Dr Gesche Schmid

Dr Gesche Schmid has been working in GIS in the local government sector since seven years and has gained an in-depth knowledge and expertise in the use of GI to delivery and improve citizen services. Gesche leads the development and implementation of GIS in Medway Council for which Medway won the AGI Local Government best practice award in 2000. In 2001, Gesche was promoted to ICT and information manager responsible for coordinating e-service delivery initiatives and managing information for development and environmental services at Medway Council. She considers information management an essential requirement to facilitate the access to seamless, accurate and up-to-date information as part of e-service delivery.

Since 1998, Gesche has been actively involved in the AGI as a member of various committees, as a council member from 2000-2003 and in 2004 as chair of the GI strategy action group to develop a GI strategy for England. Gesche was the founder, chair and currently deputy chair of the local government special interest group (www.agi.org.uk) which raises awareness of the benefits of geographical information and promotes its appropriate use and good management in local government. Gesche is also a local government representative on the Intra-government group for geographic information (www.iggi.gov.uk), a member of central-local government information partnership (www.clip.gov.uk) and the local government GI Committee (LOGGIC) in which she promotes the use and sharing of geographic information within the government sector.

Gesche was born and raised in Germany and has a Ph.D. in digital terrain modelling from the University of Alberta, Canada. She started her professional career in Britain in 1993 as lecturer in GIS at the University of Greenwich where she is still a visiting research fellow.