Jul 24, 2014 -- Clint Didier, who scored a Super Bowl touchdown as a member of the champion Washington Redskins and now a candidate for the Republican nomination for Congress from the 4th District of Washington State, will deliver the keynote address at the  MAPPS 2014 Summer Conference, to be held July 27-31 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Didier was a member of the 1983 Super Bowl champion Redskins, who defeated the Miami Dolphins 27-17.   He played in the 1984 Super Bowl, catching five passes for 65 yards in the Redskins 38-9 loss to the Oakland Raiders.  Didier scored a touchdown in the 1988 Super Bowl, when the Redskins defeated the Denver Broncos 42-10. 

Didier is seeking the GOP nod in an August 5 primary for a seat in Congress being vacated by Rep. DocHastings (R-WA), the retiring Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.  A graduate of Portland State University, had a seven-year career with the Redskins including participation in three Super Bowls, followed by two more years with the Green Bay Packers.  He is currently a farmer, high school football coach and owner of an excavation company in Eltopia, Washington.

The five-day MAPPS conference will provide greater insight into Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and other emerging markets that will provide business opportunities for the private geospatial profession.  The conference is focused on emerging markets, business trends and networking. During this year’s conference a day will be dedicated to UAS platforms, sensors, data collection and processing, markets and regulation and will include live demonstrations.
  
Conference sessions will also focus on business trends in the geospatial profession important to the owners and senior managers of private sector firms. Session will include “Teaming: Large and 

Small Business Perspectives”, an overview of how MAPPS membership can facilitate teaming and partnering and how to create strategic business partnerships. This will be complemented by a session onmarketing messaging using defined business goals to create succinct communication plans that provide actionable results to your target market.

Through mergers and acquisitions, rapidly evolving technology and consumer markets the geospatial business landscape looks very different today than it did even five years ago. What will it look like in another five years? Panelist of senior executives will tackle the complex question and provide their view of the ever-changing landscape of the market in a session, “Where is the Geospatial Market Going”.

MAPPS has a history of building relationships with current and prospective members of Congress who support the free enterprise system and have an appreciation for the role geospatial services, data, products and applications in the American economy. Didier’s appearance is the latest in a long list ofbipartisan political speakers at MAPPS events.  Recent speakers have included former San Diego city councilman Carl DeMaio, a Republican candidate for Congress in California’s 52nd District, Rep. Joe Garcia (D-FL), Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI), and Governor Paul LePage (R-ME).

“It is important that the geospatial community engages candidates and elected officials.  This helps improve policy-makers understanding of geospatial applications and their benefit to society. MAPPS is proud of the leadership role it plays in this regard,” said Jeff Lower (PAR, LLC, Bossier City, LA), MAPPS President.

MAPPS extends a special offer to private geospatial firms that are not members of the association. A firm can register as a non-member and attend the conference. If the firm joins by the end of the conference on July 31, the difference between the member and non-member rate will be credited toward the firm's membership in MAPPS. To view the full program and to register for the conference, visit  www.mapps.org. 

About MAPPS
Formed in 1982, MAPPS is the only national association exclusively comprised of private firms in the remote sensing, spatial data and geographic information systems field in the United States. The MAPPS membership spans the entire spectrum of the geospatial community, including Member Firms engaged in satellite and airborne remote sensing, surveying, photogrammetry, aerial photography, LIDAR, hydrography, bathymetry, charting, aerial and satellite image processing, GPS, and GIS data collection and conversion services. MAPPS also includes Associate Member Firms, which are companies that provide hardware, software, products and services to the geospatial profession in the United States and other firms from around the world. Independent Consultant Members are sole proprietors engaged in consulting in or to the geospatial profession, or provides a consulting service of interest to the geospatial profession.
 
MAPPS provides its member firms opportunities for networking and developing business-to-business relationships, information sharing, education, public policy advocacy, market growth, and professional development and image enhancement.
 
For more information on MAPPS, please visit www.mapps.org.