National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis

Recently, the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) established an interdisciplinary steering committee to explore the concept of a "University Consortium for Geographic Information and Analysis" (UCGIA). A UCGIA could play a role in establishing a "national research agenda" for GIS and geographic analysis. The Steering Committee is investigating whether national coordination of research and educational activities could best be accomplished by an alliance of existing research and teaching organizations. The organization has been provisionally codenamed UCGIA, although an alternative name might be adopted if the organization is formed. In the draft statement, UCGIA would be an organization whose members are academic institutions-it is not seen as ’yet another GIS society’. The steering committee’s goals are to develop alternative UCGIA concepts, prepare a document explaining one or more alternatives, present the concept of a UCGIA to the rest of the GIS/GIA community, evaluate whether UCGIA would serve significant needs of the discipline, and determine whether UCGIA or a similar consortium is achievable. If reactions and support are positive, a framework for instituting the consortium would also need to be established. In November 1992, a public panel discussion on the UCGIA concept was held at GIS/LIS’92. This paper presents a background, and then summarizes the panel discussion.