Fed UC: Keynote - Carrots and Sticks
Congressman Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania gave the keynote. I think everyone got a sense of this fellow from Jack Dangermond’s introduction. Dangermond explained how Kanjorksi called him up out of the blue to learn about this GIS stuff.
He offered up a few themes and one big challenge. The themes:
- We in government don’t user all the tools we have; GIS is underutilized
He cited how in one mine reclamation project (he’s from the mining area of Pennsylvania) using GIS cut professional expenses from 34% of a project’s cost to 12%. He felt the 34% was out of line to begin with and noted how using GIS got more done in the office than in the field.
- There is a lack of willingness and incentive to share information. The federal government needs to offer carrots and sticks to move this forward.
He was not speaking only of GIS data, though he knows about that, having been involved with the Pennsylvania GIS Consortium.
The challenge:
- There is a great opportunity to reform government (espeically spending/allocation based on geography) and GIS can be a part of it.
He asked the assembled to “be part of the army of reform, join me and Jack to reform the US government.”
I confess while I listened I felt like it was quite a political statement. Kanjorski noted he was in the minority party and is now in the majority party in Congress. Still, the talk reverberated with attendees with whom I spoke; numerous individuals pointed back to one or the other of the points I noted above later in the day.
