Developing a Vision and Plan for a National Geospatial Technology Resource Center

该项目的主要目标是制定国家地理空间技术资源中心的愿景和计划，以促进课程的发展，发展技术专业知识网络，并作为满足学生，教育工作者，政府，企业和行业广泛学科需求的产品和服务的交换中心。该项目正在组建一个由地理空间教育领导者组成的指导委员会，以研究对工业和教育至关重要的问题。这些问题包括：劳动力需求、地理空间核心竞争力、认证、课程、教学法、教育途径（包括发音和实习）、专业发展、沟通、地理空间意识和多样性、未来趋势以及一个成功的ATE中心的品质。地理空间技术是一个迅速发展的行业，几乎涉及我们经济的每一个学科和每一个部门。“地理空间技术”是一个广义的术语，指的是地理信息系统（GIS）、全球定位系统（GPS）和遥感（RS）。这些都是帮助用户收集、分析和解释空间数据的新兴技术。地理空间技术领域使其他领域能够提高生产力、盈利能力和效率，同时评估对生态系统的环境影响。目前，尽管地理空间技术对现有的ATE中心所关注的许多经济部门都变得至关重要，但没有一个ATE中心或资源中心专门研究地理空间技术。美国国家科学基金会每年都在许多部门资助新的与地理信息系统有关的项目，但是各个中心和涉及地理信息系统/地理空间技术的项目之间的协调很少。该项目包括五个阶段：(1)项目指导委员会研究文献并根据需要进行调查，以产生上述关键问题的现状的书面摘要；(2)举办国家论坛，汇集地理空间技术行业、教育和劳动力发展领域的专家，分享、讨论和修改研究成果；(3)将论坛成果汇总成一份报告草案，概述了社区大学地理空间技术教育的国家协调愿景和计划；(4)向社区学院、大学、行业和劳动力发展专业人士广泛散发计划草案，征求意见和审查；(5)发表了最终报告，为全国社区高校地理空间活动协调提供了蓝图和国家地理空间技术资源中心实施方案。

The primary goal of this project is to develop a vision and plan for a national geospatial technology resource center in order to facilitate the development of curriculum, develop a network of technical expertise, and serve as a clearinghouse for products and services that meet the needs of students, educators, government, business, and industry across a wide spectrum of disciplines. This project is forming a steering committee of leaders in geospatial education to research issues critical to industry and education. These issues include: workforce needs, geospatial core competencies, certification, curriculum, pedagogy, educational pathways (including articulation and internships), professional development, communication, geospatial awareness and diversity, future trends, and the qualities of a successful ATE Center. Geospatial technology is a rapidly expanding industry that crosscuts nearly every discipline and every sector of our economy. The term 'geospatial technology' is a broad term referring to Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and Remote Sensing (RS). These are emerging technologies that assist the user in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of spatial data. The field of geospatial technology enables other fields to improve productivity, profitability, and efficiency, while evaluating environmental impacts on our ecosystems. Currently, no ATE Center or Resource Center specifically addresses geospatial technologies even though geospatial technologies are becoming essential to many of the economic sectors that existing ATE Centers address. Each year NSF funds new GIS-related projects under numerous directorates, but coordination among the Centers and projects involved in GIS/geospatial technology is minimal.The project consists of five phases: (1) the project steering committee researches literature and conducts surveys, as needed, to produce a written synopsis of the current state of the critical issues described above; (2) a national forum is held that pulls from the expertise of geospatial technology leaders in industry, education, and workforce development, and the results of the research are shared, discussed, and modified as necessary; (3) the outcomes of the forum are assembled into a draft report that outlines a vision and plan for national coordination of geospatial technology education at the community college; (4) the draft plan is widely disseminated to a broader audience of community college, university, industry, and workforce development professionals for comment and review; and (5) the final report is published that provides a blue print for the national coordination of geospatial activities at the community college level and an implementation plan for a national geospatial technology resource center.