CalGIS2016

• Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) is in the process of delivering more than $4.5 billion of Capital improvements at LAX Airport. The Airport Development Group is tasked with managing and coordinating over 200 construction projects per year. This coordination effort is managed by the Coordination and Logistics Management (CALM) Team. Given the scale and scope of the construction projects, the CALM team developed a SharePoint GIS tool to track all construction and improve project coordination and planning throughout the central terminal area. This presentation will focus on the latest developments with CALM SharePoint GIS 2.0 including creating a SharePoint map application integrated with EPPM scheduling software. This has enabled the project team to fully control the map application as well as schedule information. The CALM SharePoint GIS provides a benefit to LAX by coordinating project teams and preventing construction conflicts resulting in expensive time delays.
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• Presenter: Donald Chinery, GISP, GIS Project Manager, Los Angeles World Airports, Los Angeles, CA

Historical methods of selecting water mains for replacement were centered on anecdotal knowledge of field staff and were poorly supported by objective data. A common practice to select a replacement candidate was: The main on Maple St is leaky lets replace that one. These methods are outdated and insufficient to meet system performance needs, given budget constraints and labor resources, now and in the future.
A new approach utilizing GIS analysis and lifecycle cost calculations in Excel was piloted in 2014. Spatial analysis was performed to aggregate disparate pipe segments into analytical units, which were then analyzed for historical leaks and proximity to risk factors such as sensitive watersheds and freeways, and approximately 15 other factors. The result of this spatial analysis was a short list of replacement candidates.
The short list was then processed in Excel to apply a lifecycle cost model considering replacement cost and operations and maintenance costs to further narrow the list of replacement candidates. The results of the Excel analysis were applied to the GIS data and the final pipe replacement projects were selected.
Map books were created showcasing each proposed project and an ArcGIS Online web map was created to provide system-wide context to engineers.
The final outcome of the analysis being a strong list of data-driven pipe replacement candidates, supported by objective analysis, submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission for the Company’s 2015 General Rate Case.
The spatial analysis processes will be of particular interest to a GIS-centric audience. The entire workflow was coded in Python and several unique data challenges had to be overcome to achieve the desired, accurate results.

Presenter: Nathaniel Mirin, GISP, GIS Analyst, California Water Service, San Jose, CA

Large rail and highway projects use and generate substantial volumes of spatial information, often requiring complex and creative management solutions. This presentation will discuss some of the unique requirements of data management on large infrastructure projects, including processing complex CAD models to generate intelligent GIS datasets, making key project information available to project users, and automating common tasks using FME and PostGIS.

Presenter: Roland Martin, CGeog (GIS), FRGS, Senior Consultant, Arup, Los Angeles, CA

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.

Presenter: Melisa Caric Lee, GISP, President, Compass Rose GIS,Oceanside, CA

The national 3D Elevation Program, also known as 3DEP, has become a focal point around which states can bring together communities of practitioners whose programs depend upon mission-critical terrain datasets such as liDar. As the managing body for liDar across the nation, the 3DEP program of work includes development of strategies for stakeholder communities, data acquisition partnerships, experienced data acquisition contractors, technical expertise, standards and specifications, and, most importantly, high-quality elevation data. This presentation will describe the current status for CA in terms of data coverage, funding awards for the first 2 cycles, status of FY16 funding, as well as partnership strategies and progress for CA data development.

Presenter: Carol Ostergren, BS, MS Geology, Geographer, U.S. Geological Survey, Sacramento, CA

Update on the preparation for the 2020 Decennial Census and Census products.

Presenter: Tim McMonagle, Geographer, U.S. Census Bureau, Van Nuys, CA

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.

This presentation will take a detailed look at how VRS works and how it is able to provide high accuracy real-time corrections to GPS users in the field. The presentation will be non-denominational and will focus on the theory of GPS errors and VRS corrections. Other real time correction sources will also be discussed and a look at some real world results will be presented. The presentation will also include a discussion on how and why GPS calculations contain errors and the implications of GPS accuracy, or lack thereof on decision making and the use of GPS positional data in a GIS database.

Presenters:
Isaiah Mack, M.S GIS, Manager, Mapping and GIS Department, California Surveying & Drafting Supply, Sacramento, CA
Jon Gipson, GISP, PG, Mapping and GIS Team Member, California Surveying & Drafting Supply, Sacramento, CA

The Wildlands Conservancy (TWC) is a California nonprofit organization with a mission "to preserve the beauty and biodiversity of the earth and to provide programs so that children may know the wonder and joy of nature." In addition to owning and operating the largest nonprofit nature preserve system in California, the organization provides more free outdoor education programs to California youth than any other organization the state. 

Over the past year, TWC has expanded its traditional outdoor education programs at Oak Glen Preserve to include service learning field trips that engage middle and high school students in GIS field data collection using ArcGIS collector on smartphones and tablets. Students have gathered data on tree size, irrigation infrastructure, and biologic control of invasive plant species. Data is then used by managers to make real-time management decisions, and students are encouraged to take their new GIS skills back into their own classrooms and communities.

Moderator: Sophia Garcia

Presenter: Tory Elmore, GIS Coordinator, The Wildlands Conservancy, Oak Glen, CA

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The drone industry is booming, with future projects in the multi-billion dollar range. The wealth and investments have not been limited to manufacturing as applications and the ability to provide services with drones continues to take off. Consequently, remote sensing has become natural fit for service providers. Lacking, in many cases however, is a proper education in geography, photogrammetry, remote sensing, GIS, or other geomatics discipline. This presentation will explore the "uneducated-drone remote-sensing-phenomena" but also provide examples of how powerful this technology can be when in the hands of the experienced and educated geographic professional.

Moderator: Sophia Garcia

Presenter: Jeffrey Miller, MA, Geography, Vice President, GeoWing Mapping, Oakland, CA

Much has happened since the GIS Certification Institute (GISCI) added a written exam to the existing GISP Certification requirements last July. This presentation will provide updates from the GISCI.

Moderator: Sophia Garcia

Presenter: John Hickok, GISP, LS, Principle GIS Analyst, Los Angeles County, Department of Children and Family Services, Burbank, CA

This presentation examines how GIS can be used to help adult learners to develop a place-based learning skill set that ultimately translates into spatial thinking and analysis. We examine the important role that GIS can play in spatial thinking for adult learners at the university level. We focus on the topic on educational resiliency and how adult learners develop a more robust skill set through GIS. There are many working professionals who seek to complete their college degree through adult learning programs- which can include learning in both the online and blended format. This paper explores various examples of how GIS can be integrated into teaching adult learners about various topics especially the social sciences.  In these examples we draw from our various experiences working with adult learners in a non-profit, educational setting especially and focus specific on how learning GIS contributes to educational resiliency.

Moderator: Sophia Garcia

• Dr. Sheila Lakshmi Steinberg, Professor of Social and Environmental Sciences, Brandman University, Irvine, CA

With what certainly can dimensions taken from aerial imagery captured from fixed wing UAVs be used in analysis that involves precise measurements of dimension or distance? This investigation will use orthophotos produced in Photoscan and Pix4D from a January 2016 field expedition to Easter Island to answer this question. Archaeological features were selected in the field, their dimensions recorded along with their GPS location, in order to ground truth measurement taken from the orthophotos in GIS. When creating metadata for the orthophotos it is important to report the level of accuracy one can expect from measurements made from the data. The application of the findings will enrich data analysis of archaeological features for the island.

Discuss different methods of 3D Spatial Analysis including ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS for Desktop using the 3D Analyst extension, ArcScene. The different options available in each product will be discussed with an example of the output from each.
The presentation will focus on an example from a specific project for the City of Rancho Palos Verdes. The City is considering creating towers in two locations to allow for a point to point wireless connection between a park and City Hall.

Presenter: Mary Ellen Rosebrough, GISP, Senior GIS Analyst, Interwest Consulting Group
Elk Grove, CA

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

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.

Presenter: Jeff Stiles, GIS Anaylst, Michael Baker International, Irvine, CA