The debut meeting of the Wisconsin Geospatial User Group was held on August 21st, 2008, at the Maywood-Ellwood H May Environmental Park in Sheboygan Wisconsin. The attendees were welcomed by Sheboygan’s Mayor Juan Perez, and with a full day on the agenda, we got right down to business.
Tom introduced our first presenter “Autodesk Evangelist - Pete Southwood”. Pete, being a transplant from England now living in California, decided it would be best if he started with a list of commonly used British terms…..along with the American translations. This proved to be very helpful over the next three hours as he walked us through inspiring demonstrations on Autodesk’s Map3D, Design Review and Raster Design products. Due to Pete’s ability to keep the group involved while demonstrating, we received customized demonstrations of each product based on input from the audience. Pete’s passion for his work could have kept him talking well into the afternoon. Unfortunately, we had to break for lunch and Pete regrettably gave up the microphone. We thank Pete for taking the time to meet with us and we hope that he can return for one of our future events.
During lunch, Dave Kuckuk, Director of Maywood talked to the group about the environmental park. Maywood is a 135-acre natural area that is part of the City of Sheboygan park system and focuses on environmental education opportunities and hands-on experiences. It was a warm sunny day and the group stepped out on the deck for a little fresh air and an opportunity to overlook the beautiful fields of Maywood. We thank Dave for his time and please check out Maywood at http://www.gomaywood.org/ to plan your visit.
Before beginning with the afternoon presenters, Tom and Mike discussed their idea of forming a user group that was focused on municipalities. Tom explained why this user group is unique in that it will not accept consultants or software vendors. He thanked Autodesk and AUGI for developing a website that will be accessible only to WGUG members. Mike discussed the importance of member involvement within the group including the need for volunteers for board positions as well as help with setting up future meetings. Additional information as it becomes available will be added to the website. Check us out at http://www.autodeskgeospatialcommunity.com/wisconsin/
Autodesk and AUGI were kind enough to donate copies of “Not-For-Resale” software to be given to a number of lucky attendees. Business cards were chosen at random and the list of winners is shown below. Congratulations!
Vic Gatawakas - City of Sheboygan
Dale Doerr - City of Sheboygan
Cheryl Wettstein - Kohler
Elizabeth Werdermann - City of Manitowoc (Won 2 NFR)
Now back to our presenters. Rick Larson and Brad Hollister of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation appreciated the invitation and jumped at the opportunity to speak to this group. They were joined by David Fagerman of Autodesk. Dave has been working with the DOT to help them through their transition to Autodesk CIV3D. Rick and Brad discussed the process of how the WDOT evaluated both the Microstation Inroads and the Autodesk CIV3D products. They explained the criteria that they used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each product along many other factors that led them their decision to standardize on the Autodesk product.
The three then went into a discussion explaining where the DOT is at currently and what steps still need to be completed in the process of transitioning to CIV3D. They went through the process of their continuing effort to develop standard Assemblies. These Assemblies will be added to our website as they become available. During a brief a demonstration of CIV3D, they fielded questions from the audience and walked through a number of specific issues.
We greatly appreciate Rick, Brad and David taking the time to present to our group. Their presentation was beneficial in giving us insight into the DOT’s decision making process and where the DOT is going in the future.
We would like to thank our presenters and all of those involved in making our first meeting a complete success. We look forward to our future meetings.
