2003 Peter S. Thacher Award Recipient: Jim McLaughlin
This year’s recipient of the Thacher Award is Jim McLaughlin from the State of New Hampshire.
Jim is the behind the scenes architect of the New Hampshire GRANIT program. Let me explain what GRANIT is.
New Hampshire is known as the Granite State for two reasons. The first reflects the geology of the region. The seconds refers to the state GIS. GRANIT stands for -- Geographically Referenced Analysis and Information Transfer. As evidenced by the collapse of the Old Man on the Mountain in Franconia this year, New Hampshire’s geological granite is fragile and unstable. Jim’s GIS GRANIT is quite the contrary -- it has stood the test of time and is the solid foundation for all GIS work in the State.
Jim McLaughlin is a GIS pioneer. His vision and deft administrative hand created and sustained the New Hampshire GIS system. He the Assistant Director of the state’s planning agency and just retired a few months ago. In the mid-80’s Jim recognized that effective rural planning required GIS. In partnership with the University of New Hampshire, he developed a central database for the state, and a created a delivery system to get the data to the rural communities to support their work.
Jim’s vision for a GIS presence in rural New Hampshire was way ahead of everyone else’s. Let me offer a few points of historical reference. GIS did not work on PC’s when Jim started GRANIT. In fact, PC’s only existed for a few years when Jim began the project. Jim and his colleague Fay Rubin hosted one of the first NEARC meetings. The GIS community was so small then that Jim and Fay personally made the sandwiches and salad for everyone’s lunch the day of the meeting.
Jim McLaughlin’s plan for GIS in New Hampshire went well beyond building a credible statewide database. He was committed to taking the technology to the rural communities where the little decisions that are made on a daily basis end up creating significant cumulative impacts. Jim developed a program that put GIS technology in each of the State’s rural planning commissions. Each of these nodes of technical expertise served a network of towns.
Jim’s tool to create a strong GIS presence in New Hampshire was his effective skills in public administration. Like Peter Thacher’s quiet work in building a Stonington GIS database, Jim’s presence was invisible to most people. One of his supporters said it best in Jim’s nomination for the Thacher Award.
People influence the world around them in many different ways. Some arrive in a thunderous roar to tackle a specific issue and then seem to fade or look for the next hot issue. Others look for ways to make long-term contributions and turn their quiet passion into action. Not looking for personal fame or notoriety, these people look for ways to build teams and empower others to reach a greater goal. Jim McLaughlin is one of those latter types of individuals, who has taken the cause of GIS and land use planning in New Hampshire under his wing and brought things to life.
For his personal passion and commitment to using GIS to empower local communities to better plan for future generations, the Northeastern Arc Users Group is honored to present the 2003 Thacher Award to Jim McLaughlin.
Jim is the behind the scenes architect of the New Hampshire GRANIT program. Let me explain what GRANIT is.
New Hampshire is known as the Granite State for two reasons. The first reflects the geology of the region. The seconds refers to the state GIS. GRANIT stands for -- Geographically Referenced Analysis and Information Transfer. As evidenced by the collapse of the Old Man on the Mountain in Franconia this year, New Hampshire’s geological granite is fragile and unstable. Jim’s GIS GRANIT is quite the contrary -- it has stood the test of time and is the solid foundation for all GIS work in the State.
Jim McLaughlin is a GIS pioneer. His vision and deft administrative hand created and sustained the New Hampshire GIS system. He the Assistant Director of the state’s planning agency and just retired a few months ago. In the mid-80’s Jim recognized that effective rural planning required GIS. In partnership with the University of New Hampshire, he developed a central database for the state, and a created a delivery system to get the data to the rural communities to support their work.
Jim’s vision for a GIS presence in rural New Hampshire was way ahead of everyone else’s. Let me offer a few points of historical reference. GIS did not work on PC’s when Jim started GRANIT. In fact, PC’s only existed for a few years when Jim began the project. Jim and his colleague Fay Rubin hosted one of the first NEARC meetings. The GIS community was so small then that Jim and Fay personally made the sandwiches and salad for everyone’s lunch the day of the meeting.
Jim McLaughlin’s plan for GIS in New Hampshire went well beyond building a credible statewide database. He was committed to taking the technology to the rural communities where the little decisions that are made on a daily basis end up creating significant cumulative impacts. Jim developed a program that put GIS technology in each of the State’s rural planning commissions. Each of these nodes of technical expertise served a network of towns.
Jim’s tool to create a strong GIS presence in New Hampshire was his effective skills in public administration. Like Peter Thacher’s quiet work in building a Stonington GIS database, Jim’s presence was invisible to most people. One of his supporters said it best in Jim’s nomination for the Thacher Award.
People influence the world around them in many different ways. Some arrive in a thunderous roar to tackle a specific issue and then seem to fade or look for the next hot issue. Others look for ways to make long-term contributions and turn their quiet passion into action. Not looking for personal fame or notoriety, these people look for ways to build teams and empower others to reach a greater goal. Jim McLaughlin is one of those latter types of individuals, who has taken the cause of GIS and land use planning in New Hampshire under his wing and brought things to life.
For his personal passion and commitment to using GIS to empower local communities to better plan for future generations, the Northeastern Arc Users Group is honored to present the 2003 Thacher Award to Jim McLaughlin.