…think globally, act locally
The Kenneth D. Gardels Award is a gold medallion presented each year by the Board of Directors of the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) to an individual who has made exemplary contributions to OGC’s consensus standards process. Award nominations are made by members – the prior Gardels Award winners – and approved by the Board of Directors. The Gardels Award was conceived to memorialize the spirit of a man who dreamt passionately of making the world a better place through open communication and the use of information technology to improve the quality of human life.
Kenneth Gardels, a founding member and a director of OGC, coined the phrase “Open GIS.” Kenn died of cancer in 1999 at the age of 44. He was active in popularizing the open source Geographic Information System (GIS) ‘GRASS’, and was a key figure in the Internet community of people who used and developed that software. Kenn was well known in the field of GIS and was involved over the years in many programs related to GIS and the environment. He was a respected GIS consultant to the State of California and to local and federal agencies, and frequently attended GIS conferences around the world.
Kenn is remembered for his principles, courage, and humility, and for his accomplishments in promoting spatial technologies as tools for preserving the environment and serving human needs.
| PREVIOUS AWARD RECEPIENTS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recipient | Organization | Award Location | Date | Citation |
| Steve Liang | University of Calgary & SensorUp Inc. | Frascati, Italy | February 27, 2023 |  |
| Chris Little | UK Met Office | Virtual | December 8, 2021 | |
| Chuck Heazel | Individual Member | Virtual | December 9, 2020 | |
| Linda van den Brink | Geonovum | Toulouse, France | November 20, 2019 | |
| Joan Masó | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (CREAF) | Stuttgart, Germany | September 12, 2018 | |
| Marie-Françoise Voidrot | Open Geospatial Consortium (awarded for work at METEO-FRANCE) |
Southampton UK | September 13, 2017 | |
| Stan Tillman | Intergraph Corporation | Orlando, FL | September 22, 2016 | |
| Paul Scarponcini | Bentley Systems | Boulder, CO | June 4, 2015 | |
| Carl Reed | CTO, OGC | Boulder, CO | June 4, 2015 | |
| Peter Baumann | Jacobs University Bremen GmbH | Calgary, AB | September 17, 2014 | |
| Jeff de La Beaujardière | NOAA | Frascati, Italy | September 25, 2013 | |
| David Wesloh | NGA | Springfield, VA | June 20, 2012 | |
| Joshua Lieberman | Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, LLP | Boulder, CO | September 21, 2011 | |
| Ingo Simonis | iGSI GmbH | Toulouse, France | September 22, 2010 | |
| David Danko | ESRI | Cambridge, MA | June 24, 2009 | |
| Mike Botts | University of Alabama in Huntsville | Norcross, GA | September 17, 2008 | |
| Clemens Portele | interactive instruments GmbH | Enghien-les-Bains, France | July 11, 2007 | |
| Simon Cox | CSIRO | Edinburgh, Scotland | June 28, 2006 | |
| Doug Nebert | US FGDC | St. John’s, NF | June 15, 2005 | |
| Kurt Buehler | founding CTO, OGC | Southampton UK | June 16, 2004 | |
| Martin Daly | Cadcorp Ltd. | Southampton UK | June 16, 2004 | |
| Edric Keighan | CubeWerx, Inc. | Reston, VA | June 11, 2003 | |
| William Lalonde | CubeWerx, Inc. | Reston, VA | June 11, 2003 | |
| Peter Vretanos | CubeWerx, Inc. | Reston, VA | June 11, 2003 | |
| Ron Lake | Galdos Systems, Inc. | London, UK | June 12, 2002 | |
| Arliss Whiteside | BAE Systems | Nashua, NH | June 6, 2001 | |
| Allan Doyle | International Interfaces | Redlands, CA | April 5, 2000 | |
| John Herring | Oracle Corporation | Reston, VA | June 16, 1999 | |
The Kenneth D. Gardels award is a gold medallion presented each year by the Board of Directors of the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC) to an individual who has made exemplary contributions to the OGC’s consensus standards process. Award nominations are made by members – the prior Gardels Award winners – and approved by the Board of Directors. The Gardels Award was conceived to memorialize the spirit of a man who dreamt passionately of making the world a better place through open communication and the use of information technology to improve the quality of human life.
Kenneth Gardels, a founding member and a director of the OGC, coined the phrase “Open GIS”. Kenn died of liver cancer in 1999 at the age of 44. He was active in popularizing the open source geographic information system (GIS) “GRASS” and was a key figure in the Internet community of people who used and developed that software. Kenn was well known in the field of GIS and was involved over the years in many programs related to GIS and the environment, including the Research program in Environmental planning and Geographic Information Systems (REGIS), California Environmental Resources Evaluation System (CERES), Center for Environmental Design Research (CEDR), and the Tahoe Conservancy. He was a respected GIS consultant to the State of California and to local and federal agencies, and frequently attended GIS conferences around world.
Kenn is remembered for his principles, courage, and humility, and for his accomplishments in promoting spatial technologies as tools for preserving the environment and serving human needs.
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