In mid-1986, a now defunct organization called the National Computer Graphics Association (NCGA) identified geographic information systems (GIS) as a potential growth market. As arguably the nation's premiere association for the nexus of computing technology and computer-generated graphics, NCGA was well positioned to leverage its extensive conference and exhibition experience to capture the burgeoning GIS applications and solutions marketplace. Rick Dorman, then executive director of the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM), and a group of farsighted volunteer leaders recognized the implications of ceding their educational niche to a computer industry group and took bold action. ACSM approached other “sister” associations with a proposal for a unique educational collaboration: a multidisciplinary educational conference that would galvanize the emerging GIS community.

These associations—ACSM, the Association of ...