What's Your Job Title?

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Listener Challenge:  Change Your Job Title

We all have titles, mine is GIS Supervisor.  No one uses that title.  They call me and ask for information products. No one asks me how I supervised today.  It's org chart language that is functional but doesn't really describe my role in the company.

Wade got me thinking (really, listen to the show).  Can you think of your job title in a way that reduces the technology names, removes geospatial, GIS and any other tech names?  What is the title you would give yourself if it truly represented the value you provide to the organization?

What am I now - Supervisor?  That is really not my role.  Again, they call me and ask for unique and special information products, mobile apps, and insight into company information.

  • Location Intelligence Officer
  • Business Intelligence Savant
  • Digital Facilities and Network Manager
  • Tool Builder for Tomorrow
  • Information Cataloger
  • Insight Manager (My ego likes this one but I hope there is more than one of us).

What is your new job title?  Let me know in the comments below.

 

Show Notes:

I'm joined by Wade Kloos who helps me understand a few things about Utah Dept of Natural Resources and aligning GIS to organizational objectives.  

Show Topics:

State of Utah Overall Mission vs. DNR Division Goals

Integration with Enterprise Platforms

  • Customer Surveys
  • Drone/UAS Programs
  • State Parks

GIS Manager Summit at Esri User Conference

Achieving Maximum Organizational Value

 

Contact Wade:  wkloos@utah.gov

Contact Kurt:  kurt@speakingofgis.com

Thanks, Wade!

Mapping Water Resources in Guam

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Today I'm joined by Dr. Leroy Heitz, who is professor emeritus at the University of Guam.  We discuss all the different ways he has mapped water in Guam.  

Topics include:

  • Potable water and hydraulic engineering.
  • Waste water and septic tank mapping.
  • Modeling watershed runoff.
  • Erosion calculations using drones.
  • Salt water intrusion.

You can reach Leroy at lheitz@triton.uog.edu

Reach out to me at kurt@speakingofgis.com

 

GITA - Advocating for the Modern GIS Professional

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Mark Limbruner and Drew Fioranelli talk about what GITA does for it's members and and the larger geospatial community.

Show Notes:

What does GITA do for its members?

Webinars, conferences, position papers, GISP certification materials

EnerGIS Conference Highlights

Drones:

  • Problems that drones are solving in oil and pipeline industry.
  • Creating authoritative data with drones.

GITA's position paper on the Geospatial Data Act of 2017

GIS as a disruptive technology and methodology.

Upcoming events - Upper Midwest Geospatial Conference 2018

Contact Mark and Drew to learn more!

Got an idea?  Find me here:  kurt@speakingofgis.com or @SpeakingofGIS

Music by Lee Rosevere

Redistricting and the 2020 Census

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I am joined by Dr. Megan Gall who is a senior researcher for the Thurgood Marshall Institute at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.  We talk about how GIS is used in redistricting, gerrymandering and how census data is used to draw maps.

Show Notes:

Supreme Court Weighs Claims That Texas Voting Maps Discriminate Against Minorities

https://nyti.ms/2FeGfx9

Supreme Court, Again Weighing Map Warped by Politics, Shows No Consensus

https://nyti.ms/2urC3dD

A Case for Math, Not ‘Gobbledygook,’ in Judging Partisan Voting Maps  

https://nyti.ms/2FBSCoq

Current topics in redistricting:

  • Methods and thresholds
  • Entire map? Specific districts
  • Voting Rights Act

Essential guidelines used to draw district boundaries.

Methods:  People vs Algorithms - are they better/worse?

Puzzle Map for North Carolina

GIS software in play that makes this work possible.

Maptitude, Esri, QGIS

GIS datasets that are important.

Census - redistricting summary file, census block - building block of districts, counties, census tracks, other demographic data, prison populations, current districts and voting precincts.

Importance of Census data.

Changes to census in 2020 that affect redistricting.

Reach out to Megan at:  mgall@naacpldf.org

Kurt is usually at kurt@speakingofgis.com

Also here:  @SpeakingofGIS

Collecting Your Digital Twin in High Accuracy

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Today I am joined by special guest, Jean-Yves Lauture, CTO for EOS Positioning Systems.  We talk about a huge shift in collecting high accuracy data using GPS and GNSS receivers.  Today we can collect better data at a lower cost which enables new forms of geospatial visualization.

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Show Notes

GPS vs. GNSS - What’s the difference?

‘Bring Your Own Device’ is changing how we work.

Different GNSS receivers and their accuracy.

  • Consumer grade, Submeter and Centimeter

RTK and Base Stations

Digital Twin: New kinds of GIS unlocked with high accuracy.

  • Drone Imagery
  • 3D Elevations
  • Augmented Reality

EOS Learning Center about GNSS

kurt@speakingofgis.com

@SpeakingofGIS

 

Social Media as a Sensor to GIS

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Special Guest this week is Zac Canders, CEO of DataCapable.  We talk about social media as a source for location information and ways organizations can think about the data.

Show Topics:

  • What is the deal with Facebook?
  • Location information on social media.
  • GIS centric uses for social data.
  • Non-traditional users
  • Curating Information from the river of content.

http://datacapable.com

You can reach Zac at:  Zac@datacapable.com

Find me on the twitter @speakingofgis

NASA DEVELOP

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This week’s special guest is Lance Watkins, Center Lead for NASA DEVELOP in Tempe, Arizona.

NASA DEVELOP is a capacity building program that combines rich satellite geospatial information with local problem solving.  These 10 week workshops that helps organizations collaborate on new kinds of problem solving.  Participants learn how to use rich NASA datasets to move the needle on their local issues.

Projects  

https://develop.larc.nasa.gov/projects.php

Phoenix Health and Air Quality II

https://develop.larc.nasa.gov/2017/fall/PhoenixHealthAQII.html

 

Artificial Skyglow Maps  on the Colorado Plateau

  https://develop.larc.nasa.gov/2017/fall/ColoradoPlateauUD.html

 

Esri Writeup by Joseph Kerski in Community Education

https://community.esri.com/community/education/blog/2017/09/15/esri-supports-student-work-in-nasa-develop-program 

Special thanks to Lance and everyone at NASA DEVELOP.

Lance Watkins can be found here: lance.e.watkins@nasa.gov

 

Share your work on twitter:  https://twitter.com/SpeakingofGIS

Feedback? Reach out to me at kurt@speakingofgis.com.

Music Credit:  Lee Rosevere, Bridgeport

Women GIS

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Organized in 2012, WiGIS has been very active at conferences and on the web.  Join Christina Boggs-Chavira and me as we talk about issues in the modern work place.

Website: Women in GIS

Twitter:  @WomeninGIS

Founding Topics for Women in GIS

Women in GIS and Women in STEM

Thriving in the Workplace:

  • Self-Advocacy
  • Building Allies
  • Risk Taking and Not Getting Blindsided
  • Where’s your Awesome Folder?

Hiring and Managing Teams:

  • Checking for Bias
  • Job Advertising and Advertising
  • Dealing with Resume Gaps

Advocacy:

  • Mentorships
  • Mailing Lists
  • Job Announcements
  • Want to volunteer?

Christina can be found on Twitter.

Join the GIS conversation at @speakingofgis.

Feedback? Reach out to me at kurt@speakingofgis.com.

Music Credit:  Lee Rosevere, Bridgeport

Because We Are All Connected with Trisha Brush

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Special Guest is Trish Brush who is the GIS Director at the Planning and Development Services of Kenton County in northern Kentucky.  She is also the co-founder of the Kentucky Association of Mapping Professionals.

tbrush@pdskc.org 

Twitter: @twbrush

Link-gis.org

An awesome Story Map that helped secure funding for street improvements.

An awesome Story Map that helped secure funding for street improvements.

Show Topics:

PaverSaver - Right of Way Management across 40 different organizations, saving $150,000 and improving the street quality.

LINK-GIS as the hub for regional services. Link-GIS.org

MapLab - Link

  • Street Intersection Story Map: Link 
  • Using Drones for Active Shooter training.
  • Northern Kentucky MapLab

Marketing GIS through social media

Applications of mobile apps using AGOL

Disaster recovery through mobile apps.

Kentucky Association of Mapping Professionals: http://kampro.org

Music Credit:  Music 'Bridgeport' by Lee Rosevere