Greetings CT GIS Network,

I hope everyone is feeling “mappy” and doing well. You might have met me at a GIS social, or during a Geo Jeopardy game show. My name is Mike Towle (pronounced like “Toll”), I’m the Deputy Director at WestCOG, CTGIS Standards Committee Co-Chair, and now I have the privilege to serve as the President of the CTGIS Network. Supporting me in this role is Thad Dymkowski as  Vice President, Richard Crowther as Secretary, and the steering committee members. And of course a big thank you to last year’s executive committee; Mark, Jennifer, Cary; THANK YOU!

This year will be interesting regarding how we schedule events. Virtual access has really increased attendance but my goodness we might be looking at in person opportunities as well (Fingers Crossed!). We’ll be monitoring the COVID developments so we can balance both public health mandates & safety with opportunities to connect and network.

Lastly, I’d like to say I’m a huge advocate for data standards, access to data, and telling the stories with data and with that I look forward to hearing your stories (data driven or not) as we venture into 2021.

If you have questions regarding CTGIS Initiatives, or Data Standards ideas feel free to reach out by phone or email.

Best Regards

Mike Towle, CTGIS Network President

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PS: I’m sending some more emails out soon too.