Date: Tuesday, December 9, 2003
Time: 1:00 - 2:00 pm
Room: Monarch Room H

Any mention of GIS to a cross section of people elicits either a blank shrug (what's a GIS?) or a comment about maps and stuff. If GIS is to be an effective tool for policy makers, GIS has to be understood as being more than a map.

A Geographic Information System, or GIS the acronym, is a simple way to reference a very complex system. The power of the tools used in technology is in the manner and simplicity of presentation, particularly when it comes to policy makers. People in positions of responsibility want to under complex subjects and do, but once a decision is reached they must be able to explain the rationale in easy to grasp terms. Spatial data used in today's formats becomes the power of a picture.

We are a data driven society. In fact, we are overwhelmed by data, much that is rendered meaningless or of low value because we are not able to distill large amounts of information into bites that we can digest from which we can make a decision.

More information, or data, is available today than ever if we have the tools to exchange and use it through Web-based services. We need data that enables decisions. That will be the appeal for policy makers. One powerful way to make an impression is to put a face on the issue - personalize it for the audience. If your state's leaders are having trouble grasping the significance of GIS, use one of the high priority issues of the day, such as the budget, health care, the economy, education or homeland security. Impress on your leaders that they don't have to know how GIS works any more than they have to know how any complex system works. Let the picture do the talking. Get their attention and take advantage of the teachable moment.

The power of GIS is its ability to show the interrelationships of data referenced at a given place or region. Presentations in GIS form enable the ability to spot trends or allocate resources more quickly than any other means of presentation.

GIS is more than a map.

Presenter:

Former Governor of Wyoming Jim Geringer
Director of Policy and Public Sector
StrategiesEnvironmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI)

Governor Jim Geringer is a native of Wyoming, reared on the family farm near Wheatland. After graduation from Wheatland High School Geringer received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Kansas State University where he was involved in several activities including serving as Student Body President. Through the Air Force ROTC program he was then commissioned as an officer in the United States Air Force. During his time on active duty, he worked as project officer on space programs integrating space boosters and satellites for both the Air Force and NASA, including the Global Positioning Satellite System, early warning systems and the Mars Viking Lander.

From 1983 to 1994, Geringer served in the Wyoming Legislature, including six years each in the House and the Senate. During that time, his full-time jobs included work as a contract administrator for the construction of a large coal-fired power plant and going into agriculture production full time. The Geringers built up their farming operation starting from scratch - the old-fashioned way.

Jim was elected as Wyoming's 30th governor in 1994 and completed his second term in January 2003. During his time in office Geringer implemented strategic planning tied to performance based budgeting and when he left office, provided Wyoming state government with a budget surplus, one of very few states to make that claim early in 2003.

Governor Geringer is a past chair of the Western Governors' Association. He has participated extensively in policy development for all levels of education. He served as chairman of the Education Commission of the States, was appointed to Senator John Glenn's National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, the National Commission on Service-Learning, and the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future. He partnered with the Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction in the implementation of standards-based public school education, nearly doubled per-student funding for K-12 education while enhancing accountability for learning; championed the connection of all schools to the Internet as well as to each other, and continues as charter member of board of trustees of the Western Governors University, the first of its kind to certify competency based education. During the Geringer administration, Wyoming led the country in reducing welfare by 92% over eight years while assuring that over 75% of former clients were in long term jobs.

His interests in technology issues include chair of the National Governors Association Technology Task Force, participation in the Policy Roundtable at the 1999 National GeoData Forum, appointment to the GeoSpatial One Stop Board of Directors, appointment to the Mapping Sciences Committee under the National Academy of Sciences, establishment of the Western GIS Council and presidential appointee to the Western Interstate Nuclear Board.

Geringer's advocacy for technology in government has centered on the end result of using technology to enhance citizen services, emphasizing the benefits of integrated service delivery and enterprise-wide solutions. That advocacy has led Jim to join in a full-time capacity with Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) the top provider of geographic information systems software in the world.