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Bodenhamer Receives Top Award from Indiana Geographic Information Council

News Categories: Centers | Civic Engagement | Geography | History | Technology

/_Assets/uploads/images/attendees_of_2011_conference.JPGDavid Bodenhamer, professor of history and executive director of the Polis Center in the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI, is the 2011 recipient of the David C. Ford Award from the Indiana Geographic Information Council (IGIC).

The Ford Award honors historic accomplishments and lifetime achievements in support of the greater Geographic Information Systems (GIS) community of Indiana and to improving the lives of all Hoosiers through GIS.

Lives are improved through GIS technologies, collections of electronic maps, tools, and associated databases, by analyzing information - such as population trends and economic factors - to support decision-making about policy, business, health, and more, in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.

"David Bodenhamer is an innovator, visionary, and motivator when it comes to GIS in the State of Indiana," said Philip Worrall, Executive Director of IGIC.

The director of the Polis Center for over 20 years, Bodenhamer has built a center focused on community-based research and advanced information technologies, especially geographic information systems (GIS). The Polis Center works with communities in Indiana and beyond to develop and apply knowledge, to build collaborations, and to find innovative solutions to common problems.

"Bodenhamer is among the earliest of pioneers in identifying creative uses for GIS technology in the organization and manipulation of datasets that would not appear to be associated with geography," wrote his nominators. "He has developed The Polis Center around his vision and philosophy and over more than two decades contributed in many ways to the development of GIS in Indiana. He has become a world-renowned expert in the application of GIS to the humanities."

Dave Coats, Associate Director of the Polis Center, said during the award presentation on March 1st, "Many people in Indiana, across the nation and even internationally have been introduced to the benefits of GIS through David Bodenhamer and the Polis Center that he founded."

"Among David’s many contributions to IUPUI and Indiana has been his innovative combination of the humanities, social sciences, and spatial analysis with community service," said William Blomquist, Dean of the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI. "That combination is certainly distinctive and perhaps even unique, and has brought the Polis Center into a position of academic prominence and community significance, as this award attests."

The Indiana Geographic Information Council (IGIC) is a nonprofit membership organization of GIS users, professionals and educators. Administered by an elected board of directors, IGIC is recognized as the official statewide coordinating body for Indiana geographic information.  The Ford Award honors of Indiana State Senator David C. Ford (1949-2008), who represented District 19 and co-sponsored legislation which institutionalized the IndianaMap program.

Published on: March 28, 2011