Introduce Yourself!

[MichelleMathias]

Welcome to GeoNet!

We are a community that collaborates, learns and shares together. To help you connect with other members, we started this introduction thread. Think of this as your intro to GeoNet networking and a chance to get to know  each other as we begin our GeoNet journey.

Please introduce yourself to the rest of the community by sharing your answers to the questions in the comments section below.

• Where do you work and what is your role? 
• What GIS success have you had this year and what product did you use? (big or small - no win is out of bounds)
• What is your expertise (GIS related or not), and how can that help the community?

Bonus Round! Post the coordinates to your favorite place on earth.

note: this post has been archived, and is available in read only mode. To create a new introduction, please visit the new GeoNet Member Introductions‌ space. Thank you!

[MrinmayeeBharadwaj]

• Where do you work and what is your role? 

Hi! My name is Minu and I am currently working as a Tech Writer and Blogger for several Professional Services (ArcMap and Pro) teams in Esri. I graduated with a Masters degree in Psychology and a double Bachelors in English Literature and Geography. I also did a Penn State GIS course through Esri's MOOC series. The course I took focused on learning how to use ArcGIS software and create story-maps to analyze earthquakes and their impact on Southern California, specifically around San Diego.

• What GIS success have you had this year and what product did you use? (big or small - no win is out of bounds)

I use ArcGIS for Maritime Charting, ArcGIS for Bathymetry, Maritime Chart Service Server, ArcGIS for Airports, ArcGIS for Aviation Charting and pertaining Pro software to create meaningful, user friendly UA.

I am fluent in English, Hindi, French and German, and often help several Teams coordinate with overseas customers for Esri Help feedback.

• What is your expertise (GIS related or not), and how can that help the community?

 My forte is writing and I have a deep love and respect for technology! Put those two together and you have a great combination of ideas written well!

Bonus Round! Post the coordinates to your favorite place on earth.

My favorite place IS the whole planet. You will be amazed at every turn!

[JohnFix1]

Where do you work and what is your role? 

Hello, I'm John Fix from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I own my own company (IronCompass.com) that specializes in applications for emergency response. We have a product called OnScene Xplorer. I also work as a Geospatial Architect in state government.

What GIS success have you had this year and what product did you use? (big or small - no win is out of bounds)

This year I have been creating vector tile caches. It's unbelievable how fast they are generated and how small they are on disk. We're replacing a 70GB raster tile cache that took over 40 hours to render with a 250MB vector cache that takes about 15 minutes to render. Wow!

What is your expertise (GIS related or not), and how can that help the community?

I started GIS with PC Arc/Info 3.2 back in 1988. The PC didn't even have a mouse. I used a large Calcomp digitizer as the "mouse". For training I use VHS tapes and workbooks from, back then, E.S.R.I. Certainly times have changed!

I've done a lot of cartographic projects over my career (National Geographic Atlas of the World) and understand a lot of tips to making a nice looking map. I've also built a lot of spatial databases and am always looking for short-cuts to improve efficiencies.

Favorite place on earth ( at this time):

-76.290960, 41.329896

[MichelleMathias]

Hi John, Welcome to GeoNet! Wow, what a wealth of experience. I hope you find our community useful and collaborative, we have a lot of great people here. If you are looking for anything specific let me know.  A good place to start is on one of our landing pages:

Product Communities

Industry Communities

Developer Communities

Cheers!

[AlbertGarcia4]

• Where do you work and what is your role? 

     Hello, my name is Albert Garcia, I am the GIS Consultant in the Educational Services Division of the Orange County Dept. of Education, CA. USA. I work with various programs within the Student Achievement and Wellness Unit to assist with research and analytics of student, school, and district data through the use of web and deliverable map products. 

• What GIS success have you had this year and what product did you use? (big or small - no win is out of bounds)

    Along with my role at OCDE, I also freelance using ArcGIS Pro. I am currently assisting an archaeology professor from a local university with his many years of surveys and research in the Mojave desert which, with my own background in anthropology/archaeology (and a great love of the desert) has been a uniquely interesting project.

• What is your expertise (GIS related or not), and how can that help the community?

 The people that I am currently using GIS to assist are all working towards creating and maintaining programs that help to improve a large and diverse group of schools, administrators, and, most importantly, students. Quality education benefits us all in the near and long term, and my position has been personally very fulfilling. 

Bonus Round! Post the coordinates to your favorite place on earth.

34.110015, -116.300761

[MichelleMathias]

Hi Albert,  Welcome to GeoNet! I love your focus on GIS for education! I hope you find our community helpful in your pursuit of helping educators. We have a couple of places you might find interesting:

Education‌

K12 Instruction‌

Story Maps for Education‌

GIS Day‌

ArcGIS Pro‌

I haven't been to Joshua Tree yet, but my SoCal colleagues who visit often, really love it and share their amazing pics from there. It has been added to my list of places to visit! 

[JulieKulhan]

Hello, I'm Julie from Angel Fire New Mexico. I am the Asset Manager for the village.

What GIS success have you had this year and what product did you use? (big or small - no win is out of bounds) I am very new to ArcGIS. I did take a  class at Highlands university and received a A. I will be geo-tagging our buried assets once the snow melts and it warms up.

What is your expertise (GIS related or not), and how can that help the community?

Newbie. ArcMap was used in class and we have PRO in our system now. Hopefully, I'll get our water system mapped, including notes and photos. Note really sure how to start this project.

[MichelleMathias]

Hi Julie,

Welcome to GeoNet! This is a great place for Newbies! We are a friendly bunch and happy to help. Here are a few places in the community that might interest you:

New to GIS‌

Esri Training‌

ArcGIS Pro‌

Story Maps‌

Let me know if I can help you find anything specific.  Here are a few tools to help navigate the community:

GeoNet Quick Tips: Spotlight Search

GeoNet Home Page Video

Cheers!

[DanielRydl]

 Greetings everyone,

Daniel Rydl, GIS Tech for the Florida Division of Emergency Management 's (FDEM) State Emergency Response Team, (SERT).  Blue Sky (hey, nothing is wrong right now stuff) roles pertain to managing our geographic datasets, services, ad hoc mapping and analysis requests across the Division, etc.  Gray Sky (oh heck, things are going to go from bad to worse soon) role is to support operations pertaining to disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. 

What GIS success have you had this year and what product did you use? (big or small - no win is out of bounds)

Moving legacy templates over to Pro.  Designing and implementing vector tile base maps.  Bringing Hazus instructors to FDEM to teach customized Florida specific courses this spring (Hazus is FEMA's disaster modelling package built on ArcGIS architecture), and lots of other cool stuff.  (Let me know if you have interest in these classes)

What is your expertise (GIS related or not), and how can that help the community?

Oh gosh, Hazus definitely.  How it can be used in ramp up to a landfalling storm, implementing specific critical facility and property valuation data into Hazus as opposed to the out of the box datasets for a more complete analysis.  Using ArcGIS online to convey the message internally and publicly.  If it has a spatial component and is derived from data found in the 4 phases of EM, then yeah...

Look forward to becoming more active in this community.  Thanks!

Daniel

Fav Place?     

 41°55'13.82"N

103°27'14.11"W

#GBR

[MichelleMathias]

Hi Daniel, Welcome to GeoNet!  I hope you find the community helpful.  We have a lot of great resources and people here. And it sounds like you have a lot of knowledge to share as well!  

A couple of places that might interest you:

Implementing ArcGIS‌

ArcGIS Online‌

ArcGIS Pro‌

Public Safety‌

Let me know if there is anything specific that you might be looking for. 

And now I have added Nebraska to my list of places I must visit! 

Cheers!

[WilliamTarpai]

Greetings!  My name is William Tarpai.  I’m a UNHCR professional officer retiree, in my 70s.  I’m also President-Elect for the Arlington Rotary Club of District 5330 in southern California which has 60+ clubs, dedicated to social good.  I participated in a United Nations High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Peace-Building and Sustaining Peace in New York in April 2018.

• Where do you work and what is your role?  I’m a Globalization consultant, promoting the Sustainable Development Goals (17) challenge during Agenda 2030 (2015-2030). Bringing new players to the table to achieve successful SDG outcomes is what I perceive as my major role, AND why I want to be involved with YOU.
• What GIS success have you had this year and what product did you use? (big or small - no win is out of bounds) Participating in my first ESRI on-line training
• What is your expertise (GIS related or not), and how can that help the community? More than three decades working in support of refugees and internally displaced persons globally, going to places not on well traveled international tourism paths.   I am actively involved with supporting students and young professionals to gain skills sets and experience required to succeed in the global humanitarian assistance and development job markets.