SIAC - the Spatial Information and Analysis Consortium
SIAC is a group of faculty, staff, and students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison involved in the field of Geographic Information Science (GIS) and its related disciplines. SIAC serves as the campus forum for communication, collaboration, and information in its role of encouraging research, instruction and outreach in this multi-disciplinary area.
Degree programs involving GIS and LIS (land information systems), along with research and outreach, are mainstays of several departments and colleges, supported by a series of centers. Beyond these traditional fields, additional interest areas exist in disciplines as diverse as library science, land tenure, statistics, forestry, business, regional planning, art history, demography, and epidemiology.
Roots and Expertise
UW-Madison has a long and rich history in this field, going back to early and internationally recognized programs in cartography, surveying, and photogrammetry. In more recent years additional strengths have developed in multi-purpose land information systems, remote sensing, geographic information systems, soil landscape modeling, citizen involvement in land use planning, geospatial metadata, and transportation infrastructure modeling. Many leaders of professional associations in these fields have UW-Madison roots.
Outside Connections
SIAC members and their departments/centers enjoy productive partnerships with numerous off-campus cooperators in academia, government, professional association, and business. Members also serve in a variety of public and professional roles. These relationships provide connection with practical application needs that enhance the rich base of academic expertise resident on the campus. SIAC is the UW-Madison representative to the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science.
What Events Are Planned?
SIAC sponsors a variety of activities including lectures, brown bag talks, workshops, peer training, and symposia.
Some Specific Goals
SIAC stresses development of effective GIS methods whose applications span the continuum from local land records modernization to global geo-science, including socio-economic analysis, natural resource assessment and management, and infrastructure management. Specific goals include:
- Fostering cooperation between departmental instructional programs to ensure a broad range of coordinated curricula and courses.
- Providing a forum for the University's participation in the University Consortium for Geospatial Information Sciences, a national organization of leading research organizations.
- Assisting in the development of high-quality research facilities and in the coordination between facilities to assure access to specialized equipment and to reduce redundancy.
- Facilitating inter-disciplinary research projects, across departmental and college boundaries.
- Keeping faculty, staff, and students informed about current activities, research opportunities, job openings and other news through a website and e-mail distribution list.
- Sponsoring campus-wide events such as research symposia and seminars to better inform faculty, staff, and students about current developments in spatial information and analysis.
- Helping negotiate and maintain campus-wide software licenses.
