Wisconsin Geospatial News

Vraga takes on temporary assignment

Dick Vraga, USGS Geospatial Liaison for Wisconsin, announced last week that starting September 27, 2010 he will be acting in a 120-day temporary position as the Federal Agency Liaison for the USGS National Geospatial Program. As such, he will have primary responsibility for overseeing the development, coordination, implementation and management of partnerships in support of the National Geospatial Program at the national and international level involving Federal agencies, other USGS Disciplines, and other organizational entities. Examples of some of the efforts Dick will be involved with include the Census Bureau’s Geographic Support System (GSS) Initiative, the National Enhanced Elevation Assessment, and FEMA’s Risk MAP program. Dick will also serve on the FGDC Coordination Group.

Due to the complexity of the new position, Dick will not be able to serve as the Geospatial Liaison for Wisconsin during this temporary assignment. He hopes to continue supporting the WIGICC effort to become a permanent entity, and the effort to adopt U.S. National Grid in Wisconsin. In the meantime, the other activities of Geospatial Liaison will fall into the capable hands of Ron Wencl, the USGS Geospatial Liaison for Minnesota.

Ron is among the most experienced of the USGS liaison network. He has been a Cartographer and Geographer in the Federal government for over 28 years in various positions and has been the USGS Liaison in Minnesota for 15 years.  Ron is a member of the Minnesota Statewide Geospatial Advisory Council (formerly the Governor’s Council on Geographic Information) and MetroGIS and participates with numerous working groups and committees. Ron’s contact information is shown below.

Ron Wencl
USGS Geospatial Liaison
NSDI Partnership Office
2280 Woodale Drive
Mounds View, MN 55112
Email: rwencl@usgs.gov
Phone: (763) 783-3207