IGIC Goes to the Capitol
During the last two weeks, IGIC has sent two different contingents to Des Moines to work on promoting geospatial activities in Iowa.
The first occurred the week of January 22nd. The Iowa DNR was able to get IGIC half of a table in the rotunda of the Capitol to show off some of the materials for our Imagery for Iowa initiative. While not as well attended as we would have hoped, it was a start. Big thanks go out to Herb Kuehne, Patrick Brown, Jon Paoli, and Chris Ensminger for getting the display setup and staffing the booth for the day.
The biggest positive that I see (at least right now) is in follow-up. Following the display, the Environmental Protection Committee of the House of Representatives invited us in to give a presentation to that Committee. Another very big thank you goes out to Chris Ensminger with the DNR in getting us brought to the table. In summary, the presentation went OK. There was a water pipe that had burst in the building earlier in the day so the legislators were late in getting gaveled in to start activities for the day. After that delay, the parties went into caucus so there were a few moments where we weren’t sure if we were going to get to present that day or if we were going to get pushed back to another time.
Long story short, we presented but had to follow Mike Hawkins. If you don’t know Mike, you should probably look him up and have him talk to you about some of the LiDAR work that he is doing. Makes for a tough act to follow.
Where does that leave us? My take is that we were favorably received and we are intent of getting back to the table and having some discussions with the Ag and Natural Resources Appropriations Committee to see where our next steps should be.
All in all, from what I’ve heard, we still have some learning to do. I don’t want to steal Patrick’s thunder but he made a couple of observations as to what could make our efforts more successful.
- Lesson 1: Eye Candy (graphics and bold display)
- Lesson 2: Handouts that get to the point fast. (time is precious)
- Lesson 3: Make sure our legislators know we’re coming. Personally invite them to stop by and say hello.
- Lesson 4: Location, location, location. In terms of traffic, it matters where you’re at.
In terms of future activities, I think it would be fantastic to make sure we have a GIS presence during ever session. Find someway to get down there and show off what it is we do. There are states that have been doing this type of activity for 15 years. And another great point made by Patrick. We had the display going on during a day that was highlighting Natural Resources related activities. Of the 20 or so booths that were going on, roughly 15 were utilizing GIS in some way, shape or form. In their display, analysis, map, handout. The true trick is tying these pieces together for an effective message.
