The Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium

Past Conferences
2002 Duluth, MN
2001 Duluth, MN

13^th Annual Conference & Workshops
October 8-10, 2003 St. Paul, Minnesota

Thinking about serving GIS/LIS data on the web? Have you ever wondered what our neighbors to the North are doing with their GIS/LIS? This is your chance to find out. Thursday’s opening keynote speakers, Joni Mines and Wendy Ritchie, are from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (www.edmonton.ca).

Joni Mines is the Manager of E-Business for the City of Edmonton. Her work has been recognized at home and abroad, and has been the recipient of several national and international awards, including recognition by the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C., the Bertelsmann Institute in Europe, and Canada’s ITX award for excellence in information technology.

From 1998 until taking over the e-business portfolio, Joni was the Manager of Land Applications and Manager of the Corporate Geographic Base Information System (GBIS) Office. In that dual role, she played a major part in the development of new business and operations models for the City’s Information Technology Branch. Edmonton’s enterprise geographic information system, Spatial Land Inventory Management System (SLIM), which became operational in 2001, was created under her leadership. SLIM revolutionized the way Edmonton created, stored, and accessed spatial data, providing virtually instant updating and access as well as powerful analytical tools. Prior to 1998, Joni was the Director of Information Systems, Planning and Development Department. In that capacity, Joni was the Project Director of the Public One-Stop Service System, better known as POSSE. Originally custom built for the City of Edmonton, POSSE is marketed under license and is now used by over 20 public and private sector organizations.

Wendy Ritchie is the Architect of Edmonton’s SLIM system, one of the most complex and sophisticated inventory management systems in the world. This database provides the fuel for the extensive analysis and planning that characterize the department’s work. As soon as Edmonton City departments discovered the potential of SLIM, they initiated a raft of projects that challenged even the City’s achievement-addicted IT development team. Together, Joni and Wendy will tell us about the triumphs and pitfalls they experienced while developing these systems, and share some valuable ‘lessons learned.’

The closing luncheon speaker on Friday is William Holland from GeoAnalytics, in Madison, Wisconsin. GeoAnalytics is an IT consulting firm that specializes in the planning, design, and implementation of custom, enterprise-level information systems to support spatial analysis and decision-making needs. Mr. Holland will present a light-hearted look at GIS issues.