GIS-Pro 2024

Kick off your day with a morning walk to donuts and coffee, hosted by the Vanguard Cabinet! Join us in the hotel lobby by 7:45 AM for a leisurely 12-minute (0.5 mile) stroll to The Holy Donut. This is the perfect chance to enjoy some informal networking before the opening session begins. Don’t miss out on this sweet start to your day!

Opportunity for URISA's past presidents to connect and be updated on URISA strategies and plans. This gathering is for URISA past presidents only.

Welcome to GIS-Pro 2024 and our super-sized opening session!
Hear from conference and URISA leadership about the not-to-miss highlights of the coming days.
Take every opportunity to celebrate the community, make connections, and share your thoughts and ideas with your fellow attendees. Don't pass up the chance to expand your professional support system this week!

Climate Resilience & GIS
Our opening keynote will focus on something we are all concerned with, particularly in coastal areas like Portland, Maine: Climate Change and Community Resilience. This session will be a discussion of the uses of GIS as a tool in Climate Resilience and Adaptation activities. The panelists represent a variety of organizations all working to define, prepare, and assist communities in their work to understand the issues facing them and to develop policies, actions, and responses to the changes ahead. GIS has become an important tool to bring together the disparate data, policies, agencies, and communities involved in these processes. The panel will discuss their work and thoughts on how GIS can and will be used as we move forward.

Jamie Carter, Northeast Region Geospatial Coordinator, NOAA, Portland, ME
Eileen Johnson, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Studies, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
Tora Johnson, Co-Director, Sustainable Prosperity Initiative, Sunrise Economic Council, Machias, ME
David Reidmiller, Director, Climate Center, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Portland, ME

Why You Should Care About the NSDI
We'll follow that with an important discussion about the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), how local government can participate in the NSDI and its role in supporting local government. Emphasizing the critical importance of local data, the panel will discuss the role of local data to the NSDI, collaborative strategies for advancing the NSDI, the role of standards, and the way ahead for local governments and the NSDI.
Broad stakeholder involvement is crucial for defining roles, responsibilities, authoritative data content, and governance structures. Attendees will be challenged to actively engage and contribute to the conversation furthering the development and implementation of the NSDI. Local Governments can aid FGDC in determining the specific themes where local governments are the primary data developers and discuss how they interact with their state data stewards. By sharing insights, best practices, and opportunities for participation, the panel aims to advance a collaborative approach to implementing the NSDI that enhances urban planning, disaster response, resource management, and public services. Join us to play a part in shaping a more connected and data-driven future for the Nation.

Josh Delmonico, Executive Director, Federal Geographic Data Committee, Reston, Virginia
Lynn Dupont, Lynn Dupont, GISP, ASLA, GIS Manager/Principal Planner, New Orleans Regional Planning Commission, New Orleans, Louisiana
Curtis Pulford, Manager - Enterprise Geographic Information System, City of Phoenix, Arizona

Enjoy a hosted buffet luncheon and quality time with your fellow conference attendees. Talk about mutual areas of expertise and interest and explore opportunities to contribute.

These talks will discuss data governance, metadata, and ways to track, assess, and mine more value from the data you already have.
 
From Policy to Practice: Implementing a Data Governance Program
Kimberly Baillieul, Data Solutions Manager, City of Columbus, Department of Public Service - Columbus, OH 

Marvelous Metadata: A Case Study in Simplifying the Write-Up Process
Amy Roust, GISP, GIS Administrator, City of Lawrence, Lawrence, KS

Visualizing Departmental, Business, and Citizen Use of GIS
Wendy Peloquin, GISP, Business Development Manager, Avineon, Inc, Jacksonville, FL

ArcGIS Dashboard Use for Data and User Governance
Brett Horr, GISP, LAVM, Corporate GIS Manager, Terracon Consulting, Portsmouth, NH
Nate Ward, GISP, Infrastructure Architect II, Terracon Consulting, Portsmouth, NH

Leverage ArcGIS, Python, JavaScript, SQL and other technologies to automate data processing, integrating imagery/LiDAR, systems conversion, and testing to streamline management and enhance safety. The USGS 3D Hydrography Program will also be discussed.

USGS 3D Hydrography Program (3DHP): A New Model for the Nation’s Hydrography
Adam Benthem, National Map Liaison, US Geological Survey, Pembroke, NH

​Growing Pains: A Case Study of Migrating the Flood Map Desktop to ArcGIS Pro
Wanja Waweru, GIS Project Coordinator, The Polis Center, Indianapolis, IN

​Data Management in a Non-profit Organization Using a GIS Enterprise: Creating Tools for Understanding Feature Layer Utilization
Nathan Holman, GIS Administrator and Antonio (Ka Kit) Liu, GISP, GIS Solutions Developer, American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA

Mixing Python with SQL
Jason Wise, GISP, Software Architect, Terracon, Portland, Maine

Education is key as we navigate our education as a foundation for our GIS Career. Continued Education is also a large part of what we do, especially when considering certification for the GISP. Join us in this session to empower yourselves in a profession that values education from the time you are a student and throughout your career.

Empowering HBCU Students in Tennessee with GIS & Community Mapping Skills
Kirstyn George, Health Career Pathway Program Manager, Meharry Medical College
Wansoo Im, Ph.D, Professor, School of Global Health/Meharry Medical College

Knowing What You Don't Know: Designing an Introductory Course for GIS Professionals
Adrienne Goldsberry, Associate Teaching Professor, Penn State University, Austin, TX

Reexamining the Exam: Towards Applied Project-Based Learning
Adrian Faraguna, M. SC., GISP, Instructor, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, Calgary, AB, Canada

An Update on the GISCI: What’s Happening and What’s New
Tony Spicci, CGMP GISP, Executive Director, GIS Certification Institute, Columbia, MO

This panel discusses current activities and developments in GIS Ethics, including the GIS Ethics Group’s work on instilling a process for ethical decision making, identifying and addressing current GIS ethics issues, reviewing the GIS Code of Ethics, and providing resources to help GIS Professionals apply ethics in their work and promote ethics in their organizations.

• Doing Ethics—The Process for Ethical Decision Making.  David DiBiase, GISP.  Penn State Online Geospatial Education Programs.  GIS Ethics Author and Instructor.
• URISA Ethics Update—Current issues, GIS Code of Ethics Review, and Ethics Resources.  Rebecca Somers, GISP, Somers-St.Claire GIS Management Consultants, GIS Code of Ethics Development Team and Ethics Group Lead.

Panelists:
Rebecca Somers, GISP, GIS Management Consultant, Somers-St.Claire GIS Management Consultants, Fairfax, VA 
David DiBiase, GISP, Adjunct Instructor, Penn State Online Geospatial Programs, Yucaipa CA 

Take free self-paced lessons on a variety of GIS and ArcGIS topics. Esri's Hands-On Learning Lab will be at GIS-Pro 2024. You can explore a variety of lessons on trending topics that are listed here

Join us to talk about improving and transforming URISA's GISP Exam Prep materials and offerings as we support geospatial professionals and by doing so promote and grow the profession.

The evolution of workforces and administrative regulations are favoring an increased utilization of Open Source in the workplace for streamlined processing and collaboration. In this session you will be introduced to a large variety of resources, including Spatial PostGIS, Oracle Spatial databases, SQL, GeoNode, Mapstore, GeoServer, and more.

Spatial SQL and You: A PostGIS Primer
Jordan Carmona, GISP, Senior Geospatial Development Engineer, H-E-B

Building Spatial Infrastructures with GeoServer, Mapstore and GeoNode: Experiences from the Trenches
Simone Giannecchini, Director, GeoSolutions, Brooklyn, NY

QGIS Projects: Improving Team Effectiveness
Matthew Yurman, PMP, Principal, Spatial Focus, Inc., Decatur, GA 

A Survey of Open-Source Decision Support GIS Web Applications
Nathan Swain, PhD, Director of Development Services, Aquaveo, LLC, Provo, UT
Shawn Crawley, MS, Software Engineer, Lynker, LLC, Leesburg, VA

There are many ways to implement change in the world.  This set of talks addresses using GIS, collaboration, and GIS Corps to enhance employment, train young people, develop guidance on Social Risk, Resilience, and Vulnerability Indices. This session will help provide insights for critical considerations to help make GIS more equitable relative to its ability to impact change.

Guidance on Social Risk, Resilience, and Vulnerability Indices Web Application, a collaboration between URISA and NAPSG with support from GISCorps
Emilie Pratt, GIS Analyst/URISA GISCorps Volunteer, NAPSG Foundation, Kearneysville, WV

Brain & Body Maps: Understanding Neuroscience as Key Tool for Creating Powerful and Effective Change
Kathryn Brewer, GISP, IT Project Director, Spatial Relationships, Boston, MA

Leveraging GIS for Enhancing Employment Growth Allocation
Xuanye Zuo, Associate Modeler, and Ying Zhou, Modeling Supervisor, SCAG - Los Angeles, CA