The Kenneth D. Gardels Legacy Award
The Gardels Award is OGC’s highest individual honor, awarded each year to a member who carries forward Kenn Gardels’ legacy of openness, innovation, and service to society through geospatial technology.
Celebrating Courage, Collaboration, and Lasting Impact
The OGC Gardels Award
The Kenneth D. Gardels Award is a gold medallion presented each year by the OGC Board of Directors 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 Recipients
These individuals represent the finest examples of commitment to open standards and collective progress. Their contributions continue to inspire new generations within the OGC community.
Recipient
Organization
Award Location
Date
Citation
Andreas Matheus
Secure Dimensions
Montreal, QC, Canada
June 19, 2024
Andreas Matheus
Secure Dimensions
Montreal, QC, Canada
June 19, 2024
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
OGC (awarded for work at METEO-FRANCE)
Southampton UK
September 13, 2017
Stan Tillman
Intergraph Corporation
Orlando, FL
September 22, 2016
Carl Reed
CTO, OGC
Boulder, CO
June 4, 2015
Paul Scarponcini
Bentley Systems
Boulder, CO
June 4, 2015