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ACSM/NSPS I attended the NSPS Area 3 & 4 meeting held August 16 at East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN.
I will be attending the ACSM Joint Governmental Affairs Federal Lobby Day activities and the Fall ACSM/NSPS Business Meetings on September 23-28, 2008 in Arlington, VA. A report of these proceedings will be made at the next TSPS Board Meeting.
Respectfully Submitted
Patrick A. Smith, RPLS
GENERAL LAND OFFICE GEOGRAPHIC INFO SYSTEMS
Texas Geographic Information Council (TGIC) Update: I have contacted Mike Ouimet to request allowing a TSPS representative to be on TGIC. He said he would present the request to their organization and they would vote on it. It was agreed at our May meeting that Jack Avis will be our representative when the time comes. Mr. Ouimet was invited to our August committee meeting to tell us about current TGIC activities, but will be unable to attend. The next possible opportunity for him to attend a committee meeting will be February 2009.
GIS Disclaimer: In May, I forwarded a draft copy of the GIS disclaimer bill, as prepared by the Governmental Affairs Committee, to Mike Ouimet with TGIC for their review. It was brought before their executive board and received with “mixed feeling.” On June 11 it was brought before their general membership and Jack Avis was there to represent TSPS’s interests as the disclaimer was discussed. He and Darryl Zercher did their best to explain and defend surveyor’s intent and interest in the disclaimer. TGIC still had several concerns about the issue.
It had been decided to create a TSPS/TGIC working group that would resolve any issues. Before the committee could be formed, it was brought to our attention that there is an existing rule (§201.6) in the Texas Administrative Code that already requires a disclaimer on geospatial data produced by state agencies. Following is the current wording:
(E) Geographic information system map product disclaimer. Any map product, in paper or electronic format, produced using geographic information system technology and intended for official use and/or distribution outside the agency, shall include a disclaimer statement advising against inappropriate use. If the nature of the map product is such that a user could incorrectly consider it to be a survey product, the disclaimer shall clearly state that the map is not a survey product.
TGIC claimed that this wording was the result of discussions between TSPS and itself back in 2000 when Maxey Sheppard was the Chair of the GIS Committee. Maxey revealed that this was the wording submitted to the TBPLS several years ago from the GIS committee, but that he was unsure how it made to the Administrative Code.
The GIS Committee agreed that the current wording seemed to adequately accomplish our intended goal with the GIS Disclaimer Bill. Everyone also agreed that the state agencies needed to be made aware of the current rule and that the rule needed to be enforced. I brought these concerns to TGIC who will be informing its members about the rule. The GIS Committee still needs to discuss the matter further.
2008 Texas GIS Forum: I have reserved an exhibit booth for TSPS. We are also registered for the Exhibitor Bingo (9 companies will be listed on a bingo card for attendees to complete to qualify for prizes). The exhibit will need to be set up between 1-5 on Monday, Oct. 27. The booth will be open 8-5 on Tuesday, 7:30-5 on Wednesday and Thursday, 8-11 on Friday, with move-out scheduled for 11-5. The following have contacted me regarding volunteering in the booth: Alex Orosco, Jack Avis, Chris Freeman, Bill Coleman, and Robert Young (employees). Please notify me if there is a preferred time that you would like to work. We will continue to sign up volunteers for this event.
GIS Course Development: We have contacted Fred Crawford regarding our proposed hands-on GIS course idea. Jack Avis proposed the following: that we build on the DVD that he developed for use with the GIS II course which contains sample data and applications; that there be a requirement that course attendees provide their own laptop; we could use an ESRI 30-day trial installation of the GIS software for those that don't have it; and we could reuse some of the GIS design principals from the existing course and also go through data access, conversion, importing surveys, and data extraction for field and office use. These are all great ideas and form a good foundation for the new course. Fred recommended we come up with a course goal, objectives and course frame as the next step. We will discuss who will volunteer to develop this course.
Geospatial Membership Recruitment: I sent letters to the 10 attendees of the GIS II course at Symposium that are not currently TSPS members inviting them to join TSPS under the new Geospatial Membership Category. The current number of Geospatial Members is eight.
Student Projects: No further updates. Committee members are encouraged to research existing K-12 GIS education programs to utilize for our projects.
Geocaching: No further updates.
Respectfully Submitted by:
Brianne Bernsen, Chair REAL ESTATE DIVISION OF THE STATE BAR
The committee continues to monitor recent Texas real estate law cases and
summaries prepared by the Real Estate Section of the State Bar of Texas and
published in The Texas Surveyor. REAL ESTATE LIAISON
REGISTRATION PRACTICES-TBPLS
TxDOT Since our last report the Standing Committee on Surveying (SCOS) has held meetings on May 7, 2008 at the Camp Hubbard TxDOT campus.
Not a lot happened, the March conference was reviewed and dates set for 2009. There were some very interesting commits about some of the program; the GLO field trip received very good remarks.
Revised Electronic Drafting Standard for the Right-of-Way Division were discussed and taken for review.
1) Next Meeting: August 20, 2008 (8:00 am start time)
Respectfully submitted John F. Pierce, TSPS liaison to TxDOT SCOS
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