During the 2021 General Session, the Utah Legislature agreed to change the name of AGRC to the Utah Geospatial Resource Center (UGRC), as passed in House Bill 261, “Geographic Reference Center Amendments.” This bill takes effect on May 5, 2021, and, accordingly, AGRC will be working on rebranding efforts, including updating our name on the AGRC website and all communications materials, as well as creating a new logo and other items as needed.
This change started in August 2020 with the “AGRC Name Change Survey.” A total of 270 people responded to the survey, and respondents shared a variety of opinions on the name change. Respondents were directed to: “On a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, please rank how you feel about the following potential names.” While Utah Geospatial Resource Center (UGRC) was the highest ranking name (with a score of 6.77/10), other close options were Utah Geospatial Data Center (UGDC) (6.45/10) and Utah Geospatial Center (UGC) (6.36/10). Respondents also shared various comments in support of a name change, against a name change, and commenting on a name change in general.
Some respondents stated that the current AGRC name was well established and changing the name would cause confusion. Others commented that a name change would better reflect what AGRC actually does. AGRC staff ultimately decided that UGRC would more accurately describe our work and represent us as a group.
Regardless of our name, we look forward to continuing to provide quality GIS services to Utahns and the wider field of GIS.