2012 SCAUG Conference
Registration Opens this Fall
Marriot Courtyard
Conference Rate: $95 Single/Double
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection Goes Online
This via the USGS as The National Geospatial Program has launched the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection. Dy today’s launch, the USGS will offer more than 90,000 of the 200,000+ USGS historical topo maps – some dating back to the Agency’s founding! (126+ years ago). The maps are georeferenced and can be downloaded for free from the USGS Store. Since they are in a GeoPDF format, no special programs are required, and they can be used in conjunction with the US Topo maps.
Some details… Nearly 90,000 high resolution scans of the more than 200,000 historical USGS topographic maps, some dating as far back as 1884, are now available online. The Historical Topographic Map Collection includes published U.S. maps of all scales and editions, and are offered as a georeferenced digital download or as a scanned print from the USGS Store. See the Historical Topographic Map Collection … more details in this official PR
Some details… Nearly 90,000 high resolution scans of the more than 200,000 historical USGS topographic maps, some dating as far back as 1884, are now available online. The Historical Topographic Map Collection includes published U.S. maps of all scales and editions, and are offered as a georeferenced digital download or as a scanned print from the USGS Store. See the Historical Topographic Map Collection … more details in this official PR
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Free GIS Nationawide Seminar
Improve Access to GISFree US Nationwide Seminar
September – November 2011-->
The Extend the Reach of Your GIS seminar teaches GIS professionals how to expand the access to their authoritative maps and geospatial information. Esri staff will present practical applications and demonstrations that reflect common workflows.
This seminar will help you:
Identify the expanding audience for the geographic knowledge you create.
Meet the increased demand for maps by your organization's stakeholders.
Share your work with anyone on virtually any device.
Register to attend the free seminar at a location near you.
Quick Links
Agenda-->Seminar Materials-->
Ask a Question Success with GIS Series-->
Online Community
#GISSeminar
Share with Peers
-->
-->
Share
September – November 2011-->
The Extend the Reach of Your GIS seminar teaches GIS professionals how to expand the access to their authoritative maps and geospatial information. Esri staff will present practical applications and demonstrations that reflect common workflows.
This seminar will help you:
Identify the expanding audience for the geographic knowledge you create.
Meet the increased demand for maps by your organization's stakeholders.
Share your work with anyone on virtually any device.
Register to attend the free seminar at a location near you.
Quick Links
Agenda-->Seminar Materials-->
Ask a Question Success with GIS Series-->
Online Community
#GISSeminar
Share with Peers
-->
-->
Share
GIS Pre-Incident Planning
GIS Pre-Incident Planning - Training Materials Available
On June 14, 2011 NAPSG co-hosted a webcast with Esri that provided training on how to use GIS to create and manage building pre-incindent plans. This training session (titled, "Map the Risks Before the Incident: Learn How to Create Pre-Incident Plans using GIS") provided fire service, emergency management, and local GIS analysts with the skills-based training on how to use GIS for department-wide pre-incident planning. It covered the following specific knowledge & skills required to operationalize GIS for this important capability:
Model practices on the technical procedures and workflows from creating GIS-based pre-incident plans. Including a supporting database model.
How to use available map templates to support the use of GIS-based pre-incident plans.
Technical skills on database schemas and database management needed to support GIS-based pre-incident planning.
How to apply a common flexible framework for incident-level symbology in your pre-plans to enhance situational awareness & mutual aid response.
The following supporting materials & tools are provided below to support your department's efforts to create GIS-based pre-incident plans.
Cloud based preplan editing- A sample web map that incorporates the GIS pre-planning methodology will be available soon via the link above
Link to NAPSG ArcGIS.com - Access is free and includes the following resources:- Smaller version of a geodatabase to collect preplan data- Templates for paper pre-plans- Map Package- ArcGIS Mobile Map application to collect preplan data
Furthermore, provided here is a shortened version of it as a video training tutorial. Click on the link below to access the GIS Pre-Incident Planning Training Tutorial as a video.
GIS Pre-Incident Planning Training Tutorial- High Definition
GIS Pre-Incident Planning Training Tutorial- Regular Quality and Resolution
This video tutorial is a great way to learn key skills that are essential to building your GIS-based pre-incident plans. You can use this video as a training tool in your agency to equip your staff with these essential skills. If you have questions about how to use GIS for pre-incident planning that are not answered in the video or supporting materials & tools, feel free to send an email to questions@publicsafetygis.org with your question - be sure to include "Question on GIS Pre-Plans" in the subject line of the email. NAPSG will do our best to provide answers to your questions within a couple of weeks.
This webcast training, and the video training tutorial linked above, were produced in cooperation with the instructor, Chris Rogers. Chris Rogers is a lieutentant with the Kirkland Fire Department in Washington and a Technical Expert & Regional Coordinator with the National Alliance for Public Safety GIS Foundation. Chris has over 20 years of experience in the fire service. He uses his background in geography and GIS to enhance daily operations for local fire departments. In this capacity he serves as a Technical Advisor & Contractor to fire departments around the country to help them advance their use of GIS for pre-incident planning, computer aided dispatch, and fire service regionalization. Chris is available to provide technical GIS consulting services to public safety agencies on a paid basis and can be reached for these matter at chris@firemapping.com.
NAPSG is grateful for Chris's contributions in time & expertise in making the
On June 14, 2011 NAPSG co-hosted a webcast with Esri that provided training on how to use GIS to create and manage building pre-incindent plans. This training session (titled, "Map the Risks Before the Incident: Learn How to Create Pre-Incident Plans using GIS") provided fire service, emergency management, and local GIS analysts with the skills-based training on how to use GIS for department-wide pre-incident planning. It covered the following specific knowledge & skills required to operationalize GIS for this important capability:
Model practices on the technical procedures and workflows from creating GIS-based pre-incident plans. Including a supporting database model.
How to use available map templates to support the use of GIS-based pre-incident plans.
Technical skills on database schemas and database management needed to support GIS-based pre-incident planning.
How to apply a common flexible framework for incident-level symbology in your pre-plans to enhance situational awareness & mutual aid response.
The following supporting materials & tools are provided below to support your department's efforts to create GIS-based pre-incident plans.
Cloud based preplan editing- A sample web map that incorporates the GIS pre-planning methodology will be available soon via the link above
Link to NAPSG ArcGIS.com - Access is free and includes the following resources:- Smaller version of a geodatabase to collect preplan data- Templates for paper pre-plans- Map Package- ArcGIS Mobile Map application to collect preplan data
Furthermore, provided here is a shortened version of it as a video training tutorial. Click on the link below to access the GIS Pre-Incident Planning Training Tutorial as a video.
GIS Pre-Incident Planning Training Tutorial- High Definition
GIS Pre-Incident Planning Training Tutorial- Regular Quality and Resolution
This video tutorial is a great way to learn key skills that are essential to building your GIS-based pre-incident plans. You can use this video as a training tool in your agency to equip your staff with these essential skills. If you have questions about how to use GIS for pre-incident planning that are not answered in the video or supporting materials & tools, feel free to send an email to questions@publicsafetygis.org with your question - be sure to include "Question on GIS Pre-Plans" in the subject line of the email. NAPSG will do our best to provide answers to your questions within a couple of weeks.
This webcast training, and the video training tutorial linked above, were produced in cooperation with the instructor, Chris Rogers. Chris Rogers is a lieutentant with the Kirkland Fire Department in Washington and a Technical Expert & Regional Coordinator with the National Alliance for Public Safety GIS Foundation. Chris has over 20 years of experience in the fire service. He uses his background in geography and GIS to enhance daily operations for local fire departments. In this capacity he serves as a Technical Advisor & Contractor to fire departments around the country to help them advance their use of GIS for pre-incident planning, computer aided dispatch, and fire service regionalization. Chris is available to provide technical GIS consulting services to public safety agencies on a paid basis and can be reached for these matter at chris@firemapping.com.
NAPSG is grateful for Chris's contributions in time & expertise in making the
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
5 Skills needed to be successful in a GIS career
The Top 5 Skills Needed to be Successful in a GIS Career
In a few weeks, I am giving a webinar entitled “The Top 5 Skills you need to be successful in a GIS career.” Because this is a topic that has been covered by dozens of articles in GIS journals and magazines over the past 20 years, I aim to do something different that stems from my educational work with the GIS community over that time.
I argue that the first skill is curiosity. Successful GIS people are curious not just about geospatial technologies, but they are also curious about the world. They ponder spatial relationships at work in phenomena from the local to global scale, ranging from demographics, land use, and traffic patterns in their own community to natural hazards, biodiversity, and climate around the world. This curiosity fuels the tenacity that is often necessary to solve problems using GIS. This curiosity is also essential because it helps frame geographic questions, and asking the right kind of questions is the first step in the geographic inquiry process that is key to successful work in GIS.
The second skill is the ability to work with data. Those successful in GIS have developed critical thinking skills regarding data. They not only know where to find data, but understand metadata so well that they know the benefits and limitations of working with each type of data. They know the most effective means to gather, analyze, and display geographic data through a GIS.
The third skill is understanding geographic foundations. Successful GIS practitioners know the fundamentals behind all spatial phenomena, including map projections, datums, topological relationships, spatial data models, database theory and methods, ways to classify data, how to effectively use spatial statistics and geoprocessing methods, and more.
Adaptability is the fourth skill essential for success in the GIS field. Now more than ever, as the field of GIScience is evolving rapidly in terms of its consumer audience, sensor network, functionality, the platforms by which it can be accessed on the desktop, mobile devices, and cloud, and in many more ways, successful GIS professionals need to be adaptable and flexible. They need to be not only willing to change but accept and embrace change as an essential and necessary part of the field. They are lifelong learners.
The fifth skill is good communications. Those successful in GIS know how to use GIS and other presentation tools to communicate their results to a wide variety of audiences. They know how to effectively employ cartographic elements, but they also know how to clearly communicate the results of their analysis in oral and written reports, video, face to face, online, and via other means.
Do you suppose these skills will become more important or less important as geospatial technologies grow in their impact on society in the years ahead? Do you agree with this list? If not, which five skills do you believe are the most important? How can the Geospatial Technology Competency Model inform such a list?
- Joseph Kerski, Esri Education Manager
In a few weeks, I am giving a webinar entitled “The Top 5 Skills you need to be successful in a GIS career.” Because this is a topic that has been covered by dozens of articles in GIS journals and magazines over the past 20 years, I aim to do something different that stems from my educational work with the GIS community over that time.
I argue that the first skill is curiosity. Successful GIS people are curious not just about geospatial technologies, but they are also curious about the world. They ponder spatial relationships at work in phenomena from the local to global scale, ranging from demographics, land use, and traffic patterns in their own community to natural hazards, biodiversity, and climate around the world. This curiosity fuels the tenacity that is often necessary to solve problems using GIS. This curiosity is also essential because it helps frame geographic questions, and asking the right kind of questions is the first step in the geographic inquiry process that is key to successful work in GIS.
The second skill is the ability to work with data. Those successful in GIS have developed critical thinking skills regarding data. They not only know where to find data, but understand metadata so well that they know the benefits and limitations of working with each type of data. They know the most effective means to gather, analyze, and display geographic data through a GIS.
The third skill is understanding geographic foundations. Successful GIS practitioners know the fundamentals behind all spatial phenomena, including map projections, datums, topological relationships, spatial data models, database theory and methods, ways to classify data, how to effectively use spatial statistics and geoprocessing methods, and more.
Adaptability is the fourth skill essential for success in the GIS field. Now more than ever, as the field of GIScience is evolving rapidly in terms of its consumer audience, sensor network, functionality, the platforms by which it can be accessed on the desktop, mobile devices, and cloud, and in many more ways, successful GIS professionals need to be adaptable and flexible. They need to be not only willing to change but accept and embrace change as an essential and necessary part of the field. They are lifelong learners.
The fifth skill is good communications. Those successful in GIS know how to use GIS and other presentation tools to communicate their results to a wide variety of audiences. They know how to effectively employ cartographic elements, but they also know how to clearly communicate the results of their analysis in oral and written reports, video, face to face, online, and via other means.
Do you suppose these skills will become more important or less important as geospatial technologies grow in their impact on society in the years ahead? Do you agree with this list? If not, which five skills do you believe are the most important? How can the Geospatial Technology Competency Model inform such a list?
- Joseph Kerski, Esri Education Manager
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
