Kansas Association of Mappers

KAM is the professional society for mapping and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) in Kansas. Our members live and work across the state in all areas of mapping: local, county, state, and federal government, education, private industry, utilities, and contractors. The goal of KAM is to provide networking, collaboration, and training opportunities across multiple disciplines of mapping to maximize the potential impact of GIS and geography to benefit the State of Kansas and its residents.

KAM services:

• Annual, low-cost training opportunities in the form of classes and the annual conference
• Active job listings
• Quarterly newsletter

KAM operates under the guidance of its member-elected Executive Board. Please direct any questions to kamappers@gmail.com.

KAM History

The 1985 Kansas Legislature passed a bill requiring statewide reappraisal by January 1, 1989. This resulted in the development of a full set of property ownership maps for all counties in the state. The state of Kansas contracted for the aerial photography that was to be the base for the maps. Each county contracted with providers for the photo enlargements. Most also contracted with mapping firms for deed research and delineation of the parcel boundaries, though there were a few counties that did this phase of the project in house. The final project included the aerial photo base map enlargement, inked parcel boundaries, and enlargements of the soil surveys as well as an assessment administration record for each parcel. Each map layer was on a 36” x 36” sheet of Mylar®. These sheets could be lined up and stacked to run through a blue line copier to create a composite copy of the layers. The agricultural use lines were delineated on these composites to be used to calculate the Ag use acreage, within the soil types, within the parcels. At this time there were only a handful of the 105 counties that started building their Geographic Information Systems instead of using the inked maps.

With all this mapping activity taking place in the state it wasn’t long before some of the key players got together and established a Mappers Association.

The first organizational meeting was held April 2, 1986 and a steering committee was formed. The group selected Kansas Association of Mappers as the official name. In addition, they created a list for membership, developed a constitution, and filed for nonprofit charter. The Articles of Incorporation were filed with the Kansas Secretary of State on April 14, 1986. The first conference was held in November 1986. The growth and expansion that KAM has undergone since then can gauge the success of the one-day conference.

They later created professional designations, the Kansas Mapper (KM) and the Professional Kansas Mapper (PKM) then eventually added the Kansas GIS Designation (KGISD).

At the 8th Annual Conference in 1993, the membership approved the 3rd Edition of the constitution that broadened the scope of KAM. The organization became more broadly based with a large variety of land information specialists joining in. KAM was no longer an organization of only cadastral mappers. The membership is currently more than 200 strong and includes professionals from many disciplines working in federal, state, and local government, the private sector, and academic institutions.

In 1996, Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh certified the KAM compass design logo that you see at the top of our website.

KAM operates from a constitution and a set of by-laws. The Executive Board administers the business of the association. In addition, KAM has several standing committees to support its activities.

KAM is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.