Half-day training, 8:30 AM-12:00 Noon
Instructors:
Sandi Stroud, Public Safety GIS National Director, Michael Baker International
Steven Bein, GISP, GIS Manager, Michael Baker International
This workshop is aimed at the GIS professional who is currently supporting or may support their emergency communications division in the future. In a fully operational next generation 911 system, GIS is the core component in determining how a 911 call is routed to the correct public safety answering point (PSAP). This will have profound impacts on local maintenance workflows, local data access, and data fidelity. We recognize there is a sincere lack of education available aimed at the GIS professional who may not be as versed with the 911 terminology or needs. This workshop is intended to provide an overview of next generation 911, GIS’ role in such a system, the implications on local workflows, and illustrate common pain points and sources of errors in local GIS datasets.
Learning Objectives:
Intended Audience: GIS Managers, Emergency Management and Public Safety professionals.
Registration Fee: $50
Full-day training, 8:30 AM-5:00 PM, with break for lunch on own)
Instructor: Tripp Corbin, GISP, CEO, eGIS Associates, Inc., Dacula, GA - URISA President-Elect
One way to meet demands for providing superior service levels and operational efficiencies under tightening budget constraints is to leverage new technology that places GIS data in the hands of field crews. This allows for improved management and better maintenance of work processes to properly appraise infrastructure assets and to meet service request response times. This workshop is designed to provide local government managers with practical guidelines for building an effective mobile GIS program across multiple departments.
Specific topics include:
Learning Objectives:
Registration Fee: $100
Instructors:
Jeffrey Johnson, Terranodo LLC
Landon Blake, Hawkins & Associates Engineering
Aaron Steele, CartoDB
Full-day training, 8:30 AM-5:00 PM, with break for lunch on own)
Open Source GIS Tools
Open source GIS is bringing the power of geospatial technology to all sorts of different organizations in California. During this full-day workshop members of the California OSGeo Chapter show you how they are using open source GIS software in their own organizations. The speakers will demonstrate how to use popular open source desktop GIS software (including QGIS, PostGIS, GeoServer and others), explain how open source GIS software fits into their own workflows, and provide examples of projects where they have successfully implemented open source GIS.
Making Dynamic Maps with CartoDB
In this session, we will quickly unpack how to tackle common and complex GIS challenges and analysis as we go from raw data to beautifully insightful, dynamic, interactive maps for the web. Participants will learn fundamentals of making maps in the CartoDB editor, and progress into advanced topics such as using Torque.js to create animated visualizations for pattern and anomaly detection, robust real-time enabled spatial queries and comprehensive spatial analysis using PostgreSQL & PostGIS. Focusing on working with different kinds of spatial data, participants will be equipped to use CartoDB's editor and advanced functionality in future analysis and prediction projects after completion.
A laptop computer is required for this session and we recommend you install QGIS before hand.
Registration Fee: $100
12:00 Noon-1:00 PM
Garden C
California GIS Council Working Session - Everyone is welcome!
Facilitator: Mark Greninger, Council Chair
The California GIS Council is the primary organization for GIS professionals to work together to promote the greater understanding and use of GIS across the state of California, and is open to GIS professionals who share an interest in promoting GIS across the state. This working session of the Council will be a brainstorm session focused on developing the Council’s Strategic Plan, focused on the following areas:
Come bring your experience and expertise to help develop strategies and tactics for the Council around these areas. Everyone is welcome! (Pick up a lunch at one of the hotel outlets and bring it to the meeting. Lunch is not provided.)
Esri Story Maps Workshop
Half-day workshop, 1:00-5:00 PM
Presenter: Rupert Essinger is a member of the Esri Story Maps team.
Description: In this workshop you'll learn how to create story maps with the ArcGIS platform. Story Maps are interactive web applications that let you combine interactive maps, narrative text, images, videos, 3D web scenes and other media to engage and inspire your audience. In this workshop we'll show you how to harness the power of maps and geography to tell your story: whether you want to tell the general public about a planning project; engage supporters and the media about a conservation issue; present the results of your GIS analysis work to stakeholders inside your organization; or simply create a personal story about a trip or place you love. We'll show you the different story map application templates you can choose from and walk you step-by-step through the process of building, refining, and publishing a story map. Learn the basics plus get tips and tricks to turn your story map into a polished communication product. We'll also show you best practices for promoting your story map to your audience. But most of all we hope to inspire you to tell your story!
Audience: Anyone interested in location-based storytelling. There are no prerequisites for this course. You may have a story map idea already in mind. Or you may just want to find out more about what these tools may offer your organization. Optionally, attendees can bring a laptop and we'll get you up and running making story maps. ArcGIS Online knowledge a plus but not required. No web development skills required.
No registration fee required. Participation is limited.
New Opportunity… Angels MLB Game on Tuesday evening:
We were able to bulk purchase tickets to the Angels/St Louis Cardinals baseball game on Tuesday, May 10 (7:05 PM start time). The seats are all together in the right field pavilion (section 247). Tickets are $20 each and include an Angels baseball cap. 30 tickets are available on a first-come/first-served basis. You must pay for and pick up your ticket(s) by 4 PM on Tuesday, May 10 at the conference registration desk. Please send an email ASAP to Pat Francis (pfrancis@urisa.org) to reserve your ticket(s).
For local and municipal government GIS was the technology that was suppose to integrate or unify the information and data within the walls of government agencies to streamline business processes, provide business knowledge to all staff in an organization and reduce the need for redundancy. GIS on every desk was the mantra in the 1980s. Well either developer found this too hard to do or it just wasn’t cost effective or both.
Throwing a web-based application up and giving staff access to basic mapping functions and minimal integration with the rest of the organization was just a shortcut but did not solve the real issues within the walls of a government or utility based organization. Typically GIS in local and municipal government and the those utility agencies that serve them usually ends up as a map making endeavor or specialty applications for work orders, permit processing and the like. These applications usually require GIS software and some other vendor to work with.
A good example of this would be GIS and document integration. This usually requires 2 vendors (a GIS vendor and a document manager vendor) then these applications pulled together to provide a point and shoot and document retrieval application.
But these applications are again specific and tend not to be a framework for unification of information required for business process improvement. One usually finds basic assessor information with rudimentary document attachments to be the focus of a general web based applications intended for all staff.
The Enterprise Data Window uses the mobile model for deployment, cost and application maintenance to provide all of the advantages of a web/mobile application while maintaining the robust powerful nature of a solid client side application. You can see the difference in this respect between Google earth where the client is downloaded to the workstation and Google map a browser based application.
Through a variety of methods, it is possible to geocode your data live in Excel or Google Sheets. This has many useful applications, including automated geocoding, geocoding with multiple geocoders (e.g. The Census Geocoder and Google’s Geocoder), as well as the ability to have numerous people working on one set of data to manually geocode more rapidly.
This presentation could discuss but isn't limited to the following topics: methods used to prepare the data for geocoding using Powershell ISE, how to make API calls from Excel, how to structure API calls, formulas used for prioritizing various geocoders in Excel, using Google Sheets to geocode as a team, as well as using Excel macros and batch files to expedite the process.As more Cities and Counties utilize GIS to store asset information and also use other applications to manage work orders, capture maintenance activities, plan for capital improvements, and custom reporting, many are looking to migrate and move toward an enterprise system.
This presentation will focus on the steps necessary to implement a synchronized GIS and asset management system. The topics will be generalized so they can be applied to similar types of projects. Some specific examples will be given from City of La Mesa integrating GIS with Cartegraph; and City of San Clemente integrating GIS with Lucity.As GIS applications permeate our social workspace, an increasing number of public issues affect, and are affected by, what we do. GIS professionals have specific expertise that can inform important public policy, and we are also impacted by public policies propounded by others. Let's review several examples with the intention of getting more involved in the issues we know and care about:
Presenter: Bruce Joffe, GISP, Principal, GIS Consultants, Piedmont, CA
Student Competition
Students of geospatial technology in California colleges were invited to submit abstracts and videos for their projects to compete for the opportunity to present at CalGIS 2016. This session features the finalists who will present their work and answer questions from the panel of judges and the audience. Judges will then deliberate and select the winners. Your attention and encouragement for these future GIS practitioners is welcomed
IGNITE
A big hit every year, IGNITE presentations (also known as lightning talks) are limited to five minutes (20 slides auto-advanced at 15 seconds each). The best presentations are both educational and entertaining!
Vision of ArcGIS: Leveraging Web GIS and Advancing Technology
Description: This session will focus on the vision of Web GIS and how that is transforming organizations and the use of GIS. In addition this talk will highlight the technology advancement in ArcGIS to drive efficiency and improve decision making.
Presenter: Matt Alexander, Vice President, Anatum Field Solutions, LLC, Beaverton, OR
We field-tested five Bluetooth-enabled GNSS submeter units to compare accuracy and precision for usage in a mobile GIS workflow. We also included a Trimble handheld GNSS unit for accuracy comparison to the Bluetooth GNSS receivers. Units were tested against known benchmarks. Points were digitized with a tablet paired to each test GNSS unit. Accuracy and precision was determined by using ArcGIS to compare collected point data to known benchmarks. Tests found that in ideal, clear-sky conditions, all GNSS units performed to their specifications. However, when tested in difficult conditions with varying amounts of tree canopy overhead, performance differences became apparent.Integrated Water Resources Management relies on effective and efficient cooperation and coordination among relevant stakeholders. However, water management in Los Angeles is very complex, decentralized, and uncoordinated. There are over 100 water suppliers in L.A. County that use, access or author disparate geospatial data sets. This context creates a barrier to a unified knowledge base on water related information. Improving the spatial and non-spatial data infrastructure upon which water management information is shared would make the current system more transparent and accountable, therefore creating opportunities for better decision-making around water use and other emergent environmental issues.
This presentation envisions an improved Spatial Data Infrastructure in the context of L.A. County water management and suggests some best practices to implement a unified, authoritative, and transparent geospatial knowledge base around water resources. Establishing standards such as numeric identifiers for all water supply entities, and other best practices are discussed.The GIS data in Merced 911 dispatch is being used to help people and the absence of block address points within the GIS address point file was hindering the dispatchers from being as efficient at their jobs as they could be. Also, since a point needed to be created for every block for every street within the city, it wouldn’t be as simple as adding the extra points manually. The first solution started with the existing road centerline file as the source data while using the Feature to Point tool in Arc Tool Box. This tool generated a point on the midpoint of each line segment in the road centerline file. These new points retained all the attributes of the road centerline file. A new field [BLOCK] was added to the new point file and was populated by using rounded values (to the nearest hundred) of an existing address range field ([RADD_FR]). Another field was added [ADDRESS] and it was populated using a concatenation of the new field values, string, and an existing street name field [STREET]. ([BLOCK] &""&"BLOCK OF"&""& [STREET]).
The DeleteIdentical tool was used to delete the records in the [ADDRESS] field that had identical values. These points could now be merged with the master address point file. At first glance, it seemed that the problem had been solved. However, upon further investigation, it was found that there were many blocks that didn’t have a corresponding address point. This was the case whenever the road centerline segment spanned multiple blocks from intersection to intersection. For instance, if a road centerline had a range of addresses from 200 to 800, an address point for the 200 block would be created but address points for the 300 block through the 800 block would not, since the Feature to Point tool creates just one point per line segment. Too much data was missing for these new address points to be useful for the 911 dispatchers.
The project needed to be redone, this time using a copy of the master address point file as the source data. New fields were added and populated using the same methods that were used previously, except an existing house number field was rounded instead. Records that had identical values were deleted. Upon inspection of the data, it could be seen that the new dataset was very comprehensive and there was an address point for virtually every block, with just a few exceptions. Finally, Python scripting was used to move each address point from its original location and snap it to the nearest road centerline segment with the same street name. The new points were added to the master address point file for the 911 dispatchers to use. Using ArcGIS helped to transform valuable GIS data into something even more beneficial and kept this project from being laborious and tedious. Those who distribute GIS data may need to generate points like this to make the data more useful to emergency responders.With NG9-1-1 data standards pending and GIS data collection ongoing, what will be the GIS data needs for a large County when it’s time to upgrade to an NG9-1-1 network?
We will use as key examples counties such as Los Angeles County, California and Santa Clara.
What impacts will data requirements have on the multitude of GIS authorities throughout the county, including the improvement of currency and precision?
How different will the needs for the County be when compared to other Counties large and small throughout the Golden State?
This session will be the virtual case study for examining the steps counties like Los Angeles County and Santa Clara will need to take to prepare their GIS data to support mission critical 911 call routing workflows inherent in NG9-1-1 ESInets. We will identify key stakeholders expected to contribute information to PSAPs in the county, examine the data true-up process, the near-real-time maintenance needs, and the extensive coordination (both internally and with neighboring counties) necessary for the mutual aid data footprint to become an operational reality.Suitable habitats for different species of rockfish were determined by using the benthic terrain modeler in ArcGIS. Each species of rockfish has habitat preferences. For many species, substrate type is a major component in their niche. Multibeam sonar imagery and sediment files from the USGS were analyzed to determine where different species of rockfish would be found. L3 Klein side scan sonar data obtained from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department was overlaid on the USGS files to define the study area.
The coastal marine ecological classification system (CMECS) crosswalk tool and United States Geological Survey (USGS) sediment classification tools were used to interpret sediment types and create a raster surface. Fish species were match to substrate preferences and illustrated in the map legend. Developed models will be ground-truthed on a fishing expedition with Ventura Sportfishing. Students at Clark Magnet High School designed and built descending devices to safely release fish suffering from barotrauma, due to rapid decompression during ascent to the surface, back to the ocean. Any rockfish caught during the ground truthing operation will be released using the student created descending devices.One of the primary goal of the RVETS pilot project is to map and publicize all American war memorial sites using data collected over many years and curated by disabled American Veteran and RVETS member Brian Rooney.
Interactive Web maps will enable broad dissemination of the memorial site locations, their descriptions and other details such as their physical condition. A team of volunteers armed with mobile data collectors will support Mr. Rooney in his mission by collecting updated information about existing sites and new sites. Information about all of these sites will be carefully curated and become available to the general public through interactive and engaging web maps with photos, descriptions, links, directions and other information.
With cutting-edge web and mobile GIS technology, the enthusiastic cooperation of valuable partners and contributors, and the technical support and resources provided by Burns & McDonnell, Mr. Rooney will be able to get closer to realizing his long-held dream and personal mission to increase the visibility of all memorial sites in memory of all those who have served and sacrificed for their country.With increasing habitat degradation, ocean acidification and coral reef mortality, understanding the role of competition in partitioning spatial resources is a topic of growing interest in the ecological community. This study explores spatial movement in damselfish populations following its release from a competitively dominant species. In this study, we observe the spatial effect of the removal of Plectroglyphidodon lacrymatus on 4 inferior species: Pomacentrus bankanensis , Pomacentrus adelus, Neoglyphidodon nigroris, and Chrysiptera unimaculata surveyed at various long and short term periods before and after the removal. A 22m x 20m study area in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea, this project is the finest scale removal study of its kind and requires an innovative use of Geographic Information Science.
Nearest neighbor analysis is used to quantify the degree of closeness of each species before and after the release from the dominant species. Contrasts of mean c enter and directional distribution is used to track the movement of each species throughout the reef study area over time in relation to the removal of the dominantly competitive species. From these methods, it is found that there is a change in the degree of closeness and mean location of each species immediately following the removal of the dominant competitor, followed by return to the original state prior to P. lacramatus removal in the long term. P. adelus, the most abundant species on the reef, however, does not return to its original state in the long term. This finding serves as a gateway for further spatial and ecological studies.Tsunami-evacuation planning is challenging for California communities due to the many potential tsunamigenic sources. One maximum-inundation zone based on a composite of all estimated tsunami sources is currently used for all tsunami evacuation planning in California. An unintended consequence of using one composite evacuation zone is the potential for over-estimate the need for evacuation during smaller tsunami events. In order to help avoid this problem, the California Geological Survey and the California Office of Emergency Management are developing the Evacuation Playbook of phases or zones that relate to specific modeled tsunami events to further assist emergency managers and planners. We investigate the community-level implications of this evacuation playbook approach for Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, the two main regions of the island community of Alameda, CA.
In the past, U.S. Geological Survey reports estimated a significant difference between numbers of Alameda residents in the maximum-inundation zone and those exposed if an event-based inundation zone is used. A population exposure analysis was conducted for the four Alameda evacuation phases in order to identify variations in the types of residents and businesses within each phase. A pedestrian-evacuation analysis using an anisotropic, path distance model was also conducted to estimate clearance times for each evacuation phase zone. Results suggest that for phases 1 and 2, Alameda Island could face challenges evacuating many boat docks and a large beach, while Bay Farm Island is unaffected for these phases but might be challenged with evacuating for phase 3 and the maximum phase due to long distances to safety. Initial results also illustrate potential challenges for communicating the need for evacuations due to expected short arrival times for tsunamis generated by local earthquake sources. A better understanding of the population exposure within each tsunami-evacuation phase and the time it would take to evacuate out of each phase by foot will help emergency managers decide which phase to evacuate during an actual tsunami event.The west coast of the United States contains a significant number of population centers at risk from tsunamis, yet many communities lack an understanding of their capacity to evacuate. Modeling to estimate clearance times provides insights into factors that help or hinder successful evacuations, such as limited egress options, high population density, and evacuee mobility. We use the island community of Balboa Island in the City of Newport Beach, California, to examine the interaction of these factors in a study of tsunami evacuation potential. Although various scenarios suggest the island would be completely inundated by tsunami waves, it is unknown whether residents would be able to evacuate before wave arrival and how various mitigation strategies (e.g., contraflow, vertical evacuation, and infrastructural improvements) could reduce clearance times.
A multi-modal evacuation model was developed that allows for exploratory analysis of potential tsunami evacuation scenarios. Components include comprehensive travel demand estimation and agent-based queuing simulation focused on congestion. Modeling provides an understanding of overall evacuation time, or clearance time, for a variety of evacuation scenarios for the study area. Incorporating evacuee response time, background traffic, shadow evacuation, and employee and tourist populations improves the models representation of reality over traditional evacuation models that often underestimate clearance time. Results indicate a wide range of clearance times based on potential opportunities and constraints to evacuation. Research results can be used to guide local decision makers to implement targeted mitigation strategies that reduce evacuation clearance time.Land owners implementing large scale projects have numerous mitigation measures and agency permit requirements that range from very broad to very specific. A significant amount of field compliance, monitoring and reporting is required and off-the-shelf products are useful, but not adequate by themselves to address the complexity of these projects. To address this need, Dudek built a custom Compliance Tracking tool.
The Compliance tool incorporates various technological elements, such as a SQL database, an ArcGIS HTML5/Javascript Web Application, and a customized dashboard using various programming languages such as Python, PHP, and HTML5. The system integrates these technologies into a web-based user interface that has the ability to query, map, assign work orders, and produce reports.As online and mobile mapping technology become more common, solutions for more efficient and integrated systems have become imperative. To satisfy this demand, the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) has begun to incorporate ArcGIS Online in its daily GIS applications. Since its introduction ArcGIS Online has provided and continually introduced new features resulting in a rich online mapping platform. This presentation will explore recent uses of the ArcGIS Online platform at SCCWRP in the context of water quality data analysis, visualization and storage.
The presentation will include a discussion of advantages and disadvantages of the platform in meeting our needs, including lessons learned through our experience.
Presenter: Abel Santana, Principal GIS Analyst, SCCWRP, Costa Mesa, CA
he presentation would focus on specific GIS integration projects with StreetSaver Pavement Management software. Presentation content will be pulled from work with the cities of Compton, Bell, and St. Helena.
Topics will cover the following:
Presenters:
Mark Dumford, GIS Manager, Interwest Consulting Group, Elk Grove, CA
Brad Findlay, GIS Analyst, Interwest Consulting Group, Elk Grove, CA
Many U.S. cities are expanding passenger rail transit to improve transportation system performance. This is particularly the case in Los Angeles and has presented specific challenges for Los Angeles Metro's rail maintenance, safety, and external emergency services personnel. Rail maintenance personnel require familiarity with the location of stations and a variety of rail equipment (crossing gates, power supply, signals, etc.) for routine maintenance and especially during emergency incidents. A common question asked by Metro field personnel is where is the equipment item located? Typically, answering this question would require prior field knowledge, engineering drawings, or computer systems, none of which may be available in an emergency. However, as part of a solution, a paper-based, pocket size Rail Equipment Locator Map (RELM) was developed for Metro’s Traction Power department. While these maps proved useful, the development process presented challenges involving quality assurance, mapping and data management.
The goal of this study was to establish a viable development, production and maintenance methodology that would improve quality, require less development time while fitting Metro’s current hardware/software environment. By combining Esri desktop geographic information system (GIS) tools including ArcGIS, ArcCatalog, ArcPy; MS Access local database management software, MS PowerPoint, and MS Visual Basic for Applications with partial automation it required less time to update the new RELM test product, while achieving format consistency, improved spatial accuracy, and reduced risk of errors. In the final analysis, the new methodology demonstrated a significant time based benefit-to-cost ratio improvement and should result in greater rail operations efficiency.
Presenter: Michael Quant, Software Engineer, Los Angeles Metro, Los Angeles, CA
HealthyCity.org is a sophisticated web mapping and data platform that transforms how decisions are made by providing community organizations and advocates with innovative tools and methods to expose and resolve structural inequities. Communities throughout California rely on HealthyCity.org to map community conditions, demonstrate community needs, and create strategies and materials for engagement with local representatives and officials. The website democratizes access to data and GIS technology by providing an intuitive interface for constituents to map social indicators and services and share the resulting analysis. Users can upload their own data about their communities to overlay with existing data, use our WikiMaps feature to catalogue community assets and threats, and collaborate with one another through personalized Group Pages.
Since its inception in 2003, HealthyCity.org has pioneered the use of data, community-based research methods, and web mapping to effectively make the case for change. The website is powered by established open-source GIS technologies including MapServer, PostGIS, and OpenLayers, and its technical foundations have evolved over the years as these projects have matured. We are currently in the process of another revamp of the site architecture to capitalize on the latest developments in open-source GIS. This upcoming revision, set for release in Fall 2016, is being built with GeoDjango and incorporates Python data capabilities with the latest improvements to our core stack. This poster highlights the key GIS functionalities of HealthyCity.org, provides examples of its real-world applications, and delves into the most significant technical upgrades coming in the next release.Maps and mapping tools are at their core, a means of communicating spatial information. As GIS professionals it is our job to interpret data and data needs in order to provide spatial solutions for clients and end users. Throughout this session we will revisit the fundamentals of good map products and explore new and effective ways to adapt and apply these fundamentals to current technologies.
The discussion will outline various concepts of communication as they apply to maps, geodatabase design and data visualization as well as highlight tools available to the GIS professional that aid in effective spatial communication.