[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 868 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 868

    Expressing support for the designation of November 15, 2023, as 
                         ``National GIS Day''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 14, 2023

   Mr. Curtis (for himself and Mr. Aguilar) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and 
                               Technology

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
    Expressing support for the designation of November 15, 2023, as 
                         ``National GIS Day''.

Whereas the management, use, and exchange of geographic information and 
        geospatial data and analysis are essential for operations and decision 
        making in Federal agencies and private enterprise;
Whereas Geographic Information System technology (referred to in this preamble 
        as ``GIS'') embraces new and innovative ways to use, discover, and share 
        geospatial data through online portals and web services;
Whereas GIS facilitates the sharing of geographic data, services, and maps 
        within a digital domain;
Whereas GIS helps provide shared and trusted geospatial data, services, and 
        applications for use by--

    (1) the public;

    (2) private enterprise; and

    (3) government agencies and partners of government agencies to meet 
their mission needs;

Whereas GIS helps foster collaboration and partnerships in the advancement of 
        the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (referred to in this preamble 
        as the ``NSDI'');
Whereas GIS provides a common framework for the Federal Government, State, 
        Tribal, and local governments, non-Federal partners, communities, 
        constituents, professional bodies for standards, data catalogs, 
        partnerships, and tools that make up the NSDI;
Whereas GIS is used to investigate and address societal and cultural issues, 
        including--

    (1) local issues;

    (2) global issues;

    (3) issues from the past;

    (4) issues in the present; and

    (5) potential future issues identified through modeling;

Whereas GIS professionals store and manage their data in new ways given that 
        high accuracy global positioning (GPS) technology has evolved greatly 
        over decades, with 2023 also marking the 50th anniversary of GPS 
        providing America and the world innumerable and incalculable benefits;
Whereas GIS and related geospatial technologies are used in classrooms to engage 
        students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) 
        learning;
Whereas GIS is an interdisciplinary tool used by students, teachers, 
        researchers, universities, local institutions, and practitioners in 
        numerous fields and disciplines;
Whereas GIS fosters competition within the sector of geospatial technologies, 
        which is considered a high-growth industry by the Department of Labor; 
        and
Whereas many Federal agencies, State and local government agencies, nonprofit 
        organizations, schools, libraries, companies in private enterprise, and 
        universities will join with others around the world to showcase their 
        GIS mapping and geospatial applications on November 15, 2023: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) supports the designation of ``National GIS Day''; and
            (2) encourages users of Geographic Information System 
        technology (referred to in this resolving clause as ``GIS''), 
        educators, students, and innovators to continue to employ GIS 
        to--
                    (A) learn and explore;
                    (B) analyze and address societal challenges; and
                    (C) drive economic growth for the betterment of the 
                people of the United States and individuals around the 
                world.
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