In an age when everything seems to be going "digital", it would probably not surprise you that topographic and other types of maps are also becoming available in this format. But what you may not know is that Hamilton County is a major center for the development of the associated technology and techniques for creating such maps.

Alan Voss, Manager for Special Projects, Geographic Information and Engineering, TVA and Al Butler, Director of Hamilton County Geographic Information Services (GIS) will provide us an overview of the joint development efforts that TVA and Hamilton County have undertaken to advance the state of the art of digital mapping and GIS. They will describe the various types of geospatial information currently available for engineering firms and other business to determine sources of pollution, take inventory of watershed, and conduct various other geographical-related analyses.

There are many advantages to digital maps, including the ability integrate several different map sources, to associate attributes about each geographical feature, to analyze the data, and to integrate the map data with engineering design software.

Monday, February 26 - Before a packed audience, Mr. By Greg Vincent, Sr. VP of TVA's Power Resources & Operations Planning spoke on “The Impact of Deregulation in the Electric Utility Industry”. He explained what deregulation means to the electric utility industry and describe some of the circumstances that brought California much of its woes. He provided a historical perspective of how the utility industry has been regulated over the past hundred years and the events that helped establish the current mood for deregulation. Mr. Vincent also discussed how TVA is planning to meet the challenges of deregulation. He described TVA's power generation plans, the influences of fuel costs, and the importance of flexibility, reliability and pricing.

March 12: The Cisco Networking Academy Program - a highly successful alliance between Cisco Systems, education, business, government and communities to create "jobs like ours".

April 8: Tenn. Dept. of Transportation Selects a Civil Engineering CAD Program. - A Presentation of its features by the selected software developer, Geopack.

We had a great attendance at our last meeting in comparison to some other meetings. Was it the meal at the Cellar Restaurant? Was it the speaker and the topic? Or was it the phase of the moon? If you haven't been coming to our weekly meetings lately, please let us know what it takes to get you to do so (or if you have been coming, what it takes to keep you coming). We want to share your company and especially your professional experience and ideas. You can respond to me at uwe@chattanooga.net