MAST

Category: Meeting Summary

  • June 2023 General Meeting Minutes

    Attendees

    Brian Mitchell
    Brian Sherwood
    Carlton Anderson
    Courtney Menikheim
    Darrin Stewart
    David Holt
    Dusty Reed
    Heather Nicholson
    Jim Steil
    Jonathan Pitchford
    LaTashee McLaurin

    Laura Moncrief
    Madison Parker
    Nathan King
    Paul Barnes
    Reed Davis
    Roger Colwell
    Ryan Merrill
    Steve Walker
    Tony Saracino
    William Bell

    Presentation

    Drones as a Tool for GIS

    • by William Bell of SiTech and Reed Davis of GEO Jobe
    • Questions and comments from the audience for both portions of the presentation

    Board Announcements

    • MGC XI
      • October 12th and 13th
      • Traci Tracey will be the keynote speaker
      • Looking aggressively for talks, as we’d like to get the agenda finalized earlier this year
      • Registration will be opening soon
    • August General Meeting
      • Will be a joint meeting with SCAUG in the Jackson area
      • Will be at the MS 811 meeting
      • Flier to be forthcoming with announcement and further details

    General Announcements

    • None

    General Discussion

    Meeting Adjourned

  • February 2023 General Meeting Minutes

    Attendees

    C. Johnson
    Candis Mallette
    Carlie Russel
    Courtney Menikheim
    Dan Beavers
    Dusty Reed
    Heather Nicholson
    Jim Steil
    Johnathan Simon
    Toby Sanford
    Jon Coker
    Jacqueline Leverette
    Neil

    Paul Barnes
    Ryan Poe
    Brian Mitchell
    Steve Walker
    Albert Jones III
    LaTashee McLaurin
    David Bandi
    Haley Feather
    Cara Waite
    Karen Clark
    Roy Carrell
    Scott Trapolino

    Presentation

    • Collecting Terrestrial LiDAR by Toby Sanford of Golden Triangle Planning and Development
      • Part one, follow up presentation will be part of MGC XI
      • Focus on Trimble MX50
    • Presentation was well-received with lots of questions and discussion.
    • For follow-up questions, contact Toby at tsanford@gtpdd.com

    Board Announcements

    • If anyone is interested in presenting at a future meeting, please feel free to reach out to the board (leadership@mastgis.org)
    • If MAST members would like to share updates about their GIS work via the listserve, please feel free to contact us

    Member Announcements

    • MARIS
      • Steve Champlin of MDEQ has shared two data products:
        • A .7 meter PLT dataset of the MS Delta 2021 – 2022 (old Delta Phase I and II)
      • Delta State University will be working on county-wide DEMs
        • 2022 local photography for 12 counties

            Amite
            Covington
            Forrest
            Hancock
            Jefferson Davis
            Lamar

            Lauderdale
            Pike
            Pearl River
            Simpson
            Stone
            Walthall

      • Delta State University will be working on developing contiguous datasets for the state
        • Approximately 15 cm accuracy
        • 3-year alternating cycle of counties, divided into regions (northern, central, and southern)
      • All will be available on MARIS’s data site in the near future.
    • Mississippi State Geo Project
    • CMPDD

  • Conference Recap and December Meeting Announcement

    Hello, Spatialists –

    Thanks to your help, the tenth annual Mississippi Geospatial Conference was a success! We had over 130 attendees and six different states represented. We appreciate those of you who filled out the post-conference surveys and will use that input as we continue to improve and grow the conference.

    The December 2022 meeting has been cancelled. In it’s place, we will be sending out a newsletter with any updates or news. If you have something you’d like to share, please e-mail Courtney Menikheim (cmenikheim@geo-jobe.com), and we’ll include it in the December newsletter.

    Thank you all, and Happy Thanksgiving!

  • August 2022 General Meeting Minutes

    There were 22 attendees for the August General Meeting this year.

    Presentation

    Reed Davis of GEO Jobe was the presenter for this month’s meeting. He spoke about UAV Vertical Asset Inspection, and you can see some of the imagery he displayed in this article.

    Board Announcements

    Mississippi Geospatial Conference

    The Mississippi Geospatial Conference will be held on October 20th and 21st this year. It will continue to be hosted at the University of Southern Mississippi, Gulf Park Campus in Long Beach, MS.

    Registration for the conference is now open. You can register at the MAST website.

    If you would like to submit a presentation for the conference, you can do so here. Please note that presentations do not necessarily need to be complete at the time of submission. A title and brief abstract will be sufficient for consideration.

    Students who wish to enter the competition will be eligible for the Mike Miller Memorial Scholarship.

    Board Elections

    Board Elections are coming up! This year, the ballot will include the position of: President, Vice President, and 5 Board Members.

    To nominate someone, e-mail leadership@mastgis.org, and we will add them to the ballot.

    Nominations will be closed at 5PM CST on Friday, October 14th.

    Member Announcements

    The official Point-Addressing Standard for Mississippi has been approved. MARIS has hosted it here.

    There will be a committee formed for reviewing the Point-Addressing standards. Contact Jim Steil or Steve Walker for more information.

    USDA did a post-hurricane flight that is leaf-off in late 2021. It is now publicly available:

    Closing

    Thank you to all those who attended (virtually or in-person). It was lovely to see you all. We look forward to seeing everyone at our next meeting, which will be the tenth annual Mississippi Geospatial Conference!

  • June 2022 General Meeting Recap

    Our June 2022 General MAST meeting was a wonderful success, with over 30 people attending. Please review our recap below:

    Presentation

    Jim Steil of MARIS was kind enough to present MARIS GeoExchange for us. His presentation was well received. To check out the GeoExchange, you can visit it here.

    Board Announcements

    The next general meeting will be on August 12th. It will be at the Jackie Dole Sherrill Community Center in Hattiesburg, MS at 12:30 PM CST. The presentation for this meeting is still being determined.

    Member Announcements

    The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources will have a full-time position opening up soon. You can keep an eye out for it on their employment page here.

    Thank you to all those who attended. For those of you who could not attend, if you have any announcements you wish to share please feel free to let us know, and we’ll get the information out.

  • MGC 9 Recap

    The 9th Annual Mississippi Geospatial Conference was a success! Thank you all for participating and helping to make this wonderful conference, and community, a reality. Feel free to check out some of the statistics and key points from the conference below.

    Statistics

    This was the biggest MGC to-date. Since we know many of you like to see the data, we gathered some statistics for you here:

    • There were 143 total attendees.
    • Attendees came from 5 different states (MS, TN, LA, TX, and NC) *
    • 37 of the attendees were students.
      • 15 from the University of Southern Mississippi
      • 3 from Mississippi State University
      • 4 from Delta State University
      • 15 from Mississippi Coding Academy
    • There were 10 different vendors at the conference.
    • The Student Poster Competition had 5 entries this year – all attending public universities participated

    *Note: Attendees are not required to share the state they are from when registering. It is an optional field, and more states may have been represented.

    Lifetime Achievement Award

    This year, the Lifetime Achievement in GIS Award was given to Michael ‘Mike’ Miller, posthumously. His family was there to accept the award on his behalf.

    Four people stand before a projector screen at the front of a large room. From left to right, they are Rose-Marie Miller, Heather Miller, Jim Steil, and David Hansen. Rose-Marie watches as Heather Miller takes a black box from Jim Steil. David Hansen is behind a podium, also observing. The box contains the Lifetime Achievement in GIS award.
    Rose-Marie (Left) and Heather (Right) Miller accept the Lifetime Achievement Award on Mike Miller’s behalf. Image provided by GEO Jobe

    Student Poster Competition

    This year saw five entries into the student poster competition. Each of the public universities in attendance had at least one entry. The first and second place entries both received the Mike Miller Memorial Scholarship. The entries were:

    • Digital Mapping of Organic Carbon in Low-lying Paddy Soil of Bangladesh by Jannatul Ferdush, Zia Ahmed, GKM Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Muhammad Abdullay, and Varun Paul of Mississippi State University (First Place)
    • Using a Wiki to Enhance Contract Efficiency and Develop Student Skills as Topographic Map Makers by Justin Schluter, Peter Meharg, and Noah Blake of Delta State University (Second Place)
    • Advancements in the Additive Manufacturing of Maps by Sam Humphries of Delta State University
    • Mapping Mississippi’s Coastline by Samuel Wyatt and George Raber of The University of Southern Mississippi
    • Monitoring Seasonal Water Quality for Southeastern U.S. Watersheds Using Remotely-Sensed Data Integrated into Dynamic SPARROW Models by Mohammad Al-Hamdan of the University of Mississippi
    Justin Schluter stands to the left of a poster titled "Topographic Mapping for Dummies Using a Wiki to Enhance Contract Efficiency and Develop Student Skills as Topographic Map Makers". On the right is Noah Blake.
    Justin Schluter and Noah Blake stand proudly beside their poster. Image provided by GEO Jobe.

    Elections

    This year, MAST Secretary and Treasurer were up for election. Congratulations to Courtney Menikheim and Paul Barnes for being re-elected to serve in their respective roles.

    Courtney Menikheim and Paul Barnes stand before an oak tree at the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Park campus. They are both facing the camera and smiling.
    Courtney Menikheim and Paul Barnes were re-elected to their positions as MAST’s Secretary and Treasurer, respectively. Image provided by GEO Jobe.

  • General Meeting Minutes: June 2021

    Attendees:

    • Courtney Menikheim
    • Adam Terrell
    • Robert Gruba
    • Jenneth Roberts
    • Chelsy Money
    • Candis Butler
    • Nathan Blackledge
    • Danny Menikheim
    • Jim Steil
    • Karen Clark
    • Paul Barnes
    • Carlton Anderson
    • Chris Brown
    • Maggie Waldron
    • George Raber
    • Scott Trapolino
    • Haley Feather
    • Sean Gill
    • Randall McMillen
    • Cara Waite

    Honoring Mike Miller

    • Mike Miller passed away June 3rd.
    • He was a charter member of MAST, helped write the by-laws, and did the research to get MAST established as a non-profit.
    • We will be naming the scholarship after him.

    Presentation

    • Collaboration of Information: GIS Professionals to Water Operator Professionals
    • By Scott Trapolino
    • Scott has shared the presentation slides here.
    • Presentation was well received. Members were engaged and asked questions.

    Announcements from the Board

    • MS Geospatial Conference will take place October 21st – 22nd at USM Gulf Coast. There will  be an option to attend virtually.
    • State GIS Council has resumed meeting

    Member Updates

    • City of Biloxi has welcomed a new GIS professional into the fold – Chelsy Money.
    • The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) has a new intern – Nathan Blackledge.
    • MDMR also has made arrangements with the company Planet to get access to a database of daily satellite imagery worldwide.

    General Discussion

    Meeting Adjourned

  • Meeting Minutes: February 2021

    Greetings, Spatialists! Our first meeting of 2021 went well. For those of you who couldn’t attend, here’s a quick recap.

    Attendees

    • Courtney Menikheim
    • Jim Steil
    • Matt Hiland
    • Aaron Doucett
    • John van der Zwagg
    • Corey Baker
    • John Cartwright
    • Karen Clark
    • Dusty Reed
    • Haley Feather
    • Kathleen Clancy
    • Robert Winkler
    • Sean Gill
    • Steve Walker
    • Randall McMillen
    • Coco Massengill
    • Scott Trapolino
    • S. Champlin

    Presentation: Benefits of Imagery Content Programs

    Presentation: The Micro-Region Concept

    • Presented by Sean Gill and Kathleen Clancy of Esri
    • Sharing out content from the community
    • Designed to be more of a forum, not just Esri sharing information
    • Community Calendar for events
    • Mississippi Micro-Region Site
      • Please note: Hubspot has an odd behavior where, when users try to sign in, it assumes the user is a member of the Organization that published the site. If you try to sign in, you will need to select “Not a member of this organization? Sign into your account on ArcGIS Online” at the bottom of the sign-in prompt.

    Announcements from the Board

    • USM Internship Program (Long Beach and Ocean Springs)
    • Harrison County GIS Department GIS Analyst – Coco Massengill
    • NG 911 will be coming soon
    • GIS council will meet this year
    • Info on the listserv
    • Taxes
      • Non-profit taxes due in March
      • Form E-Z requires a number of attachments and extensive filing
      • MAST is 501(c)(3)

    Member Announcements

    • MARIS
      • Updated best available imagery service
      • Will send out county information packets
      • MDOT road centerline data
      • Census information is coming out, not all the data yet
      • Mississippi counties will be redistricting
    • Mississippi Atlas
      • Looking for maps
      • Team is open looking for editors, cartographers, etc

    Our next general meeting will be in April. See you then!

  • Meeting Minutes: Dec 13th, 2019

    This meeting took place in Biloxi, MS. There were fifteen attendees.

    Presentation: Planet

    Lisa Gallagher and Pedro Rodriguez
    Attendees were engaged and interested throughout the presentation, with many following up with questions afterward.
    Lisa requested information on presenting at MGC 2020.
    Those interested in Planet’s services can request a two – week trial.

    MGC 2019 Conference Recap

    Having a key note was well received, as was the selection for the inaugural presenter.
    Ian Stewart won the Poster Competition and Scholarship. Mike Miller and Paul Barnes both volunteered to print posters for free in the future, in an effort to drive up student participation.

    Board Updates

    Digital Coast Partnership Meeting Report

    Paul Barnes attended this event in the first week of Dec 2019.
    NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management is a primary sponsor for Digital Coast. Digital Coast is a centralized website for accessing imagery from several organizations in one place.

    Digital Coast Act

    The Digital Coast Act, H. R. 2189, is a bill in the House of Representatives that, among other things, would allow NOAA to establish a “Best Practices” document for collecting and managing coastal geospatial data. More information on this bill can be accessed by viewing the public congressional data for it.

    Open Forum

    The City of Hattiesburg now has a Federated Portal for ArcGIS Enterprise.
    The Department of Marine Resources will start tracking officers for their safety while they are in the field.
    The next meeting will be on February 14th in Jackson, MS.

  • MAST New Officers and News

    As of the officer elections on Friday 1 August 2014, MAST’s officers are the following:

    President:

    Jim Steil

    Vice President:

    Paul Barnes

    Board of Directors:

    Karen Clark

    David Hansen

    David Holt

    Mike Miller

    Eric Nolan

    Scott Trapolino

     

    A motion passed to move MAST meetings to the second Friday of each even month instead of the first Friday.

    Please go to the link below and subscribe to the official MAST listserv if you have not already done so and would like to receive e-mails from MAST.

    http://lists.mastgis.org/listinfo.cgi/mast-mastgis.org