The initial Board of Directors will be President Jeff Simmons, PLS (Photo Science, Inc.); Vice President Chris Ogier (Woolpert, Inc.); Secretary Bill Daniel, CP, PLS (Lowe Engineers); Treasurer Jim Sease (Metro Geospatial) and Director Geoff Adamo (Nokia).

The goals of GA-MAPPS will be to--

• Build relationships with local and state government
Provide a voice for the private sector and the community at large in governmental processes
• Pursue relationships with professional geospatial organizations in Georgia
• Provide a forum for private geospatial firms in the state
• Promote qualifications based selection (QBS) in the State of Georgia

The first meeting of GA-MAPPS will be held on Tuesday, June 26 at the offices of Lowe Engineers Six Concourse Parkway, Suite 1000, Atlanta, GA, 30328 at 1:00 PM. The meeting is open to MAPPS members and non-members who register in advance.

In order to be a member of GA-MAPPS, a firm must be a member of the MAPPS national association. Private sector geospatial firms with offices or employees in Georgia are encouraged to join the state chapter. Firms can enroll on the MAPPS website, www.mapps.org.

Georgia (GA-MAPPS) is the third state chapter of the association following Pennsylvania (PA-MAPPS) formed in 2007 and Colorado (CO-MAPPS) formed in 2011.

About MAPPS
Formed in 1982, MAPPS is the only national association exclusively comprised of private firms in the remote sensing, spatial data and geographic information systems field in the United States. The MAPPS membership spans the entire spectrum of the geospatial community, including Member Firms engaged in satellite and airborne remote sensing, surveying, photogrammetry, aerial photography, LIDAR, hydrography, bathymetry, charting, aerial and satellite image processing, GPS, and GIS data collection and conversion services. MAPPS also includes Associate Member Firms, which are companies that provide hardware, software, products and services to the geospatial profession in the United States and other firms from around the world. Independent Consultant Members are sole proprietors engaged in consulting in or to the geospatial profession, or provides a consulting service of interest to the geospatial profession.

MAPPS provides its 160+ member firms opportunities for networking and developing business-to-business relationships, information sharing, education, public policy advocacy, market growth, and professional development and image enhancement.

For more information on MAPPS, please visit www.MAPPS.org.