The State Cartographer’s Office (SCO) recently received an Outstanding Partner Award from the UW-Stevens Point GIS Center.  The award was given in recognition of the SCO’s “inspiration, collegiality and dedication to advancing geospatial activities and ideas throughout Wisconsin and beyond its borders.” The office was commended for exemplifying “the significant advancement that can be achieved in working together to solve complex societal problems using geographic information systems.”

The award was presented by Doug Miskowiak, Education Specialist at the UW-Stevens Point GIS Center. Miskowiak highlighted examples of the SCO’s commitment to fostering collaboration and partnerships between educational institutions in Wisconsin. He linked these efforts to the “Wisconsin Idea” and the office’s broad statewide focus.

Miskowiak mentioned three projects in particular:

• The Capstone Certificate in Geodesign is a proposed joint UW-Madison/UW-Stevens Point program, and one of only a handful of Geodesign programs being developed in the country. The SCO assisted with the development of the program proposal by coordinating the efforts of the two institutions.
• The SCO partnered with UW-Stevens Point and UW-Eau Claire to develop a proposal for the UW System’s Program Innovation Grant program in 2013. The group proposed the development of a multi-campus research incubator for Unmanned Aerial Systems.
• The SCO also assisted with the Menominee Place Names Project, an effort to map Menominee place names in Wisconsin.