Speaking at the conference, MAPPS Executive Director John Palatiello and Gary Outlaw, Merrick & Company (Aurora, CO), the first President of CO-MAPPS, said the chapter will, "Promote the significant cluster of geospatial firms and organizations in Colorado and its contributions to the state's employment base and economy as well as work with the State of Colorado to leverage that synergy for further business growth."

On May 23, more than 30 MAPPS member firm principals from firms based or with offices in Colorado gathered at the offices of CompassData in Centennial, CO for an "interest meeting" to discuss the establishment of a MAPPS chapter in Colorado. At that meeting, it was agreed that a CO-MAPPS chapter was desirable. As a result, a task force was formed to begin implementation of a Colorado chapter.

The task force developed bylaws, established an initial Board of Directors, and organized the launch of the chapter at GIS in the Rockies.

The initial Board of Directors will be Mr. Outlaw (President), Llana Hines, Sanborn (Colorado Springs, CO), Hayden Howard, CompassData (Centennial, CO), Mark Schubert, Aerial Surveys International (Watkins, CO) and Layton Hobbs, Woolpert, Inc. (Denver,CO).

"MAPPS has achieved significant success with its first state chapter in Pennsylvania and we are pleased to be able to launch an additional local organization in Colorado," said Dick McDonald, PLS, CP, (T3 Global Strategies, Bridgeville, PA). "MAPPS looks forward to adding additional state chapters in the coming months in order to expand our member's ability to grow their businesses, raise awareness of the important role geospatial technologies play in our society, affect public policy, and empower our member firms to network and work together toward common goals."

The goals of CO-MAPPS will be to --

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, mobile mapping, LIDAR, building information models (BIM), 3D mapping, 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 180+ 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.