Professional Documents
Culture Documents
IN THIS ISSUE
NEWS
3 President’s Column
5 Parcel Maintenance
Backlog Overcome
with Enterprise GIS by
The Association for GIS Professionals Tippecanoe County,
Indiana
7 URISA 2009 Annual
Conference Tidbits
8 Book Review
10 Welcome New urisa
URISA Responds to Members
11 Welcome New urisa
Financial Challenges Business Members
Greg Babinski, GISP, URISA Treasurer
The severe world es accordingly. Examples include: rental costs by taking advantage
economic crisis n Not filling a current vacant of the depressed commercial real
that began last headquarters staff position. estate market in the Chicago area.
year has resulted n An increase in staff health n URISA specialty conferences
in financial chal- insurance premiums was split 50- (CAMA, Public Health, Transit) will
lenges for URISA. 50 between URISA and staff. partner with other organizations
The budget belt n The URISA Leadership Academy will or look for additional funding
tightening that be offered only once in 2009. to mitigate risk and encourage
many agencies and companies have im- n For the first time in five years, attendance.
plemented in response to the crisis has membership dues were raised n URISA HQ staff will target
already resulted in reduced attendance slightly for 2009 to generate corporate sponsors, both to
at URISA events. additional revenue. support conferences and to
The URISA Finance Committee has n All of the URISA conferences become corporate members.
been working with Executive Director in 2009 will have conservative n URISA HQ staff is working with the
Wendy Nelson, headquarters staff, budgets, in anticipation of reduced CRC to encourage new chapters as
and the URISA Board to help ensure attendance levels. part of a ‘Fill in the Map’ initiative.
that your Association’s finances can n Several new innovative revenue
weather this economic downturn. The The Finance Committee reviews sources are under development to
objective of this behind the scenes work the Association budget against actual help fill in the gap.
is twofold: to ensure the long-term detailed financial reports during its n Our annual independent outside
financial health of the organization monthly conference call to help inform audit will occur soon, which will be
while continuing to offer cost effective the full Board of any issues that warrant an additional opportunity to gauge
programs and services that deliver discussion or action. our current finances and benefit
exceptional value to our members. from an external analysis of our
Additional Financial Actions future threats and opportunities.
URISA Budget Separate from the 2009 budget, URISA
Recently the URISA Board approved the is pursuing various strategies to further In addition, the Finance Committee
Association’s 2009 budget. This bud- strengthen our Association’s finances: recently submitted a report on
get made very conservative forecasts n URISA is looking into the possibility
for 2009 revenue, and trimmed expens- to reduce headquarters office space
continued on page
Important URISA PRESIDENT
Hilary Perkins, GISP AICP-East-West
Gateway Council of Governments, St. Louis,
About
Dates to Remember MO
hilary.perkins@ewgateway.org
PRESIDENT-ELECT
Conferences Kathrine Cargo, GISP-Orleans Parish
Communication District
kcargo@911nola.org
June 5–8, 2009 The Urban and Regional Information
URISA’s GIS in Public Health Conference IMMEDIATE PAST-PRESIDENT Systems Association (URISA) is the
Providence, RI Susan Johnson-Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools premier professional association for
susanm.johnson@cms.k12.nc.us
those involved in improving our urban
August 4–6, 2009 SECRETARY and regional environments through the
URISA/NENA Addressing Conference Cynthia Braddock-Boulder County (CO)
Assessor's Office effective use of information technology.
Providence, RI
cbraddock@co.boulder.co.us Professionals in planning, economic
TREASURER development, information systems,
September 29–October 2, 2009 Greg Babinski, GISP-King County (WA) GIS emergency services, natural resources,
47th Annual URISA Conference & Center public works, transportation, and other
Exposition greg.babinski@kingcounty.gov
Anaheim, CA departments within state and local
Clare Brown, GISP-Montgomery Watson government have depended on URISA
Harza, New Orleans, LA for professional development and
November 16–18, 2009 clare.brown@us.mwhglobal.com
GIS in Transit Conference educational needs since 1963. Through
St Petersburg, FL J. Allison Butler, GISP, AICP, its international, national and local
MilePost Zero, Orlando, FL
abutler@mpzero.com chapter operations, URISA serves nearly
December 7–11, 2009 8,000 professionals.
URISA Leadership Academy Michael W Lovett, GISP-CDM Camp Dresser
& McKee, Maitland, FL
Seattle, WA
lovettm@cdm.com
Sandra K Majewski-Las Vegas Metro Police
URISA Headquarters
1460 Renaissance Drive, Suite 305
Dept
Awards s6370m@lvmpd.com Park Ridge, IL 60068
GIS Hall of Fame Nominations – May 1 Phone: 847‑824‑6300
Juna Papajorgji, GISP - Alachua County (FL) Fax: 847‑824‑6363
Student Paper Competition – May 1 Growth Management
info@urisa.org
jpapajorgji@alachua.fl.us
ESIG Awards – May 11 http://www.urisa.org
Karen RM Stewart, GISP-ESRI Canada,
Vancouver, BC
kstewart@esricanada.com
Wendy Nelson
Geney Terry, GISP-El Dorado County (CA) Executive Director
geney.terry@edcgov.us wnelson@urisa.org
“ArcSDE allowed us to split up parcel to deploy the many GIS data layers of which we had a significant backlog.
maintenance tasks based on the various integrated with its tax cycle data. The It became logical for us to address
strengths of our staff. We were already us- Web site boasts property data, water and the backlog and a data conversion
ing a tagged data model and Parcel Builder transportation features, contours, voting, simultaneously with an ESRI solution.”
allowed us to maintain our investment in safety, health, utilities, and assessment
that structure. The Publisher extension of information. However, County officials The Solution
ArcGIS, along with Parcel Builder has also found that by operating the Web site After researching its options, Tippeca-
allowed us to increase distribution of our with data provided from two different noe County chose The Sidwell Compa-
data to those without access to GIS soft- GIS software providers, it could not ny, an ESRI business partner, to migrate
ware.” - Mark Ehle, GIS Administrator deploy information in an efficient and all County GIS data into a tagged mod-
time-effective manner. el inside an ESRI geodatabase. Sidwell
“In addition to using ArcIMS used several preprocessing steps to
Introduction extension of ArcGIS for our Web site insure data integrity before the linear
Tippecanoe County is located in north-
applications, we also began using the data was converted. Concurrently, an
western Indiana and is the eighth largest
ArcMap extension for data analysis enterprise geodatabase was created
county in the state with a population
and map production,” says Mark Ehle, using ArcSDE and the County’s parcel
of more than 156,000. The County en-
Tippecanoe County’s GIS administrator. inventory was loaded into Sidwell’s Arc-
compasses almost 500 square-miles,
“We eventually reached a point where GIS-supported Parcel Builder-Adminis-
includes 13 townships, seven cities and
ESRI software was being used for
towns, and more than 67,000 real estate
everything but our parcel maintenance, continued on page
parcels. It is the home of Purdue Univer-
sity and has developed into a diversified
community with high-tech companies Tippecanoe County Project Summary
specializing in life sciences, information
technology, and advanced manufactur- CHALLENGE
ing in addition to its traditional manufac- County needed to overcome parcel maintenance backlog and perform GIS data con-
turing industry. version
In 1997, Tippecanoe County
was using a blend of GIS and CAD to RESULTS
maintain its cadastre database. At that • Improved online data services to staff and community
time it was converting CAD files of • Enterprise GIS geodatabase serves GIS data to County Web sites
cadastral map data from the County’s • Data no longer must be converted to shapefiles before posting to the Web
old plat map books and integrating them • Electronic automation of new subdivision and survey requests
with digital orthophotography to create • Geodatabase eliminates steps required to integrate files into cadastral data
a new County base map. In the years • Parcel map maintenance productivity increased and streamlined
that followed many additional data layers
were added, including extensive data ESRI SOFTWARE USED
provided by the City of Lafayette. ArcGIS, ArcIMS, ArcSDE, ArcMap, Publisher, ArcEditor, ArcView, Spatial Analyst
For Director -
Carl Anderson, GISP, Fulton County,
Georgia
Keri Brennan, GISP, The Schneider
Corporation, Indianapolis,
Mapping Your Community Workshops: Indiana
An Introduction to GIS and Community Analysis Only David DiBiase, GISP, Penn State
Great for Beginners and anyone interested $495 University, University Park,
in mapping their community! Pennsylvania
Twyla McDermott, GISP, City of
FREE ArcGIS (ArcView 9.3) software 60-day trial CD set Charlotte, North Carolina
Alan Little, City of Hamilton,
Ontario, Canada
May 14/15 Chicago, IL June 25/26 Indianapolis, IN Mark Sievers, AICP, Sievers &
May 14/15 Atlanta, GA July 7/8 Baltimore, MD Associates LLC , Altamonte
May 19 Dallas, TX July 9/10 Washington, DC Springs, Florida
May 21 Houston, TX July 15/16 Olympia, WA
May 27/28 Austin, TX July 17 Seattle, WA Those who are elected will serve for
May 29 S. Antonio, TX July 22 Nashville, TN a 3-year term beginning October 2,
June 2 Eugene, OR July 24 Memphis, TN 2009, at the conclusion of URISA’s
June 4/5 Portland, OR July 29 Charleston, NC 47th Annual Conference in Anaheim,
June 9/10 Kansas City, MO July 31 Louisville, KY California.
June 18/19 Raleigh, NC The following Board members
will conclude their terms on the
* These are One-Day Workshops (8:30am-4:30pm) Board at that time: Susan Johnson;
Al Butler, GISP; Juna Papajorgji, GISP;
877.241.6576 l www.urban-research.info and Geney Terry, GISP.
ESRI
Business Partner
conference. The program is looking good n Crime Mapping & Analysis - NEW
and we are very grateful for the commit- n Field Automation and Mobile GIS
GISCI GISP® Points for Attending Part I of the ULA = 0.63 EDU Points.
Points for attending the full ULA = 1.25 EDU Points.
What was the most valuable part of your attendance at the ULA?
“Networking with other professionals who deal with the same issues I have. This is the
first time I’ve been able to interact with, almost exclusively, GIS managers, coordinators
and GIOs.”
The ULA will only presented one time in 2009…don’t miss it!
John Bartholomew, Geowise Limited, Midlothian, Dennis R. Higgins, Jr. GISP, King County GIS Jacque Peace, Spatial Data Research Inc,
United Kingdom Center, Seattle, WA Lawrence, KS
Tony Bassak, GISP, HDR Inc, Dallas, TX Ashley Holt, University of California Berkeley, San Shelly Rogers, Concord, NH
Francisco, CA
Jess Biggs, Tempe, AZ Travis Rozean, Manatron Inc, Portage, MI
Steve Hoover, AICP, PBS & J, Denver, CO
Dave Bouwman, Data Transfer Solutions, Fort Phil Russ, Nevada County, Nevada City, CA
Collins, CO Leslie M Jacobs, GISP, Tampa, FL
Augustine E. Salazar, GISP, Monroe Twp, NJ
Imogene Bump, Longmont, CO Patrick Jankanish, King County GIS Center,
Seattle, WA Brian Schnick, Orcutt, CA
David Carey, Geowise Limited, Midlothian, United
Kingdom Lynn Johnson, Univ Of Colorado At Denver, M Douglas Simpson, GISP, Adasphere,
Superior, CO Charlottesville, VA
James Carolan, CDM - Camp Dresser & McKee
Inc., Cambridge, MA James P Lacy, GISP, Wisconsin State Cartographer's Jeremy E Smith, AeroMap US, Inc., Anchorage, AK
Office, Madison, WI James Soldenwager, Chicago, IL
Evan Clark, Deschutes County 911, Bend, OR
Luc Levesque, Ville de Montreal, Montreal, QC, Mary Jo Starostka, Tyler Technologies - CLT
Benjamin B. Clement, GISP, Carbon County, Price, Canada
UT Division, Dayton, OH
Feng-Tyan Lin, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Christopher Storer, Stantec Consulting Services
Keith Cunningham, Spatial Data Research Inc, Taiwan
Lawrence, KS Inc, Cincinnati, OH
Susan Mackie, City of Calgary, Calgory, AB, Mark Syren, AeroMap US, Inc., Anchorage, AK
Chris Cunningham, Public Utilities Commission of Canada
Ohio, Columbus, OH Rita Taylor, Gloucester County, Gloucester, VA,
Aaron J Morris, GISP, Brandon, MS
Kevin Daugherty, The Sidwell Company, Carmel, IN Venessa Thompson, Putnam County GIS, Palatka,
Akbar Noorzay, Aspen Environmental Group, FL
Brian C Davis, GISP, City of Arvada, Arvada, CO Agoura Hills, CA
Andrew Durnin, District of North Vancouver, Martha Vaughn, eGPS Solutions Inc, Norcross, GA
Brian Noyle, Data Transfer Solutions, Fort Collins,
North Vancouver, BC, Canada CO Jeffery Wielki, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB,
Pierre Goovaerts, BioMedware, Ann Arbor, MI Canada
Josh O'Conner, Appalachian State University,
Corey Halford, City of Airdrie, Airdrie, AB, Canada Asheville, NC Kevin Woosley, GISP, CH2M Hill, Grissom AFB, IN
Michael Hanna, Tidewater Utilities Inc, Barnegat, NJ David Oradesky, San Francisco, CA Chris Zontine, San Jose, CA
URISA Awards –
Don’t Miss These Deadlines!
GIS Hall of Fame Nominations – May 1
Student Paper Competition – May 1
ESIG Award Submissions – May 11
Corporate Members
Spatial Data Research
14 E. 8th St.
GeoWise Limited
Platinum Corporate Member
28 Maritime Lane
Lawrence KS 66044 ESRI
Edinburgh UK EH6 6RZ
(785) 842-0447
http://www.instantatlas.com
Fax: (785) 842-0558 Gold Corporate Members
Key Contact: John Bartholomew,
Key Contact: Keith Cunningham PhD,
john.bartholomew@geowise.co.uk CDM
kcunningham@sdrmaps.com
Data Transfer Solutions, LLC
http://www.sdrmaps.com/
Geowise Limited based in the UK, are Michael Baker Corporation
Spatial Data Research has been an in- developers of a software product called
dustry leader in public safety and 9-1-1 InstantAtlas™. InstantAtlas™ is used by BC Assessment
solutions since 1993. SDR is also a leader organizations to improve the visual com- Manatron
in LiDAR elevation modeling and auto- munication of location-based statistical Merrick & Company
mated feature extraction. public health data. OGInfo.com, LLC
Used by health organizations around Pictometry
the world, InstantAtlas™ enables health
Pinnacle Mapping Technologies, Inc.
analysts and research professionals to
Pixxures, Inc.
create highly interactive web solutions,
The Sidwell Company
combining health statistics with map
data that improves data visualization,
enhances communication with their
target audiences, and engages people Business Members
in more informed decision-making. See
Silver Business Members
how data professionals in Public Health
Inner Corridor Technologies/ Teach Me GIS
are using InstantAtlas at http://www.
eGPS Solutions Inc
instantatlas.com/showcase_health.xhtml.
Take a free trial of InstantAtlas at http://
www.instantatlas.com/freetrial.xhtml Geotek Mapping
GeoWise Limited
GIS Innovations LTD.
Kessler GIS
Your business card advertisement can be seen here for $50 per issue.
MarkYour
Specializing in
photogrammetric and GIS
services since 1954
Calendar!
Digital Orthophotography
Digital Planimetric and
Topographic Mapping
Aerial Photography
LiDAR
GIS Services
520 Spirit of St. Louis Blvd.
Chesterfield, MO 63005
tel 636-368-4400 www.surdex.com
12th Annual
GIS Summer School
Intensive Residential Program
July 6-August 27, 2009
• Comprehensive 24-unit
curriculum
• Software training
• Networking events/tours
Easy RFP Distribution
Apply now for admission. Remember to email your technology-
Early enrollment discount. related RFPs to info@urisa.org for FREE
Limited enrollment. distribution to URISA’s corporate and
For more information: business members. Save lots of time and
(951) 827-5804
URISA 2009
effort. We have a list of contacts who are
sciences@ucx.ucr.edu pleased to receive your
www.extension.ucr.edu/geo
RFPs. Take advantage of
this free service often!