GIS and Science

James Fallows, national correspondent for The Atlantic and commentator on American politics, technology, and culture, will speak in Redlands, California, on Sunday, February 21, 2010. The public is invited to hear his presentation—Is America “Going to Hell”?—which will take place from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the ESRI Conference Center, 380 New York Street.

A Redlands native who has lived in England, Japan, and China, Fallows brings a unique perspective to his view of the state of the American union. In his January 2010 cover article for The Atlantic, “After the Crash: How America Can Rise Again,” Fallows expresses optimism about America’s strengths but concern about its staying power. In the article, Fallows says, “What is obvious from outside the country is how exceptional it is in its powers of renewal: America is always in decline, and is always about to bounce back.”

Fallows draws on years of experience in journalism and other pursuits. He was an editor of the Washington Monthly and Texas Monthly, and from 1977 to 1979 served as President Jimmy Carter’s chief speech writer. His first book, National Defense, won the American Book Award in 1981. He has worked as a software designer at Microsoft and from 1996 to 1998 was an editor of U.S. News & World Report. His most recent books are Blind into Baghdad: America’s War in Iraq and Postcards from Tomorrow Square: Reports from China.

The speaking event is part of the cultural series that ESRI and the University of Redlands cosponsor through the Town & Gown organization. Jack Dangermond, ESRI president and also a Redlands native, commented, “It gives [University of Redlands president] Stuart Dorsey and me great pleasure to provide opportunities for members of our community to meet one another and enjoy presentations by the talented people who visit our town.”

To guarantee seating, attendees should register for the event on the Internet at www.esri.com/culturalseries or by calling 909-748-8011.

[Source: ESRI press release]

“URISA is seeking nominations for its GIS Hall of Fame.  The Hall of Fame recognizes and honors the best of us in GIS.  Started in 2005, the URISA Hall of Fame documents the contributions made by key individuals.  URISA welcomes nominations from any profession and is not restricted to those having a past or current relationship with URISA.

Criteria

“This award is not given every year, and some years there may be multiple recipients. The selection criteria for this honor are:

•    At least 25 years of sustained professional involvement in the GIS field.
•    Original and creative contributions to the field.
•    Well known and respected by a wide range of peers.
•    Consistent demonstration of sound professional and personal ethics.

“Nominations must be submitted to URISA by May 1.  The nomination shall consist of a letter of no more than 2 pages.  The letter will describe how the person or organization has met or exceeded the award criteria.  It must be in electronic format and emailed to info@urisa.org .  A committee of past URISA Presidents will review all nominations and make recommendations to the URISA Board of Directors by mid-June.”

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Journal of Map And Geography Libraries, Volume 6 Issue 1, 2010: Preservation of Digital Geospatial Materials

Steven P. Morris

“The North Carolina Geospatial Data Archiving Project (NCGDAP) is a partnership of the North Carolina (NC) State University Libraries and the NC Center for Geographic Information & Analysis focused on preservation of state and local geospatial data. This project, executed under an agreement with the Library of Congress as part of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP), is helping to inform development of a national digital preservation infrastructure through a learning-by-doing approach focused on identifying, acquiring, and preserving content within the context of the NC OneMap initiative and its framework of partnerships with state, local, and federal agencies. Although the collection-building aspect of this project is focused solely on the state of North Carolina, the project has served as a demonstration that informs data archiving and time series development more generally. The article discusses how the project has responded to key challenges, including identifying data resources for the archive, data acquisition, determining frequency of data capture, engaging the data producer community and industry, processing and creation of metadata, and repository development. The article also highlights newer initiatives that have emerged as outcomes of the project.”

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Journal of Map And Geography Libraries, Volume 6 Issue 1, 2010: Preservation of Digital Geospatial Materials

Tracey Erwin; Julie Sweetkind-Singer

“The National Geospatial Digital Archive is a collaborative project between the University of California at Santa Barbara and Stanford University. The project was funded by the Library of Congress through their National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP). The goal of the collaboration was to collect, preserve, and provide long-term access to at-risk geospatial data. The project partners created preservation environments at both universities, created and populated a format registry, collected more than ten terabytes of geospatial data and imagery, wrote collection development policies governing acquisitions, and created legal documents designed to manage the content and the relationship between the two nodes.”

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