January 6, 2005
Tele – conference Call
9:30 to 11:00 AM Central Standard Time

Note Taker: Kevin Garnett (MCRCC)

Participants:
WRCC: Mike Benavides, Bill Clark, Veronika Eskova, Mary Greene, Lou Hamm, Bill Kannawin, Cathy McNish, Greg Morlock, Dianne Osborne, Steve Trujillo, Bob Welsh, Alan Wilhelm, Lori Windle
MCRCC: Paul Behum, Kevin Garnett, Bill Joseph, Len Meier
ARCC: Bill Card, Mike Dunn, Jo Gault, Lisa Kosareo, Daniel Lewis, Harry Morris, Susan Stoyek, Lois Uranowski, Bill Winters

1. Topic: TIPS Training Program [Welsh]

a. FY 05 Schedule
Discussion: Welsh will discuss changes received from Meier and Joseph off-line.

b. Class short-falls
Discussion: Several courses have room for additional students in February and March (CAD Applications, BLEP, and AQTESOLV). 
Action: Service Managers need to contact their states to solicit nominations for the above mentioned classes 

2. Topic: Software Updates and Distribution Schedule

a. AutoDesk March 2005 [Joseph]
Discussion: Autodesk Map 3D 2005, Raster Design 2005, and Envision 8.0 are on track to be released in March 2005. Other software possibly ready for distribution at that time includes SurvCADD 2005, AMDtreat, ArcGIS 9 Service Pack 2, and galena. Service managers need to pool states on DVD availability to help determine what media types we can use to distribute software in the future.

3. Topic: Strategic Planning [Card]

Discussion: Draft TIPS strategic plan has been sent to Clark for review

4. Topic: TIPS Tech Transfer Support

a. PA-Wilkes University Project [Uranowski]

Discussion: PA has not let a contract for the project yet. A draft plan has been reviewed. A meeting may be held for further discussion the week of January 10th.

5. Topic: OSM GIS Team and “EGIM” – [Card]

Discussion: EGIM meeting has been set for January. Nothing else to report.

6. Topic: TIPS Web Team [Greene]

Discussion: Deadlines for implementation of OMB guidelines and Section 508 compliance are fast approaching. Activity has slowed in recent months. Members are needed from ARCC and MCRCC who can commit time and energy to this effort. The team will meet in January to set meeting schedules for the coming months and begin preparing TIPS website upgrades.

Action: Please forward all nominations to Clark.

7. Topic: Comments on Draft OSM Policy – OSM Policy on Technical Publications [Hamm]

Discussion: TIPS comments will be sent to HQ on 1/10/05.

Action: Please submit all comments to Hamm by COB 1/7/05

8. Topic: DOI Land Cover Summit in Washington D.C. [Card]

Discussion: USGS will be hosting a DOI Land Cover Summit on January 26 & 27. The purpose of this summit will be to attempt to gather information on the use of remote sensed land cover data within DOI and to establish partnerships between agencies. A short discussion was held following the conclusion of this meeting to discuss OSM participation.

9. Topic: GeoFluv Review Team – establish team and objective[Clark]

Discussion: It was suggested that TIPS establish a team to evaluate Carlson Software’s GeoFluv product for inclusion as TIPS core software and provide their recommendation to the TIPS Steering Committee at the May meeting. Kevin Garnett volunteered to lead the team.

Decision: The TIPS Team voted to create this team, with Kevin Garnett as the team leader. The team will consist of engineers and hydrologists from the three OSM regions and from our States.

10. Topic: Kick off KFO Mobile GIS Initiative [Card]

Discussion: KFO has requested assistance from the TIPS Team to provide guidance and training on mobile computing applications. It was suggested that a 1 day workshop be held first to introduce hardware and software options. This would be followed by a full training course once hardware and software has been purchased. A conference call will be held 1/10/05 to work out details of the workshop.

11. Topic: ND ArcGIS 8.3 vs. 9.0 [Greene-Benavides]

Discussion: ND’s problem has been solved. There was a hardware conflict between ArcGIS 9.0 and a 64 bit Opterion processor.

12. Topic: ESRI ArcGIS 9 SP2 [Wilhelm]

Discussion: This service pack is available for download on the ESRI website. It is being conSIDered for distribution on CD in March.

13. Topic: ERDAS 8.7 Deployment Status [Osborne]

Discussion: A draft distribution list will be sent to Service Managers by the end of the January for review. Distribution is scheduled for the first week of February. Mr. SID compression was discussed. Osborne will research availability of Mr. SID compression software via license server. In the meantime, any Mr. SID compression needs can be addressed by Osborne, or through ArcGIS (up to 50 Mb).

14. Topic: Atlanta Geospatial Conference Wrapup [Winters]

Discussion: Work is progressing to post final papers on the TIPS website. When this site is ready, a link will be sent out.

15. Topic: TIPS Steering Committee Meeting [Clark]

Discussion: The TIPS Steering Committee Meeting will be held in Austin, TX in May 2005. Len Meier is the lead for the planning team. He will be assisted by Lisa Kosareo and a volunteer to be named later from WRCC. A TIPS Team meeting is on hold pending resolution of budget issues.

16. Topic: Team Member Reports [All]

a. ARCC – Stoyek – Training room computer will be replaced this FY in ARCC. Anyone having information on the configuration of recent training room computers, please forward to Susan ASAP.

b. MRCC – Meier – The thermal camera will be going to Illinois AML as soon as a method of transport can be arranged from North Dakota.

c. WRCC – Trujillo – $65,000earthVision requisition is being processed. Please send any Tech Transfer Evaluation forms to Steve ASAP on thermal camera use.

17. Tech Transfer Activities – Tabled

18. Customer/ABC Feedback

Discussion: Steve Trujillo has assumed these duties from Lou Hamm. 

Action: All team members to send Tech Transfer evaluation information to Steve. 

19. Adding graphics tool to TIPS Core Software – Tabled

20. TIPS Video Team – Tabled

Next meeting Thursday January 20, 2005