The Geographic Approach for the Nation        Highlights from FedUC          “GIS is changing things; it is changing—actually—everything,” asserted Esri president Jack Dangermond in his address to the more than 3,000 attendees of the Esri Federal User Conference (FedUC), held February 17–19, 2010 in Washington, D.C. The first FedUC was held 15 years ago. FedUC attendees represent a diverse group that forms one community drawn from civilian GIS users across many disciplines and interests as well as users in the military and intelligence communities. The conference theme this year, The Geographic Approach for the Nation, underlined the message that a national GIS is emerging. This distributed network of systems and services supports national policies and priorities. A geography-based approach enables transparency and accountability in government processes, allows better performance mea- surement and place-based approaches to governance; and encourages citizen engagement. “The first step in open government is showing where you’re putting money,” Dangermond said. “The second way GIS can help is overlaying maps of where there are problems. That’s where you start to get into an information-driven government.” In a new era of open government, GIS is enabling transparency and accountability by making projects’ status and expenditures more easily known. During the Plenary Session, Esri staff demonstrated GIS applications that are making government more accessible and decisions more information driven. Recovery. com has been a tremendously popular site that uses maps linked to charts that allow visitors to drill into information to discover which funds are being spent where. Another example shown was the U.S. Department of Transpor- Master of Science in GIS at the University of Redlands O ur MS GIS Program is designed for an audience of professionals seeking to improve their knowledge of the analysis and management of geographic information. We offer both a full-time and a part-time residential program. Within the University’s interdisciplinary learning environment, students have an unparalleled opportunity to interact personally not only with University faculty, staff, and students from other programs, but also with the many talented professionals at the world’s leading GIS company, Esri, located in close proximity to the University. The University of Redlands, founded in 1907, is a fully-accredited, liberal arts and sciences university. This intensive, international learning environment ensures a global context of relevance to students from around the world. Graduates of this program can become GIS practitioners prepared for positions such as project managers, applications specialists, and applications software development team members. For information call (909) 748-8128 or visit www.msgis.redlands.edu 62 ArcUser Spring 2010 tation stimulus spending site which addresses accountability by answering why money was spent on particular projects. Esri has developed Web templates that streamline the process of building Web sites for tracking stimulus spending and projects. These templates are being used by many federal and state agencies. ChesapeakeStat was cited as an example of how GIS is aiding performance management. This site provides far greater access to program information and interactive capabilities that complement existing paper processes. GIS is quite naturally supporting the development of place-based policies so government can more easily target priority places, coordinate projects and programs, and support integrated decision making. The enhanced mobile capabilities of GIS are also leading to increased citizen engagement with government. Through the use of Web and mobile technologies, volunteered geographic information (VGI) is emerging. VGI makes it possible for every citizen to be a “sensor.” GIS could be used not only for gathering the observations of millions of people but also integrating them. Now citizens can help build a national GIS. Another conference theme was Gov 2.0—an approach that views government as a platform for getting things done by bringing the advantages of Web 2.0 to government. GIS helps government make its data and information available to other organizations so they can more effectively do their jobs. The conference keynote speaker, Dr. John Holdren, noted that good decisions can’t be made without good data. “That’s why the Obama administration has placed such a priority on putting high-quality data in the center of the executive branch.” Not just good data but the ability to visualize that data is crucial for decision makers in the government and the public. Data visualization is one of the strengths of GIS. Holdren is President Obama’s science and technology advisor and the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. As Dangermond noted during the Plenary Session, GIS professionals are building authoritative data, high-quality maps, performing analysis, and developing models and applications that make information available in a much more timely manner. He contrasted the www.esri.com