Don Dittmar, Waukesha County Land Information Systems Coordinator, has been selected to serve on the new National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC). Dick Kempthorne, Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, made an announcement of the appointment on January 29th.
The NGAC, composed of 28 appointees representing the private sector, nonprofits, academia, and government, will report to the chair of the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC). The committee is charged with providing advice and recommendations on federal geospatial policy and management issues, and to provide a forum to convey views representative of partners in the geospatial community. The NGAC, expected to meet three to four times per year, is a new committee formed under the 1972 Federal Advisory Committee Act to ensure that advice given to the executive branch is objective and accessible to the public.
Secretary Kempthorne’s two-year appointments include four representatives from local government, five from state government, two from regional government, two from federal agencies, one from a tribal enterprise, two from academia, one from a nonprofit, one from a professional association, and ten from private companies. Anne Hale Miglarese, President of Fugro EarthData, Inc., an aerial mapping and GIS service company, will serve as NGAC chair.
Some of the more prominent names selected for NGAC include Jack Dangermond (President, ESRI), Allen Caroll (Chief Cartographer, National Geographic Society), David Cowen (Univ. of South Carolina), Jerry Johnson (Geographic Information Officer, EPA), Kim Nelson (Director for eGoverment, Microsoft), Matthew O’Connell (President and CEO, GeoEye), David Schell (Chairman and CEO, Open Geospatial Consortium), Dennis Goreham (Manager, Geographic Reference Center, State of Utah), and Randall Johnson (Coordinator, Metropolitan Council, Twin Cities, MN).
Don has extensive GIS experience in government, working as a geographic specialist for the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, the GIS coordinator for the City of Waukesha, and the past twelve years as the Waukesha County Land Information Systems Manager, and Land Information Officer. Don has been active in URISA, the National Association of Counties GIS Committee, and the Wisconsin Land Information Association.