Jeff Knopf

In 1988, the Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium got its start as one of the nation's first forums to communicate and share information among the growing community of environmental and natural resource geographic information system users and data producers in Minnesota. Today, we boast over 600 members across virtually all disciplines and sectors.

The Professional Development Committee is a team of Consortium members tasked with engaging with and providing development opportunities for our members. Along with the Member Spotlight series, some of the other activities we offer include:

• Mentorship program
• Resume review
• In-person and virtual networking events
• Salary surveys

And now, without further ado, let's meet this month's featured member!

GIS Analyst, GeoSpatial Services and Adjunct Instructor, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota

Check out some of the places that were important parts of Jeff's GIS journey (so far).

I don’t know the exact length of time, but I think back to my first presentation at the GIS/LIS conference around 2005 and all the people I have met, became friends with and how the technology has changed over those years. I've really valued networking with others in the GIS community, but also staying in contact with those I have met and worked with over the years.

Learning about the different ways GIS is being used and sharing that information with my students and colleagues. I find it is a great opportunity for us in the GIS community to network and share what we know with each other on projects and technology that we may have never thought about. It helps push the science of GIS forward.

I spend my free time with my family doing outdoor activities such as, hiking, camping, and fishing. My family and I especially enjoy spending time in northern Minnesota and try to get there as much as we can. My personal hobby is restoring classic cars as well as driving my 1966 Chevelle.

As an undergraduate at the University of North Dakota one of my professors suggested that I take some geography courses. During that time in the geography department, I was introduced to GIS. I enjoyed it so much I changed my major, got a position as a geospatial technician with the Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium, pursued an education in GIS through graduate school and have been working in GIS for over 22 years.

I have worked on several large and diverse GIS projects over the years, but the one that stands out for me is the 10 years I spent updating the National Hydrography Dataset in Alaska. I had the fortunate opportunity to be involved with the Alaska Hydro project at the beginning which allowed me to work in various roles such as; data creation, database management, technical point of contact and project manager.

Today, I primarily oversee the hydro-conditioning projects where I modify LiDAR for watershed analysis. I am also in charge of training newly hired GIS technicians and interns in the use of GIS and wetland mapping. During the spring semester I have been teaching an introduction to GIS course.

I started out in GIS using Arc/INFO on a Unix machine so seeing how far GIS has come overall is very exciting. I like the evolution of image analysis that has taken place over the years with the increase in capabilities of the tools. I am finding that Story Maps bring out the creativity in my students so I require that they use them for their project presentations.

I would say look into GIS to learn more about it and how GIS can be utilized no matter the field of study you’re interested in as you will find an application for GIS in virtually all fields. I would recommend having a solid knowledge of geography as no matter the industry in which you work, having a good background in understanding datums, coordinate systems, cartography, etc. is a plus.

Want to network with Jeff?  Connect with him on LinkedIn !

Are you interested in being a future story in our member spotlight series?  Fill out our online survey  or email us at  profdev@mngislis.org !