Latest News

BLM SDMS
Monthly Lunch Meetings
New AAUG Co-Presidents
2009 AKSM Conference Information
2008 GIS Day Information
GIS Professional Certification

Announcing BLM's Spatial Data Management System

The Bureau of Land Management's Spatial Data Management System (SDMS) is a
one-stop tool to view, research, print and download information such as surveyed
land parcels, land status, mining claims, and Master Title Plats.
The SDMS mapping site is http://sdms.ak.blm.gov.

To provide flexible access to SDMS, all of the data layers are available through a Web Map Service (WMS). You can access the SDMS WMS by pointing your WMS enabled client to http://sdms.ak.blm.gov/cgi-bin/sdms_wms.

When using the Web Map Service or the SDMS Web site, please note that SDMS does not constitute nor replace the legal record of survey, case files or any other official Bureau of Land Management (BLM) record. Please refer to specific records on file at BLM for official record information.

Monthly Lunch Meetings

The AAUG gets together the third Wednesday of each month for a lunch meeting, where visitors and GIS professionals from our community give presentations on their work. Free pizza and drinks are provided. Please join us!

GIS Day Celebration!

November 19, Noon to 1:00 pm

Are you a GIS consultant?

Need to hire a GIS consultant?

What does a GIS consultant do?

If you answer yes to any of the above, then you should attend the next AAUG/URISA meeting. We will fill the hour with short presentations from the wide variety of professional GIS consulting services available in the area. This is a cost-free opportunity to share your company’s work, skills and focus with both colleagues and potential clients. The GIS community will better understand the range of potential for working with a consultant, and how to proceed with a project requiring professional assistance.

If you would like to present, you should contact Tricia Saulnier-Littlejohn to get on the roster. Please send her your name, company name, phone number, and email address by COB Friday, November 14th. Tricia can then confirm amount of allotted time with you on Monday so that you can be ready for the Wednesday meeting. Tricia can also be contacted at 907.562.2000.

Location:U.S. Fish and Wildlife, 1011 East Tudor Road, 1st floor, Gordon Watson Conference Room. Enter building on West Side. Bring ID! Building contact: Jerry Minick, 267-1229

Please see the calendar for more information.

Andrew Balser and Tricia Saulnier-Littlejohn

New AAUG Co-Presidents

The Alaska Arc User Group would like to present Tricia Saulnier-Littlejohn and Andrew Balser as Co-Presidents. Please give them a warm welcome. We all appreciate their stepping forward.

Tricia Saulnier-Littlejohn
Andrew Balser

2009 Alaska Survey and Mapping Conference & GIS Jam

Planning has begun for the GIS Jam at the 2009 Alaska Surveying and Mapping Conference.

One of the most difficult tasks in Jam planning is lining up the 40+ presentations that occur over the 2 days of the Jam. If you have any ideas for presentations or know of anyone who would be a great presenter, feel free to ask them if they would be willing to present during a 30, 45, or 60 minute time slot.

We are also looking for people knowledgable enough about KML (Keyhole Markup Language) scripting for Google Earth / ArcGIS applications that they might be willing to provide a presentation at the conference.

You can send presenter contact information to Mike Knapp.

Many GIS Jam presentations (PDF) from last year are on the AAUG website. More information...

2008 GIS Day

AAUG and National Park Service will host a 2008 GIS Day event on Friday, November 21 at AAPLIC in downtown Anchorage.

This event is planned toward an audience of elementary school students. We will be presenting a two-hour interactive program, repeated throughout the day, for each group of students that attend.

Last year's event drew over 150 students from 7 local schools to participate in GPS and GIS activities. We are hoping for an equally good turnout this year and need lots of volunteers to make this day a success!

Please contact Angie Southwould to volunteer or visit the GIS Day website for more information.

GIS Professional Certification

The process to become a certified GIS Professional is now avialable. The GISP certification will help to establish GIS as a profession, provide a means for attaining recognition by other professions, encourage long-term professional development, ensure ethical behavior from members, ensure members have a core competency of knowledge, and assist employers with hiring GIS Professionals. For more information, visit these sites:

Geo Community information link
GIS Certification Institute link.