2014 Winter Newsletter

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: JOHN WATTERSON, GISP, CFE

What do you do for the PA? I am the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Specialist for the Martin County Property Appraiser‟s Office. I support Office de- partments with various GIS products, such as maps, custom data- sets and geographic analysis. These tools aid in making informed decisions and working efficiently. I often provide GIS training to staff. How long have you been employed with the PA? I have been employed by the PA for ten years. While a geography student at FSU, I also worked as an intern for Tallahassee-Leon County GIS in a large parcel mapping project for the Leon County Property Appraiser‟s Office until I graduated in 1999. What do you like most about your job? My job is so varied, and I have regular opportunities to apply the GIS skills I have learned over the years to projects. The GIS field is dynamic and always changing. When the opportu- nity presents itself, I also like writing programming scripts to automate my GIS workflows; it‟s like solving a puzzle. Where were you born? I was born in West Palm Beach, Florida, where I also grew up. Where was your best vacation ever? My best vacation ever was a trip with a friend to the Grand Canyon and Southern Utah in 2005. We visited Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. We made many strenuous hikes. The beauty of these places can‟t be put into words and pictures can never do justice. John Watterson, GISP, CFE

The Grand Canyon is so immense and magnificent that you could just stare at it for hours, and it‟s mind-bending to learn that the Colorado River and surface uplift created it over 17 million years ago. It‟s over a mile in depth, over 270 miles long and, in some places, 18 miles wide. We hiked about a fourth of the way down into the canyon, but then the heat became a problem and we turned around. In fact, there were park rangers all over the place telling people to turn around.

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Winter 2014 Newsletter of the FCIAAO