Welcome to NACIS 2016 in Colorado Springs! This is the annual meeting of the North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS). See the schedule below and check out the NACIS website for more details.
The North American Cartographic Information Society, founded in 1980, is an organization comprised of specialists from private, academic, and government organizations whose common interest lies in facilitating communication in the map information community.
Using Historical Maps to Research Pittsburgh's Bridges Todd Wilson, GAI Consultants Lauren Winkler, Michael Baker International Pittsburgh, the City of Bridges, is also known for its convoluted roads. Some streets intersect each other three times. Others change names a few times. Giving directions, one often says, "Not that right, the other right," or "Go straight," which means angle left. The development of the city's roads is linked to the development of the city's bridges. In writing the book, Images of America Pittsburgh's Bridges, published in 2015, the study of historical maps became a key research tool. Maps revealed bridges that were eliminated when valleys were filled in and streets that were rearranged when new bridges were built. This research showed that by going back far enough in time, there was an explanation for each irregularity. This presentation will show these findings through maps and images past and present, explaining the city's inconsistencies and abnormalities that make it unique.
A GIS Map Application for Location Selection and People's Preferences for Establishing Schools in Al Ain City, UAE Naeema Al Hosani, United Arab Emirates University Geographical Information Systems (GIS) constructing thematic maps describing a variety of information relating to development activities. Current research examined the potential of suitable location as well as to study peoples' preferences to locate best sites for establishing schools in the city of Al Ain. The city of Al Ain has seen rapid developments, specially, in terms of expansion and population growth that, numerically, unprecedented. Therefore, this study aims to determine suitable models to establish the distribution of schools. The study came with some results about the problems that the education services suffer in the area of study. The study concluded that the distribution of the schools were not evenly distributed, therefore, this study recommends to cooperate with the relevant authorities and the ministries that are concerned with the development of education services.
Minnesota Smart City/Infrastructure Transparency Stress Tool Katie Stinebaugh, University of Minnesota In his March 2015 Last Week Tonight episode dedicated to infrastructure, John Oliver confronted us with this reality: We only seem to talk about infrastructure when something tragic happens. Conversations about infrastructure are easy to avoid when we bury public information in long reports across multiple agencies. As cartographers and GIS professionals, we are often called to bring together disparate data sources, break them out of their tabular cells, and create simple, attractive tools for communication. The Minnesota Smart City/Infrastructure Transparency Stress Tool is such a project. This is a living collection of web maps and associated visualizations of infrastructure quantity, age, need, and spending for Minnesota's 800+ cities using existing data from several state agencies. These maps provide an approachable tool for the public, legislators, city officials, and other stakeholders to change conversations about Minnesota's present and future infrastructure.
