To better serve the California geospatial community, we have restructured our Hot News page into four areas: Feature News, General News, Training Opportunities, and Employment Opportunities. The Statewide Events Calendar is a quick way to see the major events that have come to our attention. Please email George White, CGIA Chair ( ) regarding any news items that you would like to see included in any of our news categories so that we can serve you better.

Hot News Items - August 2006
FEATURE NEWS

Outreach Workshops Completed for the California Geospatial Framework Data Draft Plan: Your Participation Needed in Final Survey

CGIA and Baker, on behalf of the USGS, California Resources Agency, and the California GIS Council, are pleased to have completed six outreach workshops to collect input regarding needs for regional and state collaboration on geospatial framework data. Summary reports of the workshops can be downloaded from the Geospatial Framework Data Draft Plan page. These are preliminary reports and will be updated and modified as additional information becomes available.

• We now need your response to the final survey.
  We seek your input on the findings of the outreach workshops via a quick, automated survey. The survey summarizes the findings of the seven core data themes and the eleven California-centric supplemental data themes, and provides you the opportunity to rank the data themes as they would best meet the geospatial needs of your organization. The survey is open until COB Friday, August 25. Take the survey

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CGIA Elections
Each year the Vice Chair and one representative from each sector (City Government, County Government, Regional Government, State Government, Federal Government, Private Sector, Utilities, Education, and Professional Societies and Not-for-Profits) are elected to serve a two year term on the CGIA Board. The election process for 2006-07 CGIA Board positions has been completed. The 2006-07 CGIA Board Roster is located at http://www.cgia.org/board-roster.htm.

CGIA Membership Drive 2006-2007
It's time to renew your membership to CGIA; or, if you are not a current member, to join CGIA. There are three levels of membership: student ($20), regular ($40), and sustaining ($200).

CGIA will create a special sponsor's web page to list Sustaining Members which will link to their organization's website. Sustaining members can also have up to seven (7) members of their organization as members in good standing of CGIA. And finally, CGIA will partner with Sustaining Members to communicate messages that are consistent with CGIA's mission and strategic initiatives, using the CGIA NewsFlash and the CGIA website as appropriate.

CGIA is the only statewide non-profit organization that facilitates coordination, collaboration, and council for California's GIS community. There are many reasons to join CGIA, as expressed in the Chair's Letter to Members of April 3, 2006. You can now join CGIA using PayPal via the links on the CGIA web site, aking it easier for you to become a CGIA member. Of course, you may still download the CGIA Membership Form/Invoice and mail it in with the appropriate check payment.

CGIA Forms Private Sector Task Force
At the request of the California GIS Council, CGIA is forming a Private Sector Task Force. The California GIS Council letter provides details on this task force. CGIA is requesting that those interested in joining the Task Force contact George White at during this formation phase. An email will be sent directly to private sector individuals who are current or former CGIA members. The Task Force is also open to individuals who are not members of CGIA, but you will of course be encouraged to support the coordinating organization - CGIA.

CGIA extends a special "Thank You" to the California Resources Agency for their hosting of our web site. This special arrangement reflects the close working relationship that exists between our two organizations and our mutual interests in using geospatial technologies to improve government services.