Does the thought of building a portfolio seem daunting?
Are you a learn-by-doing kind of person?
Do you work better when starting from a template?
Then this hands-on workshop for building your GISP portfolio is for you!
This workshop will briefly cover the GISP process and then dive into example-based work for documenting items in your GISP portfolio submission. We'll work through the major categories, review real-world examples, and set aside time to collaboratively work on attendee-provided examples.
Together, we'll demystify the portfolio building experience!
Launching new technology is not like a field of dreams. It takes work and a solid plan to get people to buy in to using the new technology. Michael Green, an Esri adoption strategy expert, will walk you through the change management steps necessary to help build a healthy sponsor network, a strong communications plan and an attainable training plan to get your people on board with the GIS changes going on in your agency.
Michael Green is a Prosci-certified adoption strategy consultant with Esri, where he champions transformative thinking about the need to address human impacts of technology-driven change. Michael is passionate about helping public and private-sector organizations apply change management... Read More →
This interactive workshop is designed to help utility professionals understand the business value of Esri’s Network Information Management System and the benefits of transitioning to the ArcGIS Utility Network. Attendees will gain insights into how modern network information management supports more efficient asset tracking, operational awareness, and cross-departmental collaboration.
The session will cover the different implementation options available for utilities of varying readiness and technical maturity, allowing organizations to take a phased and scalable approach to adoption. A key part of the workshop will be an introduction to Esri’s newly released migration toolset, which addresses common adoption challenges and simplifies the transition process.
Participants will leave with a clear understanding of how to get started with Utility Network, how to align it with business needs, and how to build a roadmap for long-term success
This half-day session is a starting point for any organization looking to implement a drone program. As Part 1 of a two-part workshop (offered separately), it equips you with the fundamental understanding of drone technology and the necessary regulatory landscape. Mastering these basics is crucial for building a compliant and effective drone operation.
Environmental Information Program Manager, Washington State Department of Transportation
Keisha Chinn is the Environmental Information Program Manager for the Washington State Department of Transportation. She graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences and a focus on Environmental Studies and GIS. Keisha has worked... Read More →
Are you a GIS Professional? GISP? WAGISA member? URISA member? If you answer yes, you are obligated to abide by the GIS Code of Ethics.
The Geospatial Technology Competency Model refers to the business and professional ethics. Professional ethics is a competency to be developed.
This workshop will help GIS professionals understand the GIS Code of Ethics and prepare them to apply it when circumstances warrant. When do circumstances warrant? Always, throughout a GIS career.
During the past few years several high-profile cases related to the GIS Code of Ethics have been publicized. Are you prepared to act if placed in a situation that might require you to violate the Code? Are you able to discuss the Code with employers, colleagues, and customers to frame the ethical limits of applying geographic
We will begin this workshop by discussing the characteristics of a profession and the good and harm that professions can cause. The development and use of codes of ethics through history will be reviewed, leading to their wide use within most professions today.
The GIS Code of Ethics will be reviewed and discussed in detail. We will use case studies to understand the practical application of the various obligations defined in the Code. These include:
I. Obligations to Society
II. Obligations to Employers and Funders
III. Obligations to Colleagues and the Profession
IV. Obligations to Individuals in Society
We will also discuss the Locus Charter – A key tool we can promote for the ethical use of geospatial technology. And we will explore a possible addition to the GIS Code of Ethics.
This workshop is intended to be very interactive. We will go into breakout sessions to discuss our understanding of our obligations and how we might react in potential real-world situations.
Founder and Consultant, GIS Management Consulting Services LLC
Greg Babinski is a GIS management consultant and founder of GIS Management Consulting Services LLC and the GIS Management Academy™ located in Edmonds, Washington. Between 1998 and the end of 2021 he served as GIS Manager, GIS Finance Manager, GIS Marketing & Business Development... Read More →
Micah Gelber is an Emergency Management GIS Specialist/ 911 GIS Administrator for Navy Region Northwest. Micah is currently a WAGISA board member where he serves as committee co-chair of the community engagement committee, co-coordinator of the Dick Thomas Award, and co-lead of WAGISA's... Read More →
Christina Chelf is a GIS professional with over 12 years experience. Currently she serves as the GIS Manager for City of Tacoma where she leads a team of 8 that is responsible for providing maps, spatial analysis, and data management for city staff. She is also the President of the... Read More →
State and local governments in the United States are increasingly requiring educational institutions and municipalities to adopt critical incident mapping (CIM) and emergency management planning to support first responders and computer-aided dispatch (CAD) during emergencies. This presentation emphasizes the significance of integrating Esri products for CIM, emergency management, and asset management, particularly focusing on indoor mapping and digital twins.
Key topics covered include data sharing, safety asset mapping, facility mapping, ArcGIS Indoors, routing, 3D GIS, best path analysis, and evacuation planning, all achieved through the latest reality capture methods and ArcGIS technologies.
Business Development/Sales Lead and Senior Consultant, Langan
Brock Saylor is currently a business development/sales lead and senior consultant at Langan, managing Langan’s Digital Solutions/GIS team in the western United States. Brock’s client focus is centered around resorts, K-12, higher education, energy, and local and state government... Read More →
John Young is a geospatial technology professional with over 25 years’ experience applying Esri GIS technologies and related asset and facility management technologies to solve business challenges in property, facility, and utility asset management. During his career (including... Read More →
Justin Fraser has six years of experience in Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping, indoor GIS, geoprocessing, spatial analysis, and data conversion. Justin works with the applied technology team to produce facility GIS and mapping deliverables that cover various market sectors... Read More →
This is second part of half-day knowledge workshop aims to integrate drone technology into your GIS projects. Gain practical knowledge about various drone hardware, data processing software, and efficient project workflows, from pre-flight planning to mission execution. We will also focus on best practices for mission planning to flight plans for data processing and explore various ways to integrate these data products into GIS workflows. Learn best practices for processing drone data to create accurate maps and 3D models and discover how to effectively integrate these tools into your GIS environment to support your work and enhance your agency's business.
Environmental Information Program Manager, Washington State Department of Transportation
Keisha Chinn is the Environmental Information Program Manager for the Washington State Department of Transportation. She graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences and a focus on Environmental Studies and GIS. Keisha has worked... Read More →
Join us for a half-day workshop where we delve into the world of ArcGIS real-time data integration and analysis. This workshop is designed to provide participants with a comprehensive understanding of how real-time GIS can support decision-making through live geographic data visualization scenarios.
During the session, you will explore the capabilities of ArcGIS Velocity and discover how it can assist in problem-solving by offering immediate insights for addressing spatial challenges effectively. Through hands-on activities and interactive discussions, you will learn how to leverage real-time data to make informed decisions swiftly and accurately.
Whether you are a GIS professional, a decision-maker, or simply interested in the power of real-time geographic data, this workshop will equip you with the knowledge and skills to harness the potential of real-time GIS for your projects and initiatives.
Ryan Richardson is a GIS professional with a passion for using technology to solve complex problems. He currently works as a Solution Engineer at Esri, supporting the State and Local Government team out of Esri's regional office in Olympia, WA. Additionally, he is a FAA Part 107 UAV... Read More →
A workshop for government GIS Leaders (active and aspiring), GIS Technical Leads, GIS Admins GIS Professionals and Leaders from the region present information to their peers, with opportunities for questions and discussion.
This workshop provides an opportunity to meet peers and learn from their experience and includes a networking event with young professionals.
Stephen Beimborn is the Manager of GIS Analysts for the City of Seattle. In his forty years working in the GIS field, he has done a little bit of everything, including cartography, analysis, programming, business systems integration, project and portfolio management, and people management... Read More →
Open to anyone with less than 5 years professional GIS experience regardless of age! $25 (Free for Young Professionals* Signed up for a Morning Workshop) – 1:30pm-5:00pm YPI Social Event: Young Professionals (Camp Colvos) 3:00pm-5:00pm
Monday June 16, 2025 3:00pm - 5:00pm PDT Camp Colvos2104 Commerce St, Tacoma, WA 98402
about <strong>Sarah Bell</strong> was trained in cartography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and began her professional cartography career at the National Park Service. She then went on to work at an independent cartography company, creating maps for clients like the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, and private companies. Following her time at the National Park Service, Sarah earned her M.S. in Geography, where she created mapping & viz products for community disaster recovery during her work as a data visualization designer for Western Washington University's Resilience Institute.<br>Today, Sarah works at Esri where she provides mapping and data-visual solutions for global customers. She has an appreciation for well-established cartographic standards and rules, but also eager to push and bend those rules.<br>When she is not mapping and designing, Sarah is rock climbing, running, and enjoying the outdoors with friends and family.<br><br>
One of the most challenging things about using Python in GIS is, it's hard to know if you're really getting better. Or rather, knowing how to get better is hard. In the same way that many of us spent a lot of time, ""wanting to learn Python"" but not knowing where to start. Or ""learning Python"" and not knowing how to apply the language at work.
This presentation is the presentation that I wished I would have had when starting my geospatial Python journey. It is a brief review of the developer practices that I've picked up along the way. We'll cover the following:
• Conda & Using ArcPy in an IDE • Formatters & Linters • Logging • Version Control • Functions & Type Hinting • Secrets Management
Web Editor’s goal is to make GIS data editing easy for you and your team members. For ArcGIS Pro users, Web Editor can supplement editing workflows. With it, GIS professionals can empower others to do their own data editing work themselves, instead of doing the editing work for them. Web Editor enforces data rules when data is captured, so less QA work is needed.
Chris Marsh is a Senior Solution Engineer on the State and Local Government Team at Esri, supporting Alaska and Oregon. With over 25 years of experience in Geographic Information Systems, Chris brings extensive expertise in enterprise implementations, system integrations, and web... Read More →
Are you ready for the new datum? A new National Spatial Reference System (datum will be launched in 2026. Implemented by the National Geodetic Survey, NATRF2022 will supersede NAD83-2011. Per WA RCW, this will become the datum of record when the change happens. With this change will come new state plane projections (north zone, south zone, and a new statewide projection), as well as low distortion projection (in development). In addition, the US Survey foot has bene deprecated, and all new projections will reflect the change to the international foot. This session provides the background, the potential impacts for WA, and examples of how engineering/surveying and GIS firms and organizations are preparing for the changes.
Over the past year, the King County GIS Center embarked on a sizeable effort to overhaul publishing, distribution, and data access for the county’s internal enterprise GIS data library. Instead of directly connecting to an on-prem enterprise geodatabase, users will now access hosted feature services through ArcGIS Online, allowing for faster access and better scalability. To facilitate the migration, the King County GIS Center developed a suite of tools including a robust ETL process, renewed Spatial Data Catalog, metadata cleanup effort, new ArcGIS Pro Add-In, and educational content on a Hub site. Join us as we dive into data discoverability, distribution, and tools to make it easier for our users to find the data they need.
Topics include:
• Overview – Transitioning users from a custom data access plug-in in ArcMap to using web services in ArcGIS Pro.
• ETL and more – Get a peek into our ETL process, and the added functionality around categorizing, tagging, and sharing of data.
• Metadata cleanup – How the Enterprise Data Modernization project daylighted metadata problems and how we addressed them.
• Spatial Data Catalog – A new application to search for King County data, allows for more robust searchability than built-in ArcGIS Online tools. Designed to be as accessible as possible.
• Add-In and educational content – Instead of creating custom tools for data access within -ArcGIS Pro, we provide education to our users on how to access the data they are familiar with.
Esri’s support for Python offers a number of opportunities for automating everyday tasks and generating reports. From reporting to pushing data around, generating ID values in ArcGIS Online or making calls to web APIs, this presentation is intended to introduce you to some of the tools and approaches to automating common (and not so common) tasks. Using lots of examples, the presenter will walk you through resources, how you can get started, things to watch out for, and how to run your automation tools effectively.
Explore ArcGIS real-time data integration and analysis, learn how real-time GIS supports quick decision-making through live geographic data visualization. Discover how real-time GIS can assist in problem-solving by offering immediate insights for addressing spatial challenges effectively.
Ryan Richardson is a GIS professional with a passion for using technology to solve complex problems. He currently works as a Solution Engineer at Esri, supporting the State and Local Government team out of Esri's regional office in Olympia, WA. Additionally, he is a FAA Part 107 UAV... Read More →
In 2025 and 2026 the US will implement a new spatial datum — NATRF2022. The adoption of the new reference scheme will be pervasive and impact every area of GIS and spatial data handling in the US. Not only does the basic measurement premise change but the conceptual datum model is different as well. The change, however, will not be instantaneous and legacy data will need to be used alongside that generated in the new datum for years to come.
This presentation will provide insight into the origins and purpose of the new datum, how it may affect your work, what you should be aware of as the plan proceeds, key pitfalls to look for with new data products, and how you can better prepare yourself for the coming changes. The talk will address the key datum design issues, State Plane Coordinates, low-distortion projection concerns, as well as legal and regulatory issues.
This is an opportunity to learn about the coming changes and hear about the potential issues from someone who experienced the last datum change from NAD27 to NAD83 (and lived to tell about it).
Michael Kulish, PLS Michael Kulish has been practicing and teaching in the geospatial arena since the 1980s. A licensed Professional Land Surveyor for more than 40 years, a GISP, and a geospatial instructor at Olympic College for more than 30 years, he has worked in public and private... Read More →
Why is data so important for modern government and why is there a need for better data sharing? This presentation will focus on the state’s goals and newly released Enterprise Data Strategy to create a unified data ecosystem to help state agencies make better decisions. Joanne will walk through examples of how we can combine spatial and non-spatial data to improve efficiency and services. Partnerships, pathways and people help make that magic happen and Joanne will focus on what we as a GIS community can do to help accomplish these goals.
In this presentation, I'll share how I developed an automated workflow using ArcGIS Pro ModelBuilder and Python scripting to tackle the challenge of integrating and spatially aligning sewer tap data for the City of Kent. I aimed to create a robust solution that seamlessly merges tabular data from external sources with our existing spatial datasets, ensuring accuracy and consistency across our databases. My process started by importing and processing the tabular sewer tap information, which includes details such as asset IDs, measurement values, and timestamps. I then joined this data with the spatial sewer main features, enabling me to calculate precise tap locations along the sewer lines. I incorporated data filtering and statistical analysis to determine maximum distances, and I established a linear referencing system to accurately position tap points. I utilized custom Python scripts and Arcade expressions to derive attributes such as the directionality of the tap point from the line (DownLRC – left, right, or center) and identifying the most recent tap record (IsLatest). I focused on achieving accurate spatial alignment by generating route event layers, accounting for both on-line and offset tap locations. Finally, this process is scheduled to run on a weekly basis using VisualCron, where the newly processed tap data is appended to the existing sewer tap point feature class, effectively updating our geodatabase. This automated solution has significantly reduced manual data entry and processing time, minimized errors, and enhanced the spatial accuracy of Kent’s sewer infrastructure data. By integrating external data sources and implementing rigorous spatial analysis, I've created a reliable and efficient method for displaying up-to-date and accurate sewer tap information, thus assisting our field crews with regular pipeline inspections and maintenance.
My name is Andy Sauls. Originally from Houston, TX, I relocated to the South Puget Sound area in November 2023. I hold a Masters in Urban Planning with a specialization in GIS and group facilitation. My expertise encompasses developing GIS processes, procedures, and spatial models... Read More →
Prior to GIS technology Washington Department of Health (WADOH) operated with limited ability to access, search, or share authoritative geospatial data. This made collective and collaborative workflows difficult, as processes are siloed, primarily paper-based, and manual. Moving to a web-based, Enterprise GIS platform supported WADOH’s Data Modernization Initiative and empowered agency staff to create and share content more effectively.
Using configurable solutions available in our Enterprise GIS platform (such as Esri’s Experience Builder, Dashboards, and Survey123) and other existing technical solutions (such as Power Automate Flow) we can streamline common workflows and create systems that are connected, adaptable, and sustainable. During this session, Tonya will share WADOH’s modernization story and examples of how GIS is helping transform public health workflows.
Tonya Kauhi is a techno-optimist who uses GIS as her superpower to engage and educate the community and provides geospatial insights to help Washington State Department of Health staff make informed business decisions. She has over 25 years’ experience planning, coordinating, developing... Read More →
For over 10 years, the WA DNR Nearshore Habitat Program (NHP) has been researching methods to transplant and restore populations of eelgrass, Zostera marina, in South Puget Sound. At a series of small research meadows, eelgrass has been transplanted using different combinations of methods and donor sources and each summer NHP staff conduct surveys of the test plots to assess their performance. In 2019, uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS or “drones”) were added to the suite of tools deployed at the sites, which has enabled estimates of total eelgrass shoots to be calculated by combining in situ density observations and area delineations based on the aerial imagery. Then in 2024, DNR announced plans to break ground on a project to remove the fish passage barrier near Joemma Beach State Park – the site of the largest of our eelgrass research meadows – and restore Whiteman Cove to a free-flowing tidal estuary. In anticipation of the project, NHP decided to expand our efforts to include RTK-enabled (real-time kinematic) drone surveys over the entire tidal flat, which enable the production of high-resolution digital elevation models using structure-from-motion photogrammetry software. These models allow DNR to track channel formation and sediment deposition in the restored system, and to observe in real time if there are any impacts from the project on the eelgrass research meadow nearby. This talk will present lessons learned over five years of monitoring transplanted eelgrass populations with high resolution drone imagery, the initial results of comparing the RTK drone-based elevation models of the restored estuary, and finally how these products are being shared with the public using web products such as ArcGIS Experience Builder.
Nearshore Ecologist, WA State Department of Natural Resources
Tyler Cowdrey is a Nearshore Ecologist with the WA State Department of Natural Resources, Nearshore Habitat Program. His work focuses on monitoring nearshore marine vegetation and their associated habitats with remote-sensing tools, including uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS).
With the transition from the National Hydrography Dataset to the elevation-derived 3D Hydrography Program (3DHP), data producers and data users are thinking about how to leverage these data to maximize the value to specific programs and use cases. This presentation will discuss additional derivatives and attributes such as fine-scale catchment delineation, topographically derived bank-full, catchment area, stream order, etc. as well as adjacent datasets such as stormwater networks, wetlands, and landcover that can be further integrated to potentially increase the utility of the base 3DHP data for Washington's user base.
Mischa lives in Corvallis, OR and serves as Analytics Practice Lead for NV5 Geospatial with over 20 years of direct experience developing applied remote sensing and GIS solutions. Mischa holds a BS in Natural Resources from University of Massachusetts and an MS in Wildlife and Fisheries... Read More →
This presentation is intended for anyone interested in using or learning more about Field Maps for ArcGIS for field data collection. The topics to be covered include: • Database design including the creation of join tables and domains. • Important considerations in web map creation. • How the underlying database and web map design influence how Field Maps interacts with the data. • How to write and implement Arcade expressions. • How to create layer filters. • Offline use. • Exporting photo attachments stored in the database to a file folder.
Michelle has spent thousands of hours working in the field under all sorts of conditions ranging from perfect conditions to extreme heat, freezing rain, biting insects, and everything in between. This background, has proved indispensable in configuring over a half-dozen data collection... Read More →
Through a grant from the CDC Foundation, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department has had the opportunity to begin work on developing an Informatics Strategic Plan. This presentation will cover the topic of informatics, data governance and the work involved in developing an informatics strategy and how GIS plays a role in the process.
GIS Administrator, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department
Maria is a geospatial professional who specializes in providing GIS solutions for Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department where she started in 2020 on their COVID response team. Her work focuses on project and data management, demographic analysis, and business processes. She has... Read More →
Kelp forests are critical nearshore habitats, and understanding their spatiotemporal distribution across Washington State is essential for effective stewardship and management. Current floating kelp maps in Washington consist of a patchwork of multiple datasets in various formats, including remotely sensed classified imagery from fixed-wing aerial and drone surveys, as well as lines and polygons from kayak- and boat-based surveys. This diversity makes comparison and spatiotemporal change analysis challenging at the statewide level. To address this, the Nearshore Habitat Program at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources developed a linear extent model for floating kelp distribution. This model summarizes annual kelp presence along 1-km coastal line segments using the best available and most up-to-date survey data. The linear extent model builds on legacy data structures to ensure compatibility with other marine vegetation geospatial datasets. It employs multiple ETL pipelines to synthesize a variety of data streams into a single, synoptic map of kelp forests in Washington State. This new dataset is already being utilized by marine vegetation researchers and managers. This presentation will cover the technical aspects of developing this statewide spatial dataset, including the use of Python scripting for data processing and automation, methods for harmonizing spatial data from disparate sources, and strategies for sharing geospatial datasets with users of varying technical expertise.
Providing safe, sustainable water, wastewater and stormwater solutions is a critical priority for community leaders, utility managers and a reasonable expectation of citizens. Many utilities rely solely on age based deterioration to forecast asset condition and replacement strategies. This session will discuss best business practices for incorporating risk and physical condition into your asset maintenance strategy. Risk is defined as Probability of Failure and Criticality of Failure. Maintenance workers can score their assets based on these risk factors to better understand potential impact to services provided. Furthermore, adding condition assessment based on physical deterioration of assets helps prioritize where the maintenance dollars should be spent.
Raymond joined the Trimble team working as the Regional Account Manager for the Pacific Northwest and California region. He’s been in the compliance and safety industry for the past 10 years and brings a new set of experience to the Trimble team.
Grab some coffee and take a break while you make your way back to our sponsor booths to find out what emerging tools, techniques, and technology are making their way to the GIS industry.
ArcGIS Enterprise (and to a lesser extent ArcGIS Online) requires a healthy amount of user and content (data) management to keep the ecosystem healthy. And in a medium to large size organization, managing your Web GIS Users and their content can quickly become a full-time job. At the City of Tacoma, we’re using a combination of Dashboards, Experience Builder and FME to create a user and item management tool that allows us to track who owns what, how much of it they own, and even if they’ve done the requisite training for their user level. In this presentation I will demonstrate how we’ve incorporated the existing system status reports and a few other data sources to make a much more useful user and content management tool. I will also demonstrate how I’m hoping to automate more of the process in the future.
Come learn about the King County Watershed Mapping Toolbox and new countywide wetlands data. In 2023-2024, King County procured a new wetlands dataset derived from high resolution aerial imagery, LiDAR, land cover data, and local hydrology data. This new dataset is far higher resolution than the previous GIS data on wetlands in King County and will support enterprise-wide functions from Water and Land Resources to Permitting. As part of getting this data to those who can benefit from its use, King County Water and Land Resources, in partnership with the King County GIS Center, has built the Watershed Mapping Toolbox. The Toolbox, which is public facing, is built using Experience Builder. It leverages the full potential of ESRI’s low/no-code development platform, with significant use of Arcade scripting in the basemap to produce content rich and well-formatted pop-ups.
The Toolbox allows users to view wetlands, streams, likely wetland functions, beaver locations, ecological stressors, and high priority areas for conservation and restoration. It brings into the platform data from outside King County, such as WDNR Ecological Integrity Assessments, iNaturalist beaver sightings, USGS soil information, USFS riparian corridors, and more. Users can view wetland data from 1990, 1996, 2024, search for their project sites or property, and compare wetlands boundaries to aerial imagery dating back to the 1990s. A new and unique feature overlays historic General Land Office maps onto contemporary basemaps and imagery to compare historical conditions to contemporary land use. The Toolbox allows for importing GIS data, exporting PDFs, and using filtering and other tools to produce analytics. Overall, the Watershed Mapping Toolbox aims to be a platform for showcasing the variety of riparian GIS data available in King County, with the goal of breaking down access barriers to riparian data across the enterprise.
Don’t have AVL on your snowplows but wish you could provide near-real-time updates to internal staff and your residents? One method for accomplishing this will be discussed. The solution utilizes ArcGIS Enterprise, QuickCapture, a SQL Server-based enterprise geodatabase and Dashboards.
Brian Oevermann, GISP is a Senior Application Analyst-GIS with the City of Issaquah. He has been in the GIS profession for 33 years, working for the U.S. Forest Service at the Federal level, County government in Montana, and now for Issaquah. Brian is the City of Issaquah’s first... Read More →
The integration of Digital Twin technology with 3D GIS capabilities using the Esri ArcGIS platform represents a significant advancement in spatial data management and visualization. This presentation will explore how Esri's comprehensive suite of tools, including ArcGIS Reality Studio, ArcGIS Urban, ArcGIS Earth, and ArcGIS 3D Analyst Extension, enables the creation and management of realistic 3D digital representations of real-world environments. These digital twins provide a clear and immersive picture of complex systems, facilitating better decision-making and predictive planning across various industries.
Attendees will learn about the foundational 3D data management patterns exhibited in ArcGIS Pro, Online, Enterprise, and configurable apps, which support multi-dimensional analysis and accurate modeling. The presentation will highlight case studies and practical applications, demonstrating how ArcGIS's 3D GIS efforts enhance visualization, collaboration, and stakeholder engagement. By leveraging Esri's digital twin strategy, organizations can model real-world facilities, assets, networks, and systems, integrating different digital twin models for a holistic view.
Join TJ Abbenhaus and Ryan Richardson as they delve into the capabilities of the Esri ArcGIS platform, showcasing its role in driving smarter decision-making and innovative solutions in the realm of Digital Twin and 3D GIS.
TJ Abbenhaus is a Senior Solution Engineer at Esri Inc. With extensive experience in GIS and digital twin technologies, TJ has been instrumental in developing innovative solutions that enhance spatial analysis and visualization. TJ is passionate about leveraging technology to solve... Read More →
Ryan Richardson is a GIS professional with a passion for using technology to solve complex problems. He currently works as a Solution Engineer at Esri, supporting the State and Local Government team out of Esri's regional office in Olympia, WA. Additionally, he is a FAA Part 107 UAV... Read More →
We present a newly-created environmental dataset for storing fire history information gathered from trees in the Spokane, Washington area. The data come from fire scars preserved on trees after they have been injured in fires of the past – collecting both the quantity and timing of these scars can give a wealth of information on past fire activity, in addition to the spatial patterns gathered from the tree locations. This dataset is designed to be an ongoing collection of fire history data, with contributions from students and community members. Not only is the dataset one of exceptionally high resolution, but it is also the only effort to create a complete inventory of all the fire-scarred trees in Riverside State Park, which is the largest state park in Washington State. These data will be used in teaching activities through GIS labs on things like interpolations and hot spot analyses, but also to record the geospatial nature of past fire activity for an area at a scale not yet pursued before. We propose a presentation where we introduce the idea of fire history and fire-scar data, explore the dataset as it exists now and discuss the student work involved in creating in, and showcase some potential future uses of the dataset as it grows in feature and attribute depth. Currently the dataset is housed on the Eastern Washington University AGOL content page, but the goal is to make it public and shareable via an interactive ESRI StoryMap.
The King County IT GIS Center supports thousands of GIS users across 17 different county departments. To help track Esri user licenses, understand user activity, and support the transition from ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro, the GIS Center built the GIS License Manager application. This custom application was built using some code and does neat stuff, ties into users’ Microsoft Entra ID accounts, and reports usage for individual users down to the minute.
In addition to granular reporting, the data from this application has been aggregated into a hosted table in ArcGIS Online and used to display platform usage over time in two ArcGIS Online dashboards. These insights help the GIS Center leadership, GIS managers, and users understand what platforms are in use, and what teams might need additional help transitioning from ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro.
Join us as we discuss the technical details behind building the GIS License Manager application and obtaining usage minutes from ArcMap, ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Pro, and ArcGIS Enterprise. We’ll also go into detail about the creation of the aggregated data dashboards using ArcGIS Online Dashboards, Arcade data expressions, and Experience Builder for display on our King County State of GIS Hub Site. https://state-of-gis.kingcounty.gov/pages/gislm
Tom is a Principal IT Engineer at King County's GIS Center. His work includes developing custom web application to support GIS data, metadata, and property reporting. Previously he worked at Kitsap County, Apple, and the City of Seattle. He graduated with a Bachelor’s in Geography... Read More →
Washington State Hydrography Dataset (WASHD) program in the Department of Ecology is leading a project to remap the hydrography of Washington State to support the new 3D Hydrography Program led by USGS. This dataset will replace the old National Hydrography Dataset with a more accurate and modern alternative for hydrography analysis and cartography. This presentation will provide an update on the status of this remapping and regions that WASHD hopes to map in the next year. We will also review how we plan to manage changes in the hydrography data structure to meet the needs of Washington state hydrography Stakeholders. While mapping hydrography appeared to be a simple straightforward process, the project quickly became complicated. We will demonstrate our Project Management framework, tools and practices that have helped WASHD define objectives and goals, documenting important decisions and issues, and managed schedules. By leveraging project management, we enhanced communication both within our team and with our numerous stakeholders, leadership, and GIS subject matter experts. We will leave time to answer questions both about the hydrography mapping and project management.
Sherryl Schown, PMP is a Senior Project Manager at Environmental Science Associates (ESA), where she leads high-quality projects that intersect technology, environmental science, and governance. Sherryl’s philosophy on project management is rooted in open communication and the humility... Read More →
As the term Digital Twin continues to grow in popularity, how do organizations understand what it means? In this presentation I will discuss that topic in more detail to help the group get a better understanding of the Digital Twin concept and how it can be leveraged to assist with organization’s modernization efforts.
From there, I will discuss the digital twin workflow from scan to BIM to GIS and then into an ALMS. Throughout we will present different data acquisition options, the conversion efforts, and wrap it up with some current use cases that are underway.
I am currently serving a one-year internship for the Cultural Resources Division of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. With no permanent GIS staff member in the division, my goal has been to establish data management and best practices for GIS data.
The Cultural Affairs Division monitors agency projects for possible impacts to archeologically significant areas and artifacts. When a project is first proposed, division archeologists determine the likelihood of disturbance to cultural sites and whether surveys have been performed, or a site survey is needed. Much of the data is Category 3 and needs to be handled securely. We work closely with tribal governments and Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. My job is to manage geographic data for these projects.
After coming on board, my first task was to find out where and how the geographic data was being stored. I found that the data was spread out over several folders on servers (in various formats), and as zipped shapefiles attached to project tickets. There was no central, searchable location for the data.
To begin the process of organizing the data, I turned to ArcGIS Online for its versatility. I was able quickly add geodata to create a master map of Cultural Affairs projects accessible to team members.
Now I am taking data management for the division to the next level by creating a geodatabase, with customized fields and domains, to house our data. The database will reside on our SQL server and will be highly searchable.
This position has provided me with a great opportunity to build a GIS operation from the ground up. At times it has challenging, but I have enjoyed the process. My goal is to create a GIS that works for everyone in the division who needs it to do their job
GIS Intern, Cultural Ressources Division, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
GIS Analyst Certification: UC Davis Current Position: GIS Intern, Cultural Affairs Division of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Job Description: Responsible to manage, organize and maintain geographic data for Cultural Affairs division of WDFW, perform geospatial analysis... Read More →
The Forest Practices Division of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources issue permits for forest practices on private and state forest land. Our office staff, who process permits on a tight deadline and report out stats, needed a way to quickly and easily query our Oracle database data when they had no direct access and no SQL experience. They also had no ArcGIS Online access or experience. We pursued using Power BI to create a user-friendly dashboard with user-controlled filters, but hit a brick wall when it was discovered that our agency had no budget for a data gateway. In other words, we had no way to connect our behind-the-firewall Oracle data to the cloud where Power BI could ingest it. What we did have was an SDE/ArcGIS Enterprise, allowing us to access our Oracle data in ArcGIS Portal. So, after learning a little about m-code and a lot about pagination, we were able to connect our Portal feature services to Power BI via REST API, allowing us to create custom dashboards and reports that we could then embed in Microsoft Teams for easy viewing and access for all staff members at no additional cost to our divison.
GIS Programmer and Analyst, Washington State Department of Natural Resources
Janene Michaelis is a GIS Programmer and Analyst at the Forest Practices Division of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. She writes python scripts for business operations, supports mobile GIS workflows and does ad-hoc analysis for data-driven administrative decisions... Read More →
join us for an evening of networking and appreciation as we celebrate the incredible sponsors who make this conference possible! Mingle with fellow attendees, connect with sponsors, and enjoy complimentary refreshments and entertainment. Whether you're looking to unwind after a packed day or forge meaningful connections, this is the place to be.
After-Hours Social – Keep the Conversations Going! The sessions might be done, but the fun is just getting started. Join us for an evening of relaxed networking, music, and good vibes at the official After-Hours Social! Whether you’re unwinding or making new connections, this is the place to be once the lanyards come off. Bring your badge, bring a friend, and bring your best stories from the day. All conference attendees welcome – no RSVP needed. Let’s make some memories outside the meeting rooms. See you there!
Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is a process improvement tool used to improve efficiency, reduce waste, and enhance quality in processes. This presentation dives into a specific Lean Six Sigma project we facilitated as a part of a Green Belt certification course. We sought to improve an existing GIS process that was identified by our internal staff as inconsistent and ambiguous. Using the LSS methodology, we identified process gaps, analyzed root causes, and collaborated with staff to identify and prioritize improvements. This presentation will serve as a use case for LSS methodology in the realm of GIS and challenge you to seek out GIS processes which you could help improve.
Elisabeth Leaf is a Senior GIS Analyst for Tacoma Water. She works with the Business Services Department to keep Tacoma Water’s internal and external map applications and data up and running and accurate. Elisabeth has a diverse career spanning GIS, asset management, urban planning... Read More →
Nick Bateman is a Senior Business Analyst for Tacoma Water, who focuses on building reliable and future-proof client-side systems in Tacoma. He has a passion for improving business processes. Nick approaches projects with curiosity for the current state, and systems thinking for how... Read More →
The City of Tacoma is working to improve elk habitats by controlling noxious weeds in the Green River Watershed. This effort is part of the Water Storage Project Mitigation and ensures compliance with state regulations.
To make tracking herbicide applications easier and more accurate, we’ve set up an automated GIS workflow that cuts down on manual data entry while keeping records accurate. Using ArcGIS Pro and Field Maps, data is collected and analyzed through web tools and dashboards, then automatically converted into PDF reports with Map Series functionality. Also, as data is collected, configured Attribute Rules enforce data integrity and create less data entry. This process ensures that documentation is both efficient and compliant.
By utilizing an automated process in GIS, these records not only help with compliance but also improve habitat management. In addition, real-time GIS data helps to make better decisions to control invasive species while reducing environmental impact.
Anssel Lopez is a Senior IT Analyst (GIS) at the City of Tacoma. He has worked in GIS for over a decade, supporting environmental research, private sector projects, and government operations. His experience includes GIS analysis for fire codes, managing ArcGIS Server for an Air Force... Read More →
Lee Allen, GISP is the Geospatial Technology Manager at Tacoma Water. He has been involved with GIS for over 20 years and currently manages one of the finest GIS crews in all of Washington.
Covington Water District is committed to providing clean, safe and reliable drinking water to the communities in Southeast King County. As part of its ongoing efforts to enhance operational efficiency and service delivery, the District has embarked on a transformative journey by implementing the ESRI Utility Network. This advanced technology enables the District to manage its infrastructure with unique precision and insight.
The technology offers a unified model for visualizing and analyzing utility networks, allowing for detailed insights into the water distribution system. By integrating this technology, Covington Water District can improve network safety and reliability through built-in data governance, ensuring accurate asset locations and attributes. The implementation also facilitates real-time collaborative workflows, enhancing communication and efficiency across various business units.
This presentation will delve into the strategic implementation of the Utility Network at Covington Water District, highlighting the challenges faced, as well as the benefits of advanced GIS technology solutions. Attendees will gain insights into how these technologies are revolutionizing water utility operations, driving operational efficiency, and enhancing service delivery.
Shawn is a GIS Analyst with over 15 years of experience in local government. He holds a Master's degree in Geospatial Technologies from the University of Washington. Throughout his career, Shawn has demonstrated a profound passion for data and technology, leveraging GIS technology... Read More →
Disasters don’t wait—so why should we? While many organizations rely on GIS for post-disaster response, the real power of geospatial technology lies in proactive preparedness. By leveraging ArcGIS and Esri Disaster solutions before disasters, agencies can predict risks, optimize response strategies, plan evacuations, and mitigate damage, ultimately saving lives and resources all this while having Business continuity. This session will explore the transformative role of ArcGIS in disaster resilience, showcasing possible scenarios where predictive analytics, real-time data, and spatial modeling can empower agencies to stay ahead of emergencies. We’ll discuss best practices in risk mapping, scenario planning, and evacuation mapping. From government agencies to utilities and emergency management teams, organizations that shift from reactive to proactive ArcGIS strategies gain a critical edge. Join us to learn how to future-proof your operations and build a smarter, more resilient response framework—before disaster strikes.
When King County’s GIS team took on its first major modernization project (‘Rae Rae”), we were “eager but green”—rushed tech choices and Agile growing pains left us scrambling. It was messy but “transformative”. By the time we tackled the ‘Districts and Development Conditions Report’, we’d turned those hard lessons into “strengths”: “no more ‘sink or swim’ solo work”, collaborative problem-solving sessions, and a culture where “knowledge lived with the team, not just individuals”—culminating in a repeatable playbook for “resilience”.
That resilience was tested when a post-launch bug required reimplementing a nuanced spatial calculation. With “back-to-back vacations looming”, the fix passed through “three developers”—each handing off “seamlessly”—and deployed “flawlessly”. No delays, no drama.
In this talk, I’ll share how we turned failure into momentum by: • “Prioritizing team habits over ‘perfect’ tools** (and why it saved us) • “Running lean, open workshops” to break down knowledge silos • “Embracing ‘paired work’ as insurance” (not waste) • “Designing for handoffs” so vacations ‘help’—not hurt—progress
For teams juggling legacy systems and Agile skepticism, this proves that “how you work together outlasts any tool”—and why ""‘inefficient’ collaboration is the smartest investment you’ll make”.
Adam Cabrera leads the Geo Engineering team at King County’s GIS Center, where he helps teams modernize legacy systems without losing their sanity. With 30 years of GIS experience, he’s learned that the best tools fail without the right team habits—a lesson he’ll unpack in... Read More →
Discover how Yakima County made the move from a custom platform for parcel maintenance to a modern, efficient and well-supported environment. Learn about the process of migrating to the new parcel management platform, the impact the County has seen as a result, and what’s next for parcel management at Yakima County.
Lisa is an industry leader in land records management, with 25 years’ experience helping local governments to efficiently create and manage their parcel data. Every day she works with counties to develop, manage, and migrate data, and regularly trains county staff to become self-sufficient... Read More →
Using the collection of Utility Network Foundations is a productive and quick way to get your agency up and running with ESRI’s next generation of utility asset tracking and modeling. There is a healthy collection of ESRI documentation on the use of the Foundations, but sometimes, expert written documentation can assume prior knowledge that the audience may not possess. This can slow down adoption and create uncertainty in both the agency’s technical team but also their customers.
In this session, we will do a cursory examination of the data migration tools provided by the Foundation toolboxes. We will examine the available migration scripts: how to use a data mapping workbook, extending the basic schema, and execute a data load. We will look at the resources available to help you on your journey and share advice. At the end of the session, you will hopefully feel more confident in the preparation of your Asset Package for deployment in a single-user or enterprise environment.
Roma Hicks is a civil servant with over ten years of municipal experience and over fifteen years of GIS experience. He has wide-ranging experience in GIS operations supporting community development and public works operations, writing policy, budget management, and IT project management... Read More →
Street-level 360˚ imagery and LiDAR is revolutionizing how infrastructure is managed, from utility and telecommunication networks to public works assets, roads and real estate. It is also critical to the next major computing platform. This session will discuss how several important use cases are addressed using street-level data to maximize savings, minimize time, and mitigate risk, with an emphasis on it augmenting rather than replacing other valuable data sources such as aerial and satellite imagery.
Ruth Zipfel is currently an Account Executive for the Western U.S. at NCTech. She joined the company in April 2025 after spending nine years with EagleView, where she worked on the Western sales team, supporting government clients in various capacities. Before her time at EagleView... Read More →
Grab some coffee and take a break while you make your way back to our sponsor booths to find out what emerging tools, techniques, and technology are making their way to the GIS industry.
This presentation explores the challenges encountered in integrating Esri's Utility Network Data Model (UNDM) with CGI’s PragmaLINE Outage Management System (OMS), a critical component for efficient utility operations. The integration process has relied on manual data model adjustments and JCMB's DataPort for Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) operations to facilitate data flow between systems. These tools have been essential in overcoming integration challenges, ensuring data consistency and compatibility between Esri’s UNDM and CGI’s OMS. Throughout the project, several key data model challenges emerged, highlighting the complexity of the data and underscoring the critical collaboration between various business units essential for the success of the integration. This presentation will discuss the specific issues that arose, such as data inconsistencies and interoperability hurdles, and the approaches we took to resolve them. From leveraging manual data model adjustments to utilizing ETL processes, we will explore the solutions that were implemented to ensure data integrity and seamless integration. Additionally, the presentation will touch on the ongoing efforts to address emerging data anomalies and the collaborative work between various business units that was vital to overcoming these challenges.
Managing asset data in GIS requires more than just mapping—it demands structure, strategy, and smart tools. This presentation explores how clear governance, standard operating procedures, and data dictionaries form the foundation for consistent, reliable asset mapping. We'll walk through how service level agreements and defined responsibilities ensure timely updates from as-built drawings to GIS. Then, we’ll shift gears to showcase a suite of highly customized GIS tools that streamline record retention, improve end-user access to retained documents, and empower field staff to submit real-time data changes. From process to platform, this session highlights the architecture behind a system designed to keep asset data accurate, accessible, and aligned with business needs.
Zorba Conlen is a GIS developer with over 20 years experience in the industry. He currently works for the City of Bellevue, designing and developing custom mapping applications. He lives in Seattle with his family and enjoys movies, outdoors adventures and music.
In a world where AI has become as ubiquitous as towels are to interstellar hitchhikers, Christopher Moravec stands ready to guide you through the galaxy of possibilities and pitfalls.
"Don't Panic, It's Just AI: A Developer's Handbook" is your essential guide to navigating the often bewildering landscape of artificial intelligence. More controversial than Oolon Colluphid's trilogy "Where AI Came From," "Some More of God's Greatest Mistakes," and "Who is this Siri Person Anyway?", this handbook is for any developer looking to harness AI without resorting to Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters to cope with the absurdity.
Through real-world examples, Christopher will show you how to use AI as a practical tool—from writing code with chatbots to generating sensible map names—while also revealing what AI excels at, where it falls short, and when to leave it out of your toolkit entirely.
Whether you're a seasoned developer or just starting out, join us and, remember: Don't Panic, and always know where your towel is.
Hi! I'm Christopher, an expert at trying new things and teaching computers clever tricks. As CTO of dymaptic, I build mapping software and tinker with AI. I love turning complex problems into elegant solutions, and I have opinions about tech that I'm sharing here. Sometimes I build... Read More →
Geospatial data are different than other data because they include something special: coordinates. This presentation will focus on those X, Y, Z and M coordinates that we care so much about. We’ll review coordinate systems and precision, and the key pieces of geospatial metadata we need to use coordinate data. How long is a degree, anyway? What are some data format considerations for coordinate precision? What’s the matter with Web Mercator? Since many GIS systems project data on the fly, why bother to project data into a cartesian coordinate system? Why does the choice of coordinate system for raster data and raster analysis so critical? Come for a review of these basic, yet very important topics.
Curtis Price holds geology degrees from the University of Puget Sound and Dartmouth College. He had a 32-year career with the U.S. Geological Survey where he supported water studies with GIS analysis and data creation, including development of elevation-hydrography integration for... Read More →
The City of Tacoma has been using distributed collaborations to share data between Enterprise portal and ArcGIS Online since 2022. Progress has not been linear: there have been many challenges. We will share how our distributed collaborations are set up, lessons learned along the way, and tips and tricks to help you on your own distributed collaboration journey.
This presentation showcases the evolution of drone-based GIS, moving beyond traditional 2D aerial imagery to create rich 3D models by exploring Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) lidar technology. Attendees will gain valuable insights into the combined use of these hardware platforms and explore standard processing techniques, such as Structure from Motion (SfM) and the innovative 3D Gaussian Splatting method. The session will highlight practical workflows and feature examples of 3D models that have been generated.
This research project uses GIS to raise awareness and provide resources and support for people living with chronic conditions; specifically, endometriosis, adenomyosis, and chronic pain. Through Survey123, I captured anonymous data relating to the personal challenges faced by those with these conditions as they navigate the healthcare system, among other information. After geocoding a list of specialists sourced from support groups, I used Network Analyst to generate service areas for each specialist. This analysis helps to identify gaps in healthcare access. Finally, I created an Experience Builder to present the results of this analysis in an engaging, and easy to understand format. The Experience Builder contains sections dedicated to mapping access to specialists, anonymized locations of survey respondents, a section to highlight stories from people with these chronic conditions, and links to support groups among other information. Through this project I hope to increase awareness and bring hope to those with these chronic conditions.
My experience creating a virtual duplicate of the TPU Campus. I will highlight what made us begin this project, the steps that went into creating the indoor map, the challenges I had to face and overcome as I went through the steps, where are we now and where do we want to go in the future with this project.
High-resolution aerial imagery is a game-changer for GIS professionals, providing unparalleled accuracy and detail that supports critical decision-making across multiple sectors. This presentation will explore how advanced aerial imagery enhances GIS data integrity for public safety agencies, urban and regional planning departments, utility providers, and land use managers.
By integrating high-resolution imagery with GIS workflows, professionals can improve situational awareness, conduct precise asset mapping, and streamline operations such as emergency response planning, zoning assessments, and infrastructure management. Case studies will demonstrate how agencies leverage updated imagery to reduce errors, enhance predictive modeling, and improve resource allocation.
Attendees will gain insights into the latest advancements in aerial imaging technology, best practices for incorporating high-resolution datasets, and the future of remote sensing applications in GIS. Whether optimizing emergency response routes, refining parcel data, or enhancing vegetation management, high-resolution aerial imagery is a powerful tool for maximizing the accuracy and effectiveness of GIS-driven solutions.
Megan is a self-proclaimed GIS Evangelist and Regional Technical Manager with EagleView, a provider of high-resolution aerial imagery. She is an Idaho State University alum with a BS in Environmental Science and a Minor in GIS, and she started her GIS career in county government... Read More →
This presentation outlines the results of the Seattle 2024 GIS Return on Investment (ROI) Study. This study was a partnership between GIS Management Consulting Services of Edmonds and four key leaders of Seattle GIS.
The study was based on the GIS ROI methodology developed by Prof. Richard Zerbe of the UW Evans School of Public Administration. The study approach was a snapshot in time – to analyze the financial benefits from using GIS across all the departments and offices in Seattle during 2024.
The data to analyze GIS ROI was compiled from both online surveys and from multiple face to face interviews with those knowledgeable about GIS in individual departments. The report also compiled an extensive catalog of other types of benefits from the use of GIS. The report calculated a range for GIS for the entire city and also for many individual departments. GIS ROI was calculated in a variety of ways: net financial ROI in dollar terms, net financial ROI as a percent of GIS costs, GIS ROI as a percent of the entire annual city budget, and the equivalent staff savings in FTEs represented by the net financial ROI. The report also includes 1o appendixes which are GIS ROI reports for 10 key Seattle Departments. In addition to sharing the results this report will provide an overview oof the modified Zerbe methodology used.
Founder and Consultant, GIS Management Consulting Services LLC
Greg Babinski is a GIS management consultant and founder of GIS Management Consulting Services LLC and the GIS Management Academy™ located in Edmonds, Washington. Between 1998 and the end of 2021 he served as GIS Manager, GIS Finance Manager, GIS Marketing & Business Development... Read More →
Associate Director, Applications Division, City of Seattle
Harvey Arnone is the an Associate Director with Sesttle IT, responsible for GIS, CADD and Data Analytics. He has been at the City of Seattle since 1992 and, over the years, has worked as a GIS Project Manager, the Supervisor of GIS Applications Development, and GIS Manager. Harvey... Read More →
Stephen Beimborn is the Manager of GIS Analysts for the City of Seattle. In his forty years working in the GIS field, he has done a little bit of everything, including cartography, analysis, programming, business systems integration, project and portfolio management, and people management... Read More →
The opioid epidemic continues to be a great challenge within the field of public health. To facilitate an effective, unified response, that spans across many organizations that provide different services related to the opioid response and prevention, Kitsap Public Health District (KPHD) has undertaken conducting a network analysis. By implementing a network analysis, such an understanding can enhance a community’s capacity to combine diverse knowledge and skills to come up with effective solutions to complex problems… be responsive to community needs, arrive at consensus across community divisions, organize collective tasks, and coordinate services efficiently (Provan et al. 2005, p. 604). KPHD plays a supportive role to unite organizations involved in the opioid response through quarterly gatherings. With a supportive response to facilitate a network analysis in the initial meeting, KPHD had begun to develop and implement a data collection tool. This tool, based loosely from the data collection tool used in Proven et al. (2005), has allowed KPHD to obtain information on an organization’s location, services offered, as well as all other organizations that are within that organization’s network. This data is entered into Excel spreadsheets that are linked into ArcGIS that allows the usage of geoprocessing tools that generate organizational point and connection line layers on a map. This network analysis map has provided a new way to visualize relationships at a quick glance, as well as helping strained and siloed organizations who are parts of a whole system better know who else is part of their system and gives them a tool to aid in recognizing the relationships they have and in forming new ones. This network map tool has an additional potential in helping organizations show their affiliation within the network to further leverage themselves in grant funding opportunities.
Provan, K. G., Veazie, M. A., Staten, L. K., & Teufel-Shone, N. I. (2005). The Use of Network Analysis to Strengthen Community Partnerships. Public Administration Review, 65(5), 603–613. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3542526
GIS Analyst / Epidemiologist I, Kitsap Public Health
Gabe Hammond is a GIS Analyst with the Kitsap Public Health District. He received his education from the University of Washington and holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in geography & global health. While studying at UW, he focused on using GIS in a public health setting that... Read More →
This presentation highlights the work of University of Washington Professional and Continuing Education Students’ GIS Community Sponsored project with 4Culture.
4Culture, the cultural funding agency for King County, WA, sought to analyze, visualize, and present the impacts of 2 grant programs: Building for Equity and Doors Open Facilities. These programs distribute grants to organizations that are acquiring, building, or renovating facilities that make cultural experiences possible. By utilizing GIS, 4Culture and the UW GIS students hoped to highlight the impactful and effective use of a GIS in an arts and culture organization where GIS did not exist. Students created an ArcGIS dashboard for 4Culture’s internal uses as well as a StoryMap to be used for community engagement.
Professional & Continuing Education Student, University of Washington
Meaghan Lee holds a Master’s in Geography with an emphasis on urban spatial and social equality. Her research includes spatial distribution in the homes of remote workers, public transit access equity, and food pantry crisis response efforts. She lives in Seattle and works for the... Read More →
Washington State Department of Health (WADOH) operates two vital vaccine programs: the Adult Vaccine Program (AVP), offering free vaccines to uninsured adults aged 19 and older, and the Childhood Vaccine Program (CVP), ensuring all children under 19 receive routine immunizations at no cost. These programs are essential for equitable access to vaccines, preventing vaccine-preventable diseases, and reducing health disparities across the state.
To support these programs, WADOH originally developed a custom JavaScript application that allowed residents to locate nearby vaccine providers. However, maintaining this app was challenging due to limited staff with specialized coding skills. Beyond technical constraints, WADOH’s commitment to align with the CDC’s Data Modernization Initiative (DMI) priorities necessitated migration to ArcGIS Experience Builder.
We used Experience Builder’s the drag-and-drop functionality and responsive design capabilities to create a modern vaccine provider locator web app optimized for mobile devices. This tool expands accessibility for individuals relying on smartphones and tablets to access vaccine information. Public health planners may also use the app to visually identify geographic gaps in provider coverage, enabling targeted resource allocation to areas of greatest need. This aligns with DMI’s goal to support actionable public health decision-making to promote health equity. In addition, by transitioning from a legacy system to Experience Builder, we ensured sustainability, scalability, and responsiveness to evolving technological needs and emerging public health threats.
This presentation will showcase the app’s development workflow, highlight key features, discuss accessibility considerations, and explore its role in advancing public health goals statewide.
Epidemiologist, Washinton State Department of Health
I am a GIS and spatial epidemiologist at Washington State Department of Health (DOH), where I support epidemiologists and data analysts in the Division of Prevention and Community Health with GIS, spatial data analysis, and data visualization needs. Education Background and Professional... Read More →
The combination of imagery, big data, analytics, and the ever-expanding capabilities of the Enterprise GIS stack makes migrating from on-premise to the cloud an increasingly attractive option. But where do you begin?
A well-structured migration plan—one that answers the who, what, when, where, why, and how—can make all the difference in ensuring a smooth transition and maximizing the benefits for your organization.
In this 20–25 minute session, we’ll address the top questions and concerns organizations face when considering a move to the cloud. You'll gain insights into: • Who on your team should be involved in the migration process • What GIS services, imagery, and databases need to be migrated • When to expect key milestones and cost considerations • Where to explore cloud provider options • Why migrating to the cloud enhances performance, scalability, and collaboration • How to kick-start your cloud journey with proven migration best practices
Join us to learn how to plan, execute, and demonstrate the value of modernizing your GIS in the cloud.
Jeremiah Ervin is a seasoned geospatial professional with over 20 years of experience in the GIS industry. As a Strategic Account Executive at ROK Technologies, he helps organizations harness the power of cloud-based GIS solutions to optimize workflows, enhance collaboration, and... Read More →
Maptime Seattle is a community group dedicated to making geospatial technology accessible and engaging through beginner-friendly workshops. Our meetups are free and centered around open-source tools so anyone can participate. Our events cover topics ranging from web mapping and Python to hand-drawn maps and social gatherings.
For geospatial professionals, Maptime can be an opportunity to give back, mentor newcomers, and expand the local mapping community by lowering the barrier to entry for geospatial education. Come learn more about who we are, what we do, and how you can get involved or make your own group!
At Pierce County Spatial Services, we continually strive to automate repetitive tasks to allocate resources for more meaningful work. Spatial Services provides GIS for all Pierce County residents, county staff and elected officials. We are comprised of data management, customer support, development solutions and asset management experts who work in tandem to provide high quality GIS services to the county.
Our ArcGIS online (AGO) platform supports over 500 county staff users and the general public. Our AGO environment and users are primarily managed by a single employee. The continual rotation of county staff demands consistent user access and content management. This level of user management grew to an unwieldy regular task and diverted resources from other work. This has become especially true with new administrative structures that have required closer attention to our users, content and licensing in the AGO platform. We integrated many ArcGIS python api administrative processes into our regular scheduled tasks, to increase efficiency and effectiveness of user management. This presentation will go over 2 easily adoptable, straight-forward examples of how the api can be used to automate user management.
GIS Programmer/Engineer 2, Pierce County Spatial Services
I am a GIS professional with over 20 years’ experience working in local, tribal and state-level government. I have worked and lived in south Puget Sound, WA for most of my career, with a strong background in natural resources management. I am a jack-of-all-trades in GIS and has... Read More →
Emails, phone calls, drop-ins, notes…GIS professionals get mapping and data requests in all kinds of ways. It can be extremely challenging to manage all these requests, and hard to identify ROI. Enter the new GIS Request Management solution from Esri.
In the short time that we have deployed this solution at the City of Tumwater we have noticed a huge difference. It has simplified our day-to-day work by organizing all requests in one place. We went from an Excel file, flagged emails in Outlook, lists on OneNote, literal notes, and coworkers stopping by our desks to request projects to a streamlined process with this solution. GIS Request Management helps us identify and communicate how our projects align with our organization’s goals, and demonstrates our ROI by keeping track of time spent on each project.
This presentation will discuss implementation, usage, custom configurations, and our successes and challenges as we transitioned from a disorganized system to this solution.
GIS Analyst / Adjunct Professor, City of Tumwater / Evergreen State College
Georgianna is the GIS Analyst for the City of Tumwater and an adjunct professor in the Evergreen State College's undergraduate GIS Certificate Program. When she's not making maps, you can find her lifting weights, running, gardening, cooking, sewing, and spending time with her husband... Read More →
A GIS Strategy to Map Historic Racial Covenants Across Washington State Stacy Warren, Logan Camporeale, Larry Cebula, Tara Kelly, Monique Baxter, Rachael Lowe
The Washington State Racial Covenants Project, in response to Washington House Bill 1335, seeks to identify all properties with recorded covenants or deed restrictions that include racially discriminatory language. Ultimately, all property owners and prospective buyers should have an easily accessible tool to check whether a given property has ever had a racial covenant associated with it. A team of student and faculty researchers at Eastern Washington University has been tasked with tracking down, mapping, and sharing these documents with the public across fourteen counties in Eastern Washington. We report on the critical role GIS has played in achieving these goals. Specifically, we use a combination of ArcGIS Pro for geodatabase development and Experience Builder for presenting our results in interactive map form. Our interdisciplinary team includes historians, geographers, anthropologists, geoscientists and GIS practitioners. Much work has to be accomplished before GIS ever enters the picture; this project would not be possible without the hours our historians spent in dusty archives and our partners at University of Washington scanning and converting images to text. Properties with racial covenants can then be identified and entered into spreadsheets. We next developed a workflow to geolocate information from the spreadsheets into feature class layers, align with existing GIS layers from a variety of sources, and populate with attributes pulled from associated historic documents. This data forms the basis of our Experience Builder map series, starting with a prototype model for Spokane County that we are now applying to other counties in Eastern Washington. We report on our workflow design and logistics, problems encountered, and solutions discovered.
Professor, Department of Geosciences, Eastern Washington University
Stacy Warren is a professor of Geosciences at Eastern Washington University and a long-time GIS aficionado. She teaches a range of GIS classes at EWU, supervises student work, and adds to her gallery of GIS creations as time allows including maps for the Ice Age Floods Institute... Read More →
Washington Surveying and Rating Bureau (WSRB) is an independent, not-for-profit, public service organization serving Washington state. We help insurers and their customers by providing objective data on multiple risk factors. Our services enable insurers to evaluate risk efficiently and effectively, giving their policyholders peace of mind by making sure insurance rates are fair and non-discriminatory. WSRB is not connected with any insurance company except to the extent that insurers operating within Washington state can subscribe to our services; ownership of WSRB is vested in a subscriber trust agreement that is approved by the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC).
WSRB leverages GIS extensively to achieve to provide subscribers with trusted information, enhancing their decision-making. This presentation will highlight how GIS architecture and processes ensure precise and timely data for WSRB customers.
As we come to the close of an inspiring and impactful conference, join us for one final gathering to reflect, celebrate, and look ahead together. Welcome to the Closing Plenary!
Let’s End on a High Note! Before we all head home, join us for the Send-Off Social — one last chance to connect, celebrate, and toast to an unforgettable conference. Good vibes, great company, and a few final memories await!
