This is Jon Schwichtenberg - I am one of the private sector representatives on the council. One of the network topics next week June 10th, will be Engaging the Business Community. Several items were brought up at the October meeting and documented by Eric Mickelson, as seen in the previous post. We need to know what is important to you as a businees community. What should the priorities be that we attempt to address. I have several ideas, but we need to find out from all of you what is important to your business.

Key items may be:

Collaberation between the business community and data providers to reduce costs and utilize geospatial data more effectively.

Engage more non-GIS users to educate them on the potential of GIS for their business. This can be accomplished through business contacts, vendors, software manufacturers or other venues.

Education about what available to them.

Research needs of of the business communities.

Please either post to this forum or contact me directly at jschwichtenberg@sehinc.com