USER PRESENTATIONS

Title: New Cool Toy for GIS Mapping

Presenter:  Ashok Wadwani, Applied Field Data Systems

GIS mapping has become widespread and literally every agency, company is extensively mapping with GPS or using data collected with GPS. As the GPS market is growing, the Geospatial industry is working hard to get new and improved products. One such product is the IKE- an integrated GPS/ COMPASS/LASER/CAMERA all in one unit. Not only you can use the unit for regular offset mapping but one can do missing lines, line sags, heights, and tree assessments with the unit. All the data including pictures is displayed on the screen as you collect it. One additional feature is the capability of taking a picture of a pole or a structure and calculating the heights of different attachments etc later in the office. Feature /attribute questions with pull down menus can be easily configured. The unit runs Windows mobile OS, so ARCPAD can be easily installed on the unit.

Applications include Pole audits, asset mapping, disaster management, geophysical mapping etc. Users are able to collect data with this device much faster, safely and accurately than using traditional GPS receiver, laser range finders and camera.

The presentation will cover some typical applications using this new tool

Title: Wastewater Risk Assessment Using Custom Python Toolbox in ArcGIS 10.0

Presenter:  Matt Stahl, John D’Antoni, & M. Umer Khan, Alan Plummer Associates, Inc.

A risk assessment was performed for all wastewater infrastructure assets within the San Jacinto River Authority, The Woodlands wastewater collection and treatment system. A GIS-enabled data analysis and management methodology was developed and implemented using Python to assess risk in the wastewater system’s gravity main, force main, lift station, and treatment plant assets. The requirements for the analysis were to incorporate the existing GIS and custom risk matrices developed for the client. The custom GIS toolbox was developed and coded in Python scripts to integrate the Arcpy geoprocessing and Data Driven Pages functionality with the Python modules Numpy and Matplotlib. This custom toolbox extends ArcGIS and provides a powerful combination of data analysis, charting, and data-driven mapping. Upcoming risk assessment projects will be able to efficiently and strategically integrate this toolbox with client-specific risk matrices and water infrastructure data.

Title: LiDAR; Huh That Was Easy

Presenter:  J. Scott Sires, Brookhaven College, Geotechnology Institute

Brookhaven College students wanted to learn something about LiDAR data, processes and possibilities. This session shares the recent effort to learn about and use LiDAR; Brookhaven students tackled a project to evaluate the volume and location of trees on the 192 acre college campus. At that time Brookhaven was developing an application for the Arbor Day Foundation to earn the Tree Campus USA designation. This session will discuss the experience of classifying multiband imagery and integrating easily available LiDAR data to yield a campus-wide tree assessment. The students’ work resulted in maps that were included in the Arbor Day application. The session will also share LiDAR data sources and the ArcGIS Desktop methodologies applied during the project. 

Title: OKMAPS E-911 Collaborative Project

Presenters: Shellie Willoughby, GISP, OK Office of Geographic Information & Charles Brady, III, GISP, City of Ardmore  

Two years ago the Oklahoma State GI Council developed a workgroup to create Address Standards for the State of Oklahoma. With the help and input of the OK GIS Community a draft version of the OK Address Standards are out for community review. As a result of this project 9 counties in southern Oklahoma have come together to develop an E-911 collaboration. This collaboration has worked to import their E-911 data into OKMAPS, an on line mapping system developed by the Oklahoma Office of Geographic Information. This presentation will discuss the E-911 initiative while highlighting the OKMAPS on line viewer.    

Title:  Parks & Rec - More Than Just Fun & Games: GIS, Cityworks and Freeance Combine for a Parks & RecMobile Solution  

Presenters:  Sunny Lindsey, GISP, City of Highland Village & Jeremy White, Cityworks  

“I am way too busy to be bothered with a new system to keep up with all the work I do in a day. This is another way for management to track my every move. Nothing you give me will make my job any easier, in fact you are here to make it worse. Cant this wait until I retire in a few years?” This was some of the response during the initial meeting between Parks & GIS. This was definitely going to be FUN!

The GIS division was tasked with providing a simple mobile solution for work orders, inspections, and asset management for the City of Highland Village’s Parks & Rec department. In a less than 6 months, the crews went from making tick marks on paper to entering meaningful field data; accessible from any web connection. 

Title: First Responders and GIS Professionals: Sharing First-hand Experiences and Solutions

Presenter:  Capt. Scott L. Trapolino, GISP, DeSoto County & Eudora Fire Department

Many times breaking down the barriers between GIS Professionals and First Responders (Police, Fire, EMS, SAR, etc.) can be a daunting task. Let’s be honest – there are very few First Responder GISProfessionals. As a GISProfessional and First Responder I strive to incorporate GIS to assist others in accessing, managing, and analyzing information in a manageable format. Working with multiple organizations in emergency situations, whether large or small scale, there is a major disconnect from technology-based professionals and emergency management professionals. In this presentation I will share some practices and first-hand experiences that will give GIS Professionals enhanced concepts on how to break down technology barriers and provide good operational relationships during emergency situations. 

Outrageously Dependable GIS

Garri Grossi, Interstate Batteries

It is known that GIS is a valuable tool in the world of business - marketing in particular. This discussion will cover the use of spatial awareness in Market Intelligence including the importance of system architecture and design, Business Information system integration, supply chain management, and more.

Title: Raising the Value of a Local Government GIS Using a GIS-Centric Work Order and Permitting _GoBackSystem

Presenter:  Justin Cure, GISP, CGCIO, City of Longview, Texas 

The City Longview, Texas GIS Division was formed in 2005 to serve the geographic needs of the entire City. In 2008, The Department of Public Works asked for help selecting a new work order system. Cityworks by Azteca Systems was selected because the GIS is at the center of the work order management system. Public Works went live in 2009 and the rest is history. Recently, it was implemented for the entire development process. It is used across most City Departments and by the actual citizens themselves. Plans are being made for integration with even more tools.

Longview had a good enterprise GIS, but a GIS-centric work order management and permitting system made the GIS more valuable than ever before.

Title:  Web Publishing for the small GIS Shop. Lessons Learned.

Presenter:  Dustin Holt, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma                                                                                                

This presentation will cover a methodological approach to choosing a web publishing platform for a small (1-5 people) independent GIS shop. Offices where all work is done in-house, where you collect and create their own data and want to publish it out as web services.

The presentation will not be a "how-to class," nor an endorsement of any one type of system over another. Instead, it is a discussion of the different types, methods, costs, resources, goals and how they impact your decision-making process. _GoBack

Title:  Delivering What Users Need

Presenter:  Scott Stafford-Veale, Latitude Geographics

Creators of web mapping applications often struggle when deciding whether to offer comprehensive applications that risk being overly complex or simple applications that can risk being too limited. Added to these challenges are the choices of delivery technology – Cloud based,

Mobile , Disconnected, ArcGIS Online, HTML5 etc. In this session, we’ll explore the pros and cons of the array of options available to GIS/IT administrators and discuss best practices for delivering the mix and style of applications that are most appropriate for your end-users. We’ll use examples from real-world implementations to showcase success stories and lessons learned, while sharing core principles and specific approaches that are independent of our technology.

Title: CAD to GIS: A complete conversion in the real world

Presenter:  David J. Littlejohn, CEC // Infrastructure Solutions

The worlds of CAD and GIS are moving closer together but there are still many challenges to large scale conversion. This presentation will highlight the strategy, proces_GoBackses and technical details involved in a real-world conversion of state-wide fiber optic cable design and as-built data to a complete ESRI geodatabase and a connected fiber optic cable network. The project performed by CEC for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation will be the background for sharing our experience with CAD features and formats, CAD clean-up and GIS conversion processes.

Title: Using GIS and 3D Visualization as a Decision-Making Tool for Local Government

Presenter:  Joseph C Molis, GISP, City of Harker Heights

The City of Harker Heights recently passed a zoning overlay called Development Overlay District 1 – The Knight’s Way Corridor. This overlay provides additional tools to guide positive commercial development and increases aesthetic standards for higher quality building and site design. Based upon stakeholder input, a vision was defined and design guidelines and standards were then created to achieve this vision.

ArcGIS was utilized to evaluate existing land use patterns and identify key patterns for policy implementation. Sketchup was used to provide a 3D illustration of the vision for the corridor, evaluate the effects of proposed development standards, and apply those standards to differing development scenarios. This process provided decision makers with the ability to visualize the impacts of the proposed changes and allowed for clear understanding of the new zoning standards.

Title: Evaluating the Use of UAV’s for Local Government

Presenter:  Kevin Earl, City of Pharr

The use of UAV’s is becoming popular today by government entities of all sizes. Law Enforcement, Fire Departments, and Emergency Management personnel are all getting in on the craze. That is all great but what does it really take to make your UAV beneficial to you and your job. I want to share my experience in beginning to own and operate a UAV. Go over terminology of devices, products and what they do. What you are going to need. Begin by acknowledging its’ purpose. What are the pro’s and con’s of operating a UAV? Where do you begin? Is it worth doing in-house or hiring a business to get it done for you? We will examine the knowledge needed and expenses acquired with operating your own UAV as opposed to hiring someone to get video or photos that you may need to get the job done. You will understand what it is to become a UAV operator and maybe even build your own. It can produce amazing video or aerial photos but can also cost much more than anticipated due to lack of planning and knowledge. A UAV course for newbie’s who would like to learn more on the operations of implementing their own UAV for GIS.

Title: Operations Dashboard – A Pilot Project for Corporate Security

Presenters: Chloe Howlett, Jennifer McCanne, & Katy Rich, Access Midstream

Access Midstream (ACMP) operates in 9 states across the United States . With this geographical diversity come challenges in ensuring the safety and security of property, assets, and personnel. ACMP’s Corporate Security team is tasked with this duty and currently utilizes multiple programs to monitor weather threats, crime data, and fleet vehicle locations among other security matters. Since these programs do not “communicate” with each other, it isn’t possible to get a complete picture in one place. Furthermore, most of the programs do not include ACMP’s asset locations or other sensitive data because the security of that data cannot be guaranteed outside of ACMP’s firewall. Because of these issues, ACMP’s GIS Department is piloting a project that utilizes Operations Dashboard to bring security related data together in a single view. This presentation will discuss the technical requirements, implementation of phase one, lessons learned and ACMP’s future plans for Operations Dashboard.

Title: EPSG, WKID, WKT: A simple standard for spatial reference system identification

Presenter:  Denver Pierce, Alan Plummer Associates, Inc.

Spatial reference systems can be quite confusing, and it can be very easy to miss-identify, miscommunicate, and make mistakes with them. Fortunately, there exists a standard that is supported by ESRI, Autodesk, various FOSS tools, NOAA, USGS, most popular spatial databases, and countless other tools that can simply and uniquely identify a projection and datum combination using only a 4-6 digit code. This standard for GIS and spatial projects can be used in many software packages and can be referenced in maps and documents to quickly and easily identify projections and datums independent of the need for converting file formats or projecting/reprojecting files between different software or databases by using a single well-maintaned reference dataset of spatial reference system.

Title: Expanding the Reach and Power of Your Data with HERE Maps

Presenter:  Travis Franz, HERE - a Nokia business

Location-based devices and services are all around us undefined they’ve become a vital part of culture. From smart phones to navigation devices to enterprise applications, all are likely powered by a commercial map. And because the masses use these devices and services, they’re relying on the accuracy and validity of commercial maps. As a result, more and more communities and government entities are contributing their local knowledge and sharing data with commercial data vendors, in order to maximize the use and application of the data and make the map in their locale as accurate as possible.

Perhaps the most well-known and trusted commercial map vendor today is HERE, formerly known as NAVTEQ. The HERE Map is found in a wide array of places, including online map applications, in-dash and personal navigation systems and is used by companies in all walks of life, ranging from fleet management operations to emergency management. In this session Travis Franz from HERE will discuss their map and how it’s maintained thru contributions via their community program and local GIS dat_GoBacka acquisition channels.  

Title: ArcGIS JavaScript Plus Django Equals Dynamic Web App

Presenter:  Leslie H. Morgan, Ph.D., GIS Nuts

In geospatial blogs and on Twitter, 2014 has been hailed as the year JavaScript takes over the GIS world. JavaScript allows for rich user interfaces executed in the client’s browser, but adding a web framework such as Django enables the development of truly dynamic web applications. Django is a Python-based open source web application framework. Esri’s JavaScript applications can be deployed through Django, giving access to the Python language for generating web pages, Django’s rich templating system that utilizes the concept of inheritance, and built-in security modules. This presentation will show how Django was used to implement user-based authentication and authorization for a web application employing the ArcGIS API for JavaScript. It will also show how Django facilitated the implementation of web application tasks such as exporting attribute tables to downloadable files and sending automatically generated emails to users.

Title:  Aerial Patrol Software: Updating and Upgrading  

Presenter:  Jessica Rice, ONEOK

ONEOK Partners NGL Pipeline must be inspected 26 times annually per federal regulations. The software being used to facilitate the pilots was significantly out of date and needed upgrading. This was not a simple upgrade because of employee turnover, data changes and the substantial differences between the current hardware and software and the latest technology. This was compounded by the need to keep the program simple and easy to use by the pilots as they flew the routes each week. This presentation will explore the challenges faced and the decisions made during the process to bring our piloting software up to date.

Title:  Low-Cost GIS for Today’s GIS Professionals

Presenter:  Patrick Cunningham, Blue Marble Geographics

GIS technology is now part of the daily workflow for oil and gas businesses of every size. No longer constrained by overly complex software requiring highly skilled technicians, or by expensive acquisition and maintenance costs, GIS professionals are learning the value of GIS self-sufficiency. In this presentation, we will take a look at low-cost GIS software alternatives that are ideally suited to the challenges of today’s GIS professionals. Using Global Mapper we will demonstrate some of the basic principles of GIS development, where to find data, and efficient spatial data management.

Title:  Increase Effectiveness Through LGIM For Water Utilities

Presenter:  Kevin Stewart, GISi

Aqua Water Supply Corporation’s case study of adopting Esri’s LGIM to streamline data management processes and implementation of web/mobile templates to increase operational awareness.