When it comes to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), City of Busselton employee James Spath is top of his field.
Business System Analyst (GIS) at the City for the past five years, James has been awarded Professional of the Year at the 2012 Western Australian Spatial Excellence Awards. The award recognises James’ superior knowledge and skills, but it also recognises the important role he has played in building a strong working relationship between local government GIS professionals, state government agencies and private enterprises.
James has become the main point of contact between Landgate and the local government GIS community and has been the driving force in many projects aimed at simplifying information exchange and processes.
“I’m a strong believer in sharing information across industries and organisations,” said James.
“Essentially GIS is about empowering people through the delivery of easy to understand, easy to access and, most essentially, accurate spatially enabled information.”
James will now head off to Canberra where he’ll be in the running for the National Award.
“It’s great to be recognised in my field,” he said.
“But perhaps even more exciting is the fact that someone from Regional WA has taken out this award. Regional and remote areas are far from professional ‘backwaters’. With email, telephone conferencing and Skype, I’ve been able to make this contribution to the broader GIS community without having to be based in Perth.”
CEO Mike Archer said that the City is attracting and retaining some of the State’s leading professionals in their respective fields. He was full of praise for James and the City’s GIS team.
“We have a very talented and dedicated GIS team,” he said.
“Their knowledge, technical skills, creativity and ability to think outside the box, are a real asset. Many other organisations and agencies often refer to our GIS team for advice and input.
“James should be very proud of this award – he is a credit to the organisation and his chosen profession.”
