About us
Emergence
Our history begins in 1990 when a dozen federal, state, and municipal GIS users came together to establish a base from which to discuss and resolve issues looming on the GIS horizon. That turned out to be a fairly lofty goal, and through that effort the Arkansas GIS Users Forum emerged within the year.
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​This Forum is a volunteer organization that addresses the complex issues surrounding our chosen field, GIS (Geographic Information Science). Part of our function includes the standardization and sharing of data, with the ultimate goal of cost reduction.
This group includes those from our state and the surrounding area who are developing, using or otherwise interacting with GIS software. We encourage discussion and problem solving at a broad level.
After all, geography is for everyone!
Today
The Arkansas GIS Users Forum is a group of geospatial professionals that work to develop, publish, distribute and use geospatial information to help you get where you are going, know where you have been, or know what’s happening around you.
Our members come from a variety federal, state, county and local governments, as well as private and nonprofit organizations. Some of us work daily to ensure that emergency services find the fastest route when you call 911, others route pipelines and utilities to avoid damaging your property, we can even determine where to build a new fire station to provide the best service.
Others use GIS less frequently or with less dire consequences, but we all use this very valuable tool to add a spatial component to our work. So the next time you go online to look up an address and search for a nearby business or even when you unfold an Arkansas Highway Map from the ArDOT... remember you've used products generated by our members.
