Lee Mitchell owner of G.A.I.A. Professionals spoke about starting a new GIS business on the Jan 31 American Sentinel University Webinar. I learned during a detailed discussion of her work history that she worked in some capacity for American Sentinel University in curriculum development. That was not disclosed in the webinar marketing material and might have been made more clear in the presentation itself.
The webinar was very generic and covered the issues all business must deal with: office space, hardware, software, staff, insurance (errors and omissions insurance in particular, which she was not aware she needed, it costs $4000/year), lawyers, accountants, funding, etc. She spoke of getting clients via existing networks, social media, and government contracting. She did not mention blogging or writing for industry or professional journals or speaking at conferences, which have served me quite well in building my client base. She did suggest going to conferences.
I was most disappointed in the discussion of open source GIS software. That was highlighted in the title of the press release announcing the event “Learn How Open Source Software Benefits a Successful GIS Business.” The press release listed a half-dozen free and open source GIS packages, but these and other business related packages were simply mentioned in passing. These can save a new business money, Mitchell noted.
I was also disappointed, as a small business owner of 11 years, to learn that “sometimes you are working on a project for three months before you get paid anything.” That is not how my advisors suggested I structure my contracts and thankfully, I never had that happen.
by Adena Schutzberg on 01/31 at 01:12 PM |
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LIGHTS, an NGO based in Delhi, along with the department of science and technology, Government of India, has been organizing similar seminars [teaching teachers about GIS, GPS and RS] all over the country to sensitise teachers about technologies like GIS and enabling them to make use of these analytical tools. It also aims at skill development and capacity building amongst teachers regarding the technological advancements. The seminar was also supported by the National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBBS&LUP) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation ( ONGC).
- Times of India
Students hail from the NYC iSchool, a program is geared to engage students in meaningful work in real world situations are taking on NYC's trees.
The Young Urban Forester program by Trees New York brings together high school students with environmental professionals in New York City. Students receive hands-on training and use the technologies commonly used in environmental analysis including GPS and GIS. These tools will help the 23 students develop their mapping skills while identifying community tree priorities in and around the Hudson Square survey area.
- Examiner
- press release
The Government Resources Section of the North Carolina Library Association offers a series of webinars designed to help us all do better reference work by increasing our familiarity with government information resources, and by discovering the best strategies for navigating them. Next up: geo on Nov 16.
The federal government produces a wide array of maps and digital geospatial data from many different agencies that can be integrated into any reference interaction. Attend this webinar to learn about maps from the USGS, Army Corps of Engineers, the National Map and more! The speaker is Marcy Bidney is the Head of the Donald W. Hamer Maps Library at Penn State University.
- details from NCLA
by Adena Schutzberg on 10/20 at 05:37 AM |
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