17 replies to this topic

[Lou]

Hello CartoTalkers, for those of you who are NACIS members (affectionately known as NACites) that have not yet renewed your NACIS membership please visit nacis.org and renew today.

For those of you new to both CartoTalk and NACIS please take a moment to visit nacis.org to read about (and ask a few members that participate here) about the great organization that NACIS is for all people who have something to do with maps.

Don't miss the annual meeting...it's in Madison, WI this year...info on the web site.

Feel free to contact me directly if you have questions.

Cheers,

Lou

[if this is not the right place to post this - please move it where it would be more appropriate]

[frax]

So.. for us outside the US and Canada - why should I as a non-north american join? I am not uninterested, but the name ticks me off a bit...

(yours truly is already member of the society for conservation GIS, and the Swedish Cartographic society - the ICA organization in Sweden)

[DaveB]

why should I as a non-north american join? I am not uninterested, but the name ticks me off a bit...

(yours truly is already member of the society for conservation GIS, and the Swedish Cartographic society - the ICA organization in Sweden)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why should you join? If for nothing else, the NACIS journal, Cartographic Perspectives! For the price of membership you get 4 high quality journals each year. CP, as it is known affectionately among NACItes, has great articles, everything from academic studies to practical technical articles, reviews of atlases and other map-related books, interesting editorials including occasional guest "editorials", color plates of relevant maps from the articles.

Try it, you'll like it

It is true NACIS is primarily a North American organization, but I know there are a few non-North American members, some of whom have attended meetings.
It's also a cool group of fellow map geeks (just ask us) and has been called a "drinking society with a mapping problem".

[Hans van der Maarel]

I went to last year's NACIS conference and was 'forced' to sign up

I agree with Dave though, it's a very nice group of people and I found the conference well worth the membership fee.

[Mike H]

I am not uninterested, but the name ticks me off a bit...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Understandable. The name is a reflection of the organizations age and geography - founded in 1980 - in the USA. At that time the concept of forming a continent-wide organization to bring map makers together was ambitious. Today, in the internet era, the name does suggest exclusion of non-North American folks. That bias is implied (falsley) by name alone - the membership has grown to be international.

I enjoy NACIS, but I also joined CartoSoc (Society of Cartographers) and that group is very much a UK-Euro oriented organization. Our profession is eclectic enough that I try to be included in all organized carto-anything groups, just to get a more holistic view on the global state of mapmaking.

The journal Cartographic Perspectives is well worth the price alone.

m.

[Derek Tonn]

I am not uninterested, but the name ticks me off a bit...

Frax,

Yep. Though many mapping societies/associations I have come across in the United States, Canada and Europe have had a very "regional" flavor in their name. I agree though that the "North American" in the name likely scares some European/Asian/African/South American mappers from participating! It's the same reason why I haven't seriously looked at groups such as the BCA (http://www.cartography.org.uk/) and CCA (http://www.cca-acc.org/) in the past.

FWIW, I am 99% certain that I am going to re-up with NACIS once again (after a two-year hiatus). I really like the direction that leaders such as Dennis are taking the Society, and I really, REALLY would like to continue to get to know other map-makers in the months and years to come! If not for CartoTalk and 6-8 other previously-established relationships with others in our line of work, it would get AWFULLY lonely around here sometimes when I want to talk about some hard-core mapping issues.....

Derek

[Lou]

I went to last year's NACIS conference and was 'forced' to sign up

Hans, come now...we didn't even break out the cattle prods and tazers until the second day. That's the first I have heard of a forced NACIS sign-up. Hey, if it helps smooth things over with ya, your first drink's on me in Madison. -Lou

[Hans van der Maarel]

Lou,

No worries. I had responded to the call for papers and a NACIS membership was included with the conference fee.

Wouldn't say no to that drink though

[Lou]

Wouldn't say no to that drink though 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

jolly good. consider it done. cheers.

[Matthew Hampton]

Wouldn't say no to that drink though 

As I found out in Salt Lake - NACIS is above all, a drinking group with a mapping problem...

[Derek Tonn]

Well, I "did the dirty deed" today and re-joined NACIS! I've had a two-year hiatus, but the lure of Madison and the direction that Dennis and others have been taking the Society was too good for me to pass on. That, and getting that "NACIS" graphic under my name in my CartoTalk posts.....

Derek

[Lou]

getting that "NACIS" graphic under my name in my CartoTalk posts

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's why I started posting to CartoTalk.

[araki5]

if we get the renewal email, do we reply to the email? or do we actually go to the NACIS site and renew on there?

[mike]

I joined, finally. Last year I couldn't make it to the NACIS conference. Hopefully that will change this year!

[araki5]

Just re-upped today. Can I get the cool NACIS graphic under my name?