South Carolina GIS in the News
SC State Term Contract Awarded to ESRI
The CIO's Office has successfully negotiated a new state term contract for GIS with ESRI, effective immediately. Here is the press release statement from South Carolina. Click here for information pertaining to the CIO's listing of information on the contract and the associated pricing information.
SC is On Top in GPS Accuracy
South Carolina is the first state to implement a virtual reference station – taking GPS accuracy and ease of use to a whole new level. Lew Lapine, Chief of the South Carolina Geodetic Survey; and Matt Wellslager, Project Manager are heading up a GPS virtual reference station program and partnering with South Carolina’s Department of Transportation to implement the system across the entire state. This program will allow for near real-time GPS correction and semi-automated road construction. By signing up and paying a nominal annual access fee, anyone can participate. Download the full article from InsideGNSS - (Adobe PDF).
SC Voter Registration in the News
SC has implemented a process to validate the location of each registered voter in the state using ArcGIS and the street centerlines provided by local government. ESRI recently published an article on validation of South Carolina voters in its Winter 2008 Government Matters newsletter. Will Roberts of SC’s Office of Research and Statistics is heading up the effort to improve the accuracy of determining what district a given voter lives in. The program has proven to be a great success and is continuing to help out SC and its voting population. The article appears on pages 8 – 10. Download Government Matters article - (Adobe PDF).
GIS Surveyor Legislation Quoted
A recent article quoted some of the legislation describing the GIS Surveyor in order to try and understand what it means. J. Allison Butler who is a GISP, AICP and a GIS consultant based out of Orlando, Florida wrote an article on redefining what a geospatial professional is. The article appeared in the April issue of the Professional Surveyor magazine. In addition to looking at roles fulfilled by GIS users, it specifically looked at South Carolina’s legislation regarding the GIS Surveyor and provided some commentary and interpretation. View the article.
SC GIC Receives its First Grant
South Carolina’s Geographic Information Council (SCGIC) received its first grant award in spring of 2008 for a CAP Grant. SCGIC was fortunate to win one of the CAP (Cooperative Agreements Program) grants for 2008. Specifically, the grant was a Category 3: Fifty States Initiative grant, and is focused on developing a plan to increase collaboration and cooperation between state and local government organizations for better support of geospatial information. Only eight states and territories received the Category Three award (Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and the U.S. Virgin Islands).
In brief, the project is intended to help increase coordination and cooperation throughout the state and build relationships with local government organizations through consensus-building exercises. This will be accomplished through a series of facilitated meetings held throughout the state where local government organizations will be invited to participate. A contractor with facilitation experience will be utilized in order to maximize the effectiveness of the meetings. The goal of the meetings will be to determine key barriers and challenges to participation in collaborative statewide GIS efforts. Following the meetings, the information gained will be used to produce a plan proposing what can be done in order to help remove said barriers and effect a positive change in the relationship between state and local GIS. The end-goal is an increase in participation between local and state government in relation to GIS data sharing and development. Download the 2008 CAP project information - (Adobe PDF).
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