Reston, Virginia –MAPPS, the national association for geospatial firms, will host a series of four webinars to educate the membership and the geospatial community on issues that MAPPS members will discuss with their Congressmen and Senators during the MAPPS Federal Programs Conference April 1-2, 2014.
The series will kickoff Thursday, February 27 with an overview and status of the Federal Land Asset Inventory Reform (FLAIR) Act, H.R. 916. The series will continue March 6 to cover the Digital Coast Act, H.R. 1382; Government and University Competition will be addressed on March 13; the Highway Bill reauthorization will conclude the series on March 20.
"The process of educating the MAPPS membership and the geospatial community on legislative priorities is no different than educating the legislators themselves. Professionals in the geospatial community understand the benefits of their technology and services, but sometimes lack the knowledge of ‘how’ and ‘why’ legislation can impact the market. This series is designed to provide that education," said Nick Palatiello, Assistant Executive for External Affairs. "These webinars will provide information and education on how legislative policy can provide new market opportunities and increase Congressional awareness of how geospatial applications can benefit the citizenry."
The four issues have been selected through input from the MAPPS membership, legislative affairs committee and political intelligence provided by John "JB" Byrd, Government Affairs Manager for the association.
Each webinar will be hosted on Thursday afternoons at 3:00 PM (Eastern). Non-members can participate in the webinars for a nominal fee of $30 dollars. For more information and to register for the webinar visit the MAPPS website, www.mapps.org.
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 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 visitwww.mapps.org.