August 2020 Meeting Minutes

September 8, 2020
In
No comments

Attendees

  • Paul Barnes
  • Jim Steil
  • David Holt
  • Karen Clark
  • George Heleine
  • Jonathan Simon
  • Mike Miller

MGC Announcements

  • The Mississippi Geospatial Conference is scheduled for October 15th and 16th with virtual and in-person attendance options.
    • USM will be open for the Fall semester with health protocols in place.
    • Research is being done into Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and WebEx to determine what the best options are for virtual MGC attendance.
    • [ Action Item | Courtney Kirkham ] E-mail MAST mailing list to invite people to attend the MGC
    • [ Action Item | Jim Steil ] E-mail MARIS mailing list to invite people to attend the MGC

MAST Non-Profit Status

  • Required information has been submitted and received by the IRS. Additional communications are being monitored.

Atlas of Mississippi

  • There is an effort being made to produce a Volume 3 for the Atlas of Mississippi.
    • There should be an Editorial and Cartography Board to review the project.
    • Several team members will be required to complete the project.
    • Atlas is expected to be printed as well as available digitally.
    • Dr. Holt says USM legal is reviewing the project for approval.
    • When the atlas is ready for publication, the expectation is to go through University Press.

Mississippi Department of Marine Resources

  • In July, the 2021 fiscal year began without allocating funds for MDMR. Note: This has been resolved. MDMR staff are still working.

University of Southern Mississippi

  • Introduction to GIS classes at USM in Hattiesburg will now use QGIS.

USGS

  • USGS, specifically George Heleine, is creating a fact sheet regarding the 3DEP LiDAR work in Mississippi, at the request of Senator Wicker.
    • If anyone has examples of LiDAR use for projects, please share them with George.
    • There will be complete statewide coverage of QL2 data by mid-October.
    • There is hop to complete QL1 coverage for the MS Gulf Coast and the Delta in the future.

Mississippi Department of Transportation

  • Mike Cresap, Director of MDOT, has retired.
  • There is an effort to ensure the work done under his chairmanship with MSCCRSGIS will be well defined and in place for when MSCCRSGIS reconvenes.

CMPDD

  • CMPDD is diligently working on converting to HTTPS.
  • Expect the grand opening of their new building to be in November 2020.
    • Jonathan Simon has offered the CMPDD conference space as a possible location for future MAST meetings.

City of Gulfport

  • The City of Gulfport is moving to Enterprise.
  • There is an effort toward upgrading many GIS users to ArcGIS Pro.
  • There is a surprise twenty-year archive of utility data that is now being integrated into the geospatial utility network.

Presentation: Difference Between the Political Handbook of the World and the CIA Factbook

  • This presentation was presented by Dr. David Holt.
  • The Political Handbook of the World is updated annually
  • The team maintaining the Political Handbook of the world is primarily composed of academic members.
  • The World Factbook is out-of-date.
  • The World Factbook is maintained by the CIA.

Closing Comments

  • Jim Steil thanks USM / Dr. Holt for providing the meeting service, and to all attendees.
  • Meeting is Adjourned.

Action Items

  • Courtney Kirkham
    • E-mail MAST listserve to invite attendees to register for the MGC.
    • Schedule September Board Meeting.
  • Jim Steil
    • E-mail MARIS listserve to invite attendees to register for the MGC.
About the author

Leave a Reply