NYS GIS Association Annual Meeting – 2015
MinutesNYS GIS Association Annual Awards Presentations
At the 2015 Annual Meeting, the NYS GIS Association presented six individual awards in three separate categories: GIS Champions, Individual Achievement, and Lifetime Achievement. In addition awards were presented for GIS applications that demonstrate teamwork and collaboration.
Award Categories
Individual Contributions to the Profession (Annual)
Recognition is given for outstanding contributions to the profession over the past year. This is intended to recognize recent outstanding achievement in advancing GIS programs, projects, or initiatives, or producing innovative research or presentation material.
Champions Award
Recognition is given for exemplary support of the GIS profession and of the value of GIS technology. Winners are not typically GIS professionals but those outside the profession, typically in a management, supervisory or other key decision making or support role that have championed GIS projects or GIS technology within their organizations.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Recognition is given for longstanding contributions of members of the GIS profession who have had a significant impact on both the Association and the profession in New York State over the course of their careers, and who deserve special and separate recognition by the Association.
The Winners
Alan Leidner accepting the 2015 GIS Champion award on behalf of Mary McCormick of the Fund for the City of New York.
Mickey Dietrich accepting the 2015 GIS Champion award on behalf of Tim Turck, the Superintendent of Public Works for the Village of West Carthage.
Star Carter accepting the 2015 GIS Champion award on behalf of Andrea Smith, the Director of Planning and Development for the City of Ogdensburg.
Christina Illingworth, a GIS Technician with the Development Authority of the North Country, accepting the 2015 Individual Achievement Award.
Austin Fisher, principal and co-founder of Fountains Spatial, accepting the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award.
Alan Leidner accepting the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Jack Eichenbaum, recently retired from the City of New York.
Applications Awards
For the first time, the Association solicited nominations for GIS Applications as a way to recognize the great work of collaborative teams and organizations throughout the State. A GIS Application was defined as anything from improving a workflow using out-of-the-box tools to a detailed web application for data viewing or collecting. It can be written for use by any number of people, from specific individuals to an entire enterprise or a wide-ranging web audience. So, an application is not just something you download on a device or code installed somehow in your desktop, it’s the use of the technology that matters. The Association recognized a total of thirteen Finalists in the Applications Award category and four Winners for 2015. For more information on the specific applications or for contact information for any particular application, please contact the Chair of the Awards Committee.
Linda Rockwood accepting the 2015 Applications Award on behalf of Mohawk Valley GIS for the NY Snowmobile Web Map and Trip Planner.
Mike Herr accepting the 2105 Applications Award on behalf of the Rochester Fire Department for their Mobile Inspection Applications.
Joanna Laroussi and her team accepting the 2105 Applications Award on behalf of the NYC Department of Education for the PUTES application, a distance based transportation eligibility program for NYC students.
Tom Hynes accepting the 2105 Applications Award on behalf of the Ulster County GIS program for the re-launch of Ulster County’s REConnect, an Interactive Web-Mapping Tool.
The Award Finalists for 2015
Award Winner’s Submittals
| Organization | Application | Name | Submission |
|---|---|---|---|
| NYC Department of Education, Office of Pupil Transportation | NYS DOE Student Transportation Eligibility | Joanna Laroussi | |
| City of Rochester Fire Department | Rochester Fire Department Mobile Inspections Application | Mike Herr | |
| Mohawk Valley GIS | Snowmobile Web Map | Linda Rockwood | |
| Ulster County | Ulster Recreation Mapping Tool (REConnect) | Alanna Henneberry |
Finalist’s Submittals
| Organization | Application | Name | Submission |
|---|---|---|---|
| DANC | Internet Mapping Application (IMA) | Star Carter | |
| Erie County | Dig Smart & infraMAP | Steven Russell Jr. | |
| Town of Southampton | Land Manager GIS | Ross Baldwin | |
| Westchester County | Mobile Mapping for Street Sign Inventories | Sam Wear | |
| Town of Southampton | Historic Resources Application | Ross Baldwin | |
| SUNY Plattsburgh | Roadkill App | Eileen Allen | |
| Dutchess County | The Referral Finder | Robert S. Wills | |
| NYS DEC Bureau of Marine Resources | Creating custom ArcGIS toolboxes to automate the creation of Shellfish Closure Maps | Melissa Albino | |
| NYS OPRHP | Cultural Resource Management in the 21st Century: NYS Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS) | Michael Schifferli | |
| NYS DOS | Geographic Information Gateway | Jeff Herter | |
| Buffalo Computer Graphics, Inc. | JavaScipt GIS Common Operational Picture Viewer | Kristen Lovejoy | Unavailable |
| Niagara County | Niagara County Brownsfields Tracking Tool | Benjamin Bidell | |
| NYCDEP BWS | NYC DEP Wetlands Mapping Pilot Project | Karen Kwasnowski |