Data Communities

Students sit at computer terminals during an instructor-led Data Services GIS Workshop.

Data Services is an enthusiastic member of our data communities. Some of the community groups we are involved in or support include:

Washington University Groups | Local Groups | National and International Groups

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Washington University Groups

Data Users Group (DUG)

Data Users (formerly the GIS Users Group) come together from various academic backgrounds and skill levels to learn, share and network around various data-related topics, such as management, using 2d data, 3D data, text mining, network analysis, and of course GIS. The group meets monthly during the school year and is involved in the planning of our annual events of GIS Day (November) and Love Data Week (February). These meetings will be held via Zoom this academic year.

Washington University Tableau User Group (WU TUG)

WU TUG welcomes any member of the WashU community interested in learning about data visualization and Tableau software. Their meetings are not formal training workshops, rather they come together as a supportive group to show-and-tell current projects, share helpful tips, and discuss additional data wrangling resources on campus.

Local Groups

The Missouri Geographic Systems Advisory Council (MGISAC) is a statewide committee formed under Missouri’s Chief Information Officer with the goal of fostering cooperation between state agencies in the field of geospatial technologies. The group holds monthly meetings and occasional conferences and trainings with the purpose of setting standards for the production and use of spatial data in the state as well as advising on the direction of the Missouri Spatial Data Information Service (MSDIS). MSDIS is an important spatial data resource for a large number of University students and researchers.

The purpose of R-Ladies St. Louis is to promote gender diversity in the R community through regular meetings and providing support for gender minority users of R in various ways such as conference participation, continuing education, and R package development. The local chapter of R-Ladies holds monthly meetings on various R topics such as data visualization, data wrangling, and app development.

St. Louis GIS Users Group (SLUG) is a group of GIS professionals across all disciplines in the St. Louis area that meets quarterly to discuss applications of spatial technology and solutions. DS staff attend these meetings and other related events to interact with GIS counterparts and receive training. This organization also serves as a link between DS staff and organizations from which University users frequently request spatial data.

The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) established the St. Louis Area Working Group (SLAWG) to bring together professionals from the government (both NGA and local), military, industry, academia, and community to create lasting educational and community pathways to geospatial degrees, certifications and/or careers in the St. Louis Region.

The Women in Geospatial Technology STL group is open to all women in the St. Louis area interested in geospatial technology. This group is for networking, building support, changing the world, and helping each other achieve success.

National and International Groups

The Community Standards for 3D Data Preservation in an international data community of 3D data and data curation experts working to ensure digital 3D data is preservable, sharable, findable, and usable for the long term. DS staff are co-leading this effort.

The Data Curation Network is a professional network of data curators, research data librarians, academic library administrators, directors of international data repositories, disciplinary subject experts, and scholars we represent academic institutions and non-profit societies that make research data available to the public.

The Research Data Alliance (RDA) was launched as a community-driven initiative in 2013 by the European Commission, the United States Government’s National Science Foundation and National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Australian Government’s Department of Innovation with the goal of building the social and technical infrastructure to enable open sharing and re-use of data.

The Society of Women Geographers is an international data community that supports women who know no boundaries by encouraging research and exploration, providing opportunities to share ideas, and promoting intellectual exchange.