Date: February 17, 2011 11:30 – 1:30
Location: USGS Austin Office
Number of Attendees: 17 – great turnout!
SWIGGIS Business:
Introductions – Jacquie Hrncir opened the meeting and asked everyone to go around the room and introduce themselves.
Website migration, verify emails, RSS feed, LinkedIn – Jacquie announced the redesign of the SWIGGIS-Austin website which was on display during the meeting. The 2011 Officers have a lot of ideas for the website so please check it out now and in the coming months and provide suggestions! All pages have comment sections. Jacquie is working on an accurate account of the email list, so please provide her with any changes you may have. Gayla Mullins is the POC for the new website, however, any officer has rights to update it. One major change to the website is that the Home page acts somewhat like a blog where officers will post announcements. We are working on an RSS feed option for the Home page. Jacquie also mentioned the SWIGGIS-Austin group on LinkedIn, so please join if you have not already.
Upcoming events –
- Jacquie announced the next event which is a Membership Drive in March at The Highball. She will send out a Doodle.com poll to gather information from members on the best date for this event. She also announced and displayed our group’s new Membership Form to be filled out and turned into any officer. This is a great way to organize and see the many talents our members have in Geography, GIS, or other areas. Jacquie brought the SWIGGIS T-shirts and announced that any dues paid member is welcome to one. Gayla announced that dues are $25 for professionals and $10 for students and due any time to any officer during the 2011 year.
- Ilyanna Kadich announced the Girlstart: Girls in STEM Event which will be on 3/26/2011 on the UT-Austin Campus. She spoke about SWIGGIS’ involvement in this event last year and requested volunteers to contact her if they are interested in participating this year. It is good to have three presenters per workshop.
- Jacquelyn Bilbro announced the Girls Scouts Geo-Adventure Day which will be on 4/2/2011 at the Nalle Bunny Run Wildlife Preserve. She showed the volunteer form available from the SWIGGIS event page and asked anyone interested in participating this year to fill out the form. You may volunteer for specific areas and include information about equipment or swag you can bring. She said the Girl Scouts really enjoyed our involvement last year.
Non-profit status – Pamela Quarles spoke about her research into declaring our group as a non-profit. Please contact her or other officers if you or someone you know has the legal expertise to help us get there. She said we will coordinate with SWIGGIS-Houston on this and any other regional SWIGGIS groups that form in the future.
Texas State SWIG – Jacquie announced that they are looking for presenters at their events and to contact Chanell Goodright. Jacquie will send out an email to the group with further detail about this. Our group does wish to interact with SWIG at the Universities level more and possibly set up a mentor program or event.
Other – Suggestions for future SWIGGIS events included Rollerskating, Roller Derby, and Bingo
Presentation:
Claire DeVaughan, the Geospatial Liaison for Texas at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), gave a wonderful presentation on the history of topographic mapping in the U.S. and the recently released 1:24,000 scale US Topo maps. The new maps are complete for Texas, available for free download here, and are GeoPDFs. The new US Topo maps do not have buildings or vegetation layers but they do have 1-meter 2008/2009 orthoimagery. The audience for these maps is the general public and one can connect a GPS unit to them and “watch” yourself walking around on the maps! Claire also had hardcopy topographic maps available to look at from several different vintages.
Original Agenda
SWIGGIS FEB 17, 2011: Luncheon @ USGS
11:30 – 12:00 SWIGGIS Business
- Intros
- Website Migration, verify emails, RSS feed, linkedin
- Upcoming Events
- March Membership Drive @ The Highball bowling lanes – Doodle.com, more details to come…Membership forms, Tshirts, Referrals, fees
- 3/26/2011: Girlstart: Girls in STEM Event – Ilyanna Kadich
- 4/02/2011: Geo – Adventure (Girl Scouts) – Jacquelyn Bilbro
- Non profit status: Pamela Quarles
- Texas State SWIGG is looking for presenters for their events – contact: Chanell Goodright (cg1365@txstate.edu), I will send out an email & post online
- Any other business
12:00 – 1:00 Presentation
- Our speaker is Claire DeVaughan, the Geospatial Liaison for Texas at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). USGS is in the process of creating new versions of the 1:24,000-scale topographic maps, named “US Topo”. The maps are being produced using the most current geographic data available at the national level. Background information on the history of the USGS’ topographic mapping program will be provided, along with a demonstration on how to download and use the new maps. Some information on the new maps is available here: http://nationalmap.gov/ustopo/index.html .
- Background on topographic maps: US Topo users can determine coordinates of any point on the map, measure distances and angles between points, measure areas, display coordinates in various map projections and datums, turn layers on and off, zoom in and out, and print the map image. An example of how the maps can be used would be to plan hikes or kayak trips, or view geocaching locations. Using the maps can help visualize where you have been, and where you might want to go.
1:00 – Any left over SWIGGIS business