Prof. Martin Raubal recently attended the annual Winter Meeting of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) in Washington, DC and was elected for a 3-year term on its Board of Directors. Apart from Martin, there are five other members of the Board; Tim Nyerges is the current President and alumna Sarah Battersby, now teaching at the University of South Carolina, is the Secretary.
UCGIS grew out of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA), itself a consortium between UCSB, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and the University of Maine. To quote the UCGIS web site, “During the last decade, rapid growth has occurred in the field of geographic information. With this growth have come diverse notions concerning which direction the field should take. To ensure that a coherent view emerges, a broad representation of universities and professional associations have come together to form the UCGIS.” The stated mission of the UCGIS is “to serve as an effective, unified voice for the geographic information science research community; to foster multidisciplinary research and education; and to promote the informed and responsible use of geographic information science and geographic analysis for the benefit of society.” Congratulations to Martin for playing a major role in such a worthy cause.
