UCGIS is pleased to recognize John P. Wilson, the Director of the Spatial Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California, with UCGIS’s Service Award. John has served numerous roles within this organization in the past, including President, Chair of the Research Committee, as well as others, but it is his work with the Geographic Information Science & Technology Body of Knowledge (GIS&T BoK) that is singular and exceptional.

In 2012-13, then-President Laxmi Ramasubramanian and others in the UCGIS executive group recognized that the GIS&T BoK project was in need of editorial leadership. Laxmi turned to John Wilson for his input and her inquiry became a two-part favor: to assist with an inventory or assessment of the existing content and to help produce a plan for revisions and updating.

By spring 2014, John had fully embraced his new role as ad hoc leader of the GIS&T BoK project. He formed a Steering Committee and populated it with 20-25 experts from academia, government, and industry. He designed and published a survey in which respondents were asked to rate the 329 individual topics in the BoK for their current relevancy to the field of GIS&T and specify which new topics should be added to the collection.

Between 2014 and 2016, John worked closely with UCGIS leadership to make important decisions about both editorial governance and new digital platforms. The Steering Committee was disbanded in favor of an 11-member Editorial Board, with each of the BoK’s Knowledge Areas having a dedicated Editor and John serving as Editor-in-Chief. The first digital version of the GIS&T BoK (still at https://gistbok.ucgis.org) was launched in August 2016.

After a decade of steady effort, the collection is close enough to reaching a point of completion that John expects to step down from his editorial role before the end of this calendar year. As tempting as it must have been to step back at other times, his dedication both to UCGIS and this project have motivated him to continue.

The GIS&T BoK would not currently exist as the valuable collection it has become if it weren’t for John’s gracious leadership. Most importantly, it’s his willingness not only to curate the collection itself but to politely hound authors and reviewers that has made the difference. Through his careful analog notetaking he manages to keep track of connections and follow through. This extreme act of volunteer professional service truly deserves recognition.

For his monumental efforts in the BoK project, John is deserving of the UCGIS Service Award.