A new definition of a member firm in MAPPS, the national association of private geospatial firms, was approved by a unanimous vote of the association’s membership during the annual business meeting at the MAPPS Summer Conference at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, NH.
The amendment to the MAPPS bylaws redefines the requirements for membership in MAPPS, which over the past 8 years has strategically expanded to include firms in the broader geospatial data and geographic information systems profession.
"This amendment is a realization of the growth in MAPPS and recognition of the fact that MAPPS has attracted a wide spectrum of firms in recent years, just as the make-up of the geospatial profession has changed," said MAPPS President Marvin Miller of AERO-METRIC, Inc., Maple Grove, MN.
"MAPPS was established 25 years ago to represent the private photogrammetric mapping and aerial photography profession and since its creation in 1982, the mapping profession has grown to include geospatial technologies, remote sensing, data integration, GIS development, web mapping, and a variety of other data collection and application activities. The current MAPPS membership reflects this change in the community, and it was time for our bylaws to be changed to also reflect the current state of the market, our current membership and our future membership growth," Miller added.
"We received feedback from prospective new members that the definition in our bylaws led some to believe that in order to be a member of MAPPS, a firm needed to be involved in photogrammetry. I am pleased the membership approved the Board-recommended bylaws change that not only serves to recognize the broader spectrum of geospatial firms that MAPPS currently represents, but also clearly provides a home in MAPPS for all private sector geospatial firms," he said.
The by-laws change is effective immediately. It redefines the types of firms that are eligible for full MAPPS membership, as well as associate and emeritus members.
"Just as the geospatial community has evolved over the past 25 years, so has the MAPPS membership. These by-law revisions providing new membership definitions are not a change as much as a codification of the diversity of membership that we have been experiencing and implementing. These definitions should make a wide variety of private geospatial firms feel welcome as new members of MAPPS," said John Palatiello, MAPPS Executive Director.