GIS Pathway Blog

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It has been a while since I have gotten the chance to write a post here.  Things have been very busy the last few weeks.  My family and I did get through the Christmas season alright.  At the beginning of January I started another semester at East Carolina University.  I am now classified as a junior.  I took a big risk and chose to take 4 classes (12 hours).  My classes include Selling, Administrative Management, Word 2007, and Accounting.  The first few weeks have gone well, but it is starting to catch up with me.  I am also looking for a GIS/Technology job that I can build career on.  The looking has been slow, but I am being patient.  On top of all of this, my family and I recently moved into a house from an apartment.  The kids are going to love the back yard once all this rain stops.  Oh and one more thing, as I write this, my youngest son is in the hospital with RSV.  Working on our third day now. He is improving, so I expect to be out of here soon.

As for the GIS Pathway site, I am still slowly plugging away at it.  I recently expanded it to include a page for GIS Jobs.  There is also a Twitter account that you can follow: @GISJobs4u.  I would appreciate it if you took the time and checked these out.

This semester I have had the opportunity to mentor a senior from a local high school.  He is interning in our planning and construction office.  Part of his time here we have been working on a project using GIS.  The task assigned was to find a suitable location for a shelter.  From that simple task we developed some criteria and defined the processes to give us our desired results.

A trace of the contours was done from as-built drawings.  And from that trace and an aerial photo the project was completed.

Here is an outline for performing a shelter site suitability analysis. We strayed a little as needed to work with the data we had, but this will give an idea of what was done.

Criteria

• Open Space
• Maximum Sunlight (Southern Facing Slopes, 112.5-247.5)
• Slope (< 5%)

Process

1. Georefference Contour Trace
2. Create Data
   • Contours (Polylines)
   • Parking Lot (Polygons)
   • Trees (Polygons)
3. Process Data
   • Convert Contours to Surface
   • Create Open Space Raster
   • Aspect (Slope Direction)
   • Slope
4. Perform Analysis
   • Reclassifcation Tool
   • Raster Calculator Tool

Presentation

1. Criteria Map Layouts
   • Open Space
   • Sunlight
   • Slope
2. Result Map Layouts

Overall he did a great job.  The project introduced the basics of a GIS project including project management, data creation, analysis, and presentation.

In my efforts to push GIS and Geospatial Technology, I jump on ever opportunity to tell other about my passion for GIS.  In correlation with the 2009 Geography Awareness Week, I participated in my local GIS Day event and also presented at a high school.  At the GIS Day event I worked a booth at which I spoke with attendees and did various demonstrations.  The most rewarding of these was the high school presentation.

At a local high school, I put together a presentation to give students, parents, and teachers an overview of GIS.  An Agriculture teacher was trying to push a new GIS course where students can earn both high school and college credit.  A partnership was established between the high school and a local community college.  I brainstormed various topics I could discuss and decided to give a brief overview of GIS and then show some applications.  I took advantage of the new ArcGIS Explorer 900 to give the presentation.

I first defined Geospatial Technology with a simple slide and referenced a globe image to discuss how objects relate to the earth and how these objects can be measured, analyzed, and visualized.  I then went on to discuss how GIS is applicable to all 16 career clusters.  I basically wanted to get across that no matter what industry you are interested in, there is some type of GIS application.  GIS is definitely not limited to just a few areas.  From there I covered three of the career clusters: Education & Training; Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security; Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources.

For Education & Training, I showed some applications in my position as a planning project manager for a school system.  These mainly focused on locating schools, maintaining boundaries, performing enrollment forecasting, and analyzing reassignment scenarios.

In the area of Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security; I created a mock crime scene.  I told how a person went missing and we needed to identify their home and work locations.  With that a travel route was established.  More extensive search was required; therefore, a search radius was created around the two key locations.  With the information collected from searchers, a vehicle was found which lead to further evidence and eventually the victim being found.

Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources provided an opportunity to discuss site suitability analysis for a campus garden.  GIS enabled me to create a model of the campus.  Then criteria were analyzed that included: open space, sunlight, air circulation, slope, wind protection, and water sources.  Each of these analyses was combined to identify the most suitable areas.  These could then be analyzed further to locate the garden.

The interactive part of ArcGIS Explorer really was the selling point.  PowerPoint presentations are fine, but Explorer helped make the technology come alive.  These students showed a true interest in learning more.  It was awesome to see these students impacted in a positive way by the technology of GIS.

To learn more on how you can become invovled in your local schools, check out the GeoMentor Program.

If you are wanting to find out how to get involved with the SkillsUSA Geospatial Technology Contest check out this webinar being done by the GeoTech Center.  Amy Ballard of Central New Mexico Community College will be doing the presentation.  Central New Mexico placed 2nd and 3rd in 2009; and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in 2008. I had the opportunity to compete against the students there, and they have some very good talent.

As a participant and winner of the 2009 contest, I am a strong advocate for the contest.  Getting Geospatial Technology students involved will provide them with enormousness benefits.  The experience itself was great and there is also an opportunity to earn a Spatial Technology and Remote Sensing Certification.

The webinar is on Friday, November 20, 2009. -  http://geotech.eventbrite.com/

Additional information on the SkillsUSA Geospatial Technology Contest

• http://www.digitalquest.com/SkillsUSA09/
• http://skillsusa.org/compete/college.shtml
• http://blog.gispathway.com/skillsusa-competition/

Coming in at #158, Jack Dangermond is on The Forbes 400 Richest Americans list.  His net worth comes in at two billion dollars. Dangermond is new to the list for his creation of a Mapping Empire.  ESRI was created in 1969 and is a privately owned company. I find it interesting that Jack was able to start this company with only $1100.  This is pretty good evidence that GIS/Mapping has come a long way and still has a lot of potential to come.

Check out The Forbes Entry: Jack Dangermond 2009

As I browsed the the web looking for new applications for GIS and other related topics, I came across a new web application for mapping fish.  It really has a pretty good concept to it.  You log in and pin point the location of where you catch your fish.  You provide various information such as fish species, weight, length, bait, temperature, water depth, etc.  All of this information gets stored and can be queried at a later time.  The information you enter in can be made either public or private.  You also have the ability to make friends and see how their fishing trips are coming along.  I really like this concept and I believe it has some potential.  The site goes live today, so go check it out.

http://MapThisFish.com

With the 2009 ESRI International User Conference finished up, ESRI is providing free highlight seminars.  They are bringing a summary of what went on to you.  I think this is great for those who just could not get out there.

If you were able to keep up remotely via blogs, twitter, and plenary video (10 Tips for Those Not Attending the ESRI User Conference) then I am not sure how beneficial this will be.  You may already be up to date.

Jack Dangermond has an introductory video explaining their intent.  He states that they are doing this to help out those who could not attend the UC because of travel restrictions or other reasons.

Find out which locations are available, register for the event, and look over the agenda at http://www.esri.com/events/uc/highlights_seminars/highlights_info.html

I recently found a new website that allows you to experience the Appolo 11 Mission in real time.  The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum provides the interactive website.   There is a ton of things to do.  Not only can you see the mission in real time, you can view pictures and videos from the event as well.

The only negative for the site I saw was the massive amount of load time.  Make sure your not on dial-up! : )

Check it out for yourself - We Choose The Moon

Like so many others I immediately took the time to download and install the latest and great from ESRI - ArcGIS Explorer 900.  I noticed that the file size was a bit larger than the 500 version.  Not a big deal, just means that there are more features.  Here is a list of things I liked and disliked.  Remember that these are first impressions and there might be solutions to be found or better understood.

With the ability to do presentations, I took a old PowerPoint presentation and incorporated it into the new explorer.

• Base Maps - I love the ability to have this data readily available with a way to easily change it.
• Importing Images - Took me a bit to figure out that in order to use my PP slides I had to export them to a .png and then import the image. It is nice that PP allows you export the entire presentation.
• Symbology - I do not like the fact that when I zoom the symbology does not change.  Looking at my county data shows my boundaries out as very thin.  Once I zoom in further I can make them out.  Do I really need to import two different datasets to show the change in scale?
• Slide Capture - This button makes it very easy to capture the exact image I want in my presentation.
• Titles - Nice feature to have without having an entire slide.
• Notes - I like the ability to add points, lines and polygons to the map with a note.  I wish there was a way to control the transparency.
• Content - I like the simplicity to add content.  From shapefiles to geodatabases to images.
• Presentation Mode - Having the ability to divert from my captured slide and actually work with a live map is what has sold me on this product.

I am sure I will have more comments latter on, but there are just a few things I have noticed so far.

With the GeoMentor Program being introduced at the 2009 ESRI International User Confernence many people are seeing this as a new idea. Although to most it seem like new, it has been around for some time at the micro level. ESRI and National Geographic are bringing it to the international level. This got my curiosity up and decided to do some research. Here is what I have found:

GIS Day - This has been around but most events only happen during geography week.

Utah GIS Portal Mentoring Program - Been around for a few years.  Allows GIS professionals to be catergorized by school district so techers can find and develop mentoring relationships.

Do You Want to Be a GIS Mentor? - Some points to consider from ArcOnline 2007.

GIS, other fields benefiting from MentorLinks (Community College Times)

Digital Quest - A company that has been around for several years that provides GIS teching materials to teachers.  They created the STARS certification program which is recognized by NASA and the Department of Labor.  One of their schools has been recognized nationally for their Homeland Security Program.

• How to Stop Terrorism? Begin in School (ABC News)
• School’s homeland security studies get noticed (USA Today)

GIS Educational Technology Consultants - A company that has been around for several years that provides GIS teacher training and materials.

GIS and Environmental Science for K-14 Teachers - The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation 

GeoTech Center - Increasing the capacity of America’s high schools and colleges to provide an advanced technology education to our 21st Century geospatial industry workforce.

Barbaree Duke, Educational Consultant - A product of the ESRI Teachers Teching Teachers GIS (T3G) Institute

World Views - A consulting and professional development service to support students, teachers, school administrators, and districts with the integration of spatial technologies - GIS, GPS, and Remote Sensing - into the K-12 curriculum.

I know there is so much more information available, but this is a start.  Hopefully you can see that this GeoMentoring thing is already being done.  There is no reason why you shouldn’t be apart of the GeoMentor Program today!