Who We are
The Northwest GIS User Group, Inc. is a non-profit organization that provides a forum for training, exchange of knowledge, techniques, and data among the users of Esri software and related GIS products and services.
Membership is comprised of Geographic Information System (GIS) professionals, students, and enthusiasts from around the Pacific Northwest. If you have a passion for geography and GIS technology, you have found your people. The Northwest GIS User Group conducts an annual conference that generally rotates between Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. We also typically hold a social meetup at the Esri International User Conference as well as periodic workshops and other events.
Becoming a member of the Northwest GIS User Group adds you to our distribution list for conference and other activity information, it also gives you voting privileges on issues that are presented to the general membership at our business meeting. In addition to joining our user group, consider contributing some of your talent with our annual conference. You can participate in many ways to help plan, organize or operate a conference. Your help will be greatly appreciated by your peer, you will be making a contribution to our GIS community, and you will have a great experience.
consider JOIning the board
Joining the NWGIS board can be a great opportunity to build leadership skills, connect with peers, and get involved with your GIS community. While being a director can fuel personal and professional growth, prospective applicants need to be mindful if they have available time for the commitments that the board and membership expects. NWGIS is a nonprofit organization run by a volunteer board.
NWGIS has a working board, in that, not only do directors help with strategic planning and directives for the organization, but they also help carry them out. Board members serve a four-year term; renewable on board approval. Officer positions (i.e. president, secretary, treasurer) generally put in at least 4 hours a month to accommodate their specific duties. Other directors at-large can expect to commit a minimum of 2 hours a month. Most directors assist with conference planning and other special events as needs arise. Directors are required to attend hour long, monthly virtual board meetings; the first Thursday of every month 1:00 Pacific / 2:00 Mountain. How much time you invest in NWGIS really depends on you. As a volunteer director you will need to balance your work, home, and board duties. A director serves the members of the GIS community and acts in their best interest.
NWGIS should always strive to have a diverse and representative group of directors to get the best mix of knowledge, skills, and experience. Ideally, NWGIS will get directors from areas across the Pacific Northwest.
Board vacancies will be posted to the NWGIS website and advertised on our newsletter with instructions on how to apply. Typically, announcements will come out in late summer a few months before the fall annual meeting. Board vacancies do not occur every year. You can expect board vacancies every two to four years