web search application, http://WashtenawVotes.org, available on the County's web site. The new web site uses AJAX and ArcIMS to drill down through 10 different pieces of parcel and election geography and provide results in a matter of seconds. All of the election geography and ballot reports are maintained by the elections office on ArcSDE and pulled live to the website as changes happen. If you have questions concerning the new washtenawvotes.org web site please, please contact Kimberly Wraight, GIS Coordinator, wraightk@ewashtenaw.org or 734-222-6551.
    Employment
    Job Openings
    Organization Title
    Oakland County Project Manager - GIS
    New Hires/Promotions/GISP's
    Organization Title Name
    To include your job openings, new hires, promotions or GISP certifications in this section, please send the information to enews@imagin.org. Please include the URL for your organization also. Check the IMAGIN jobs page for other openings.
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    IMAGIN E-News Information

    Editor - Tara Maguire, GIS Coordinator, City of Birmingham
    Editor - Matt Malone, GIS Coordinator, City of Farmington Hills
    Editor - Brian Buckley, Senior GIS Specialist, Hubbell, Roth & Clark, Inc.
    Publication Date: October 26, 2006
    E-News Web Page:http://www.imagin.org/resources/enews.html
    Email Address: enews@imagin.org
    Any corrections to the E-News will be posted on the web site above.
    Please email us your comments and suggestions. Thanks!

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