2006 Kentucky GIS Conference a Great Success!

Gov. Gehringer kicks off the conference with his keynote address in Fort Mitchell, KY.       Gov. Jim Gehringer, former governor of Wyoming        Attendees pause to visit with one of over twenty exhibitors in the conference exhibit hall.       One of the popular exhibits included 3D aerial images.     More booths and exhibits from the conference.

Based on comments from 300 attendees at the annual Kentucky GIS Conference in Fort Mitchell, this year's event was a resounding success. The July 17-19 conference began with a meeting of the Kentucky Association of Mapping Professionals (KAMP) and a geocaching event that started at Newport on the Levee in historic downtown Newport.  Many innovative Kentucky GIS initiatives were showcased at this year's conference, providing attendees with a unique opportunity to interact with the commonwealth's GIS trailblazers.

The highlight of the conference was the keynote address by Jim Gehringer, former governor of Wyoming. Gov. Gehringer's inspirational presentation encouraged attendees to leverage GIS technology to provide high-value information for the top decision makers in their organizations. In his travels across the country, Gehringer, one of the leading national GIS advocates, visits many states.  His travels provide him with insight on the leading states, including Kentucky, that are using GIS technology in innovative ways, and he shared his insights with attendees. Gehringer also challenged the attendees, as GIS professionals, to make GIS technology more understandable by avoiding the use of acronyms and terminology that can be a turn-off for decision makers.

On the second and third days of the three-day conference, many of Kentucky’s top GIS professionals showcased their recent successes with presentations on a variety of topics. The extensive list of sessions included the following:

• The Kentucky Geography Network: What Do You Have to Offer?
• GIS Today: The National Resources Conservation Service Perspective
• Custom Building and Codes Application Using VBA and ArcGIS
• Surveying 101
• Boone County GIS: Past, Present and Future
• Mission Accomplished: Regulating Mining in the Kentucky Department of Natural Resources
• The Doctor Is In: ArcGIS Tips and Tricks
• KY Area Development District (ADD) Panel Discussion
• Property Valuation Administrators (PVAs) Panel Discussion
• Education Panel Discussion
• Kentucky View: The Commonwealth's Remote Sensing Consortium
• GIS Applications at UK's Department of Biosystems and Agriculture Engineering
• Transportation GIS: On the Road to a New Paradigm
• Demonstration of a Space-Time Information System: Kentucky's County-Level Mortality Rates
• ArcWeb Explorer: An Overview
• Great Scott! Past, Present and Future of GIS in Scott County
• A Sense of Place (by the Kentucky Geological Survey)
• Horticulture and Park Management Through GIS: The Boone County Arboretum
• Aerial Mapping 101
• Flood Map Modernization in Kentucky: A Pathway To Success
• GIS In Smallville: We Did IT Our Way (and You Can Too!)
• Census 2010 Geography Programs for Local Governments
• Kentucky Landscape Census: Toward a Land Cover Change Detection Web Portal
• Spatial Engineering
• LINK-GIS: 20 Years and Growing
• All Features Great and Small: Phase II Compilation of KY Place Names
• Pipeline GIS

The 2006 conference was coordinated by the Commonwealth Office of Technology's Division of Geographic Information. Fort Mitchell's Drawbridge Inn served as host facility for this year's conference and provided ample room for the popular GIS map and poster gallery, exhibitors, luncheons, the reception and other conference events.