Northwest  WA  GIS  Users  Group

Information

NWWGIS Meetings and Agendas             NWWGIS Bulletin Board (Upcoming Events)

Introduction:

The NWWGIS is a group of individuals who meet every three months to discuss our activities with Geographical Information Systems and to hear from others working in this field about their interests, activities and concerns. The group has been meeting on a fairly regular basis since the late 1990's. The meetings were initiated by DNR in the Sedro-Woolley regional office where a need was felt to have some form of interaction with other individuals and agencies who use GIS in our part of the state. "Our part of the state" generally includes the area from Snohomish County to the Canadian border, although on occasion we have had participants from King County, B.C., and elsewhere.

 

Meeting Schedule and Location:

We normally meet on the third Friday in the months of March, June, September and December. On a few occasions we have moved the meeting up or back a week. The location is variable depending on the wishes and needs of the person taking responsibility for the meeting program. Often we have met at the DNR conference space in Sedro-Woolley, but we also have met in Bellingham, Mt. Vernon, Padilla Bay, Everett and Stanwood. The meetings are scheduled to run from 9 am to noon.

 

Meeting Format:

Our agenda generally consists of a roundtable discussion for the first hour, followed by a fifteen minute coffee break, and then a set of presentations, each taking fifteen to forty-five minutes. Thus, a typical meeting will have two to five separate topics. The choice of topics and the length of each offering is up to the person taking the responsibility for that meeting's agenda. Any topic which relates to GIS hardware / software / databases / applications / policies . . . might be suitable.

 

Membership / Email List:

Our mailing list for sending out meeting notices now contains about 250 names. A typical meeting will have some twenty to sixty persons attending with a quite diverse membership coming from many organizations and individuals where GIS is a part of the operational mix. Included are people from city, county or tribal planning and/or public works departments, state and federal agencies, private consulting firms and educational institutions. We come because we are using GIS on a fairly regular basis, we want to interact with others having similar interests and responsibilities, and we like sharing with others what we are doing. Being a "member" of the group means either being on the mailing list or coming to meetings because you heard about it from someone. There are no dues, no membership applications and no requirements except interest in GIS and interest in learning and sharing.

 

E-Mailings:

To get on our e-mail list for meeting announcements and agendas, send your name and email address (& the organization you are with) to:

                Stefan Freelan ( e-mail )

 

The primary use of the NWWaGIS email list is to send out NWWaGIS meeting announcements. Occasionally, at the request of a NWWaGIS member, informational items for upcoming events will also be forwarded. Members who wish to receive only the NWWaGIS agendas can request this ( e-mail ).

 

In general, the following guidelines apply to the types of announcement that will be forwarded:

 

Excluded from this list are:

 

The intention of forwarding selected email notices is to provide a service to the NWWaGIS members. Please feel free to comment on this practice and/or make suggestions as to how to further refine these guidelines. In no case will the actual email address of members be shared with a third party.

 

Announcements of GIS-related events, trainings, etc. can also be posted to the NWWaGIS Bulletin Board.

 

   

 

Suggestions for Host and/or Presenters:

Meetings can be held at your chosen location (if you have space and can provide instructions on how to find you) or we generally can use the DNR meeting space at their Sedro-Woolley location. An overhead projector is available there, but if you wish to use a computer-generated display, you will need to bring your own equipment. We may be able to supply a projector (video or slide) if this is pre-arranged. The room can be made reasonably dark for visuals and there is wall space and a display board for posters.

 

 

Guidelines for posting informational items to the NWWGIS Bulletin Board:

The NWWGIS Bulletin Board was set up to provide a additional venue for GIS information to be shared amongst the GIS users of the region. This is intended primarily for upcoming events such as:

 

In addition, the bulletin board could be used for:

 

The bulletin board is not really intended for (but is occasionally used for):

 

This bulletin board is not for: