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note: this post has been archived, and is available in read only mode.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!

[MichelleMathias]

Hi Ned, Welcome to GeoNet! I hope you find our community helpful and valuable. Sounds like you are doing some interesting things in the state of Texas!  Here are a couple of places you might find interesting. 

Arc Hydro‌

Water Utilities‌

3D‌

Cheers!

[DavidMcClennen]

• Where do you work and what is your role?My name is David, and I am the GIS Technician for the City of Seabrook, Texas. It's an odd position, because I'm not just a technician. I'm the only GIS person on staff so I do everything and anything, outside my realm of expertise even. A couple of times a department asked if I could take our web app and make it a mobile app; having no experience with mobile apps I learned and made one (took a year...). Now, I'm writing an SOP for our drone program and I'm getting my Part 107 License to fly. I'm excited to begin aerial surveys and bring that data back into my department!
• What GIS success have you had this year and what product did you use? (big or small - no win is out of bounds)Using Survey123 to collect and archive data across the city. There are multiple areas across departments that have no historical record keeping in place to track and mitigate problem areas such as water leaks. I use the form I made, Leak Logger, and the dashboard to begin archiving and tracking the leaks as the occur to analyze potential patterns and make recommendations to my utility supervisor about problems before they happen.

• What is your expertise (GIS related or not), and how can that help the community?I got my start as a rodman on a pipeline survey crew working on as builts and surveying ROW. After I was laid off the experience led me to work for the city I'm at now because they had similar equipment. So, I'd survey their utility assets once a week and the rest I'd work at the wastewater treatment plant. Honestly, at the time I had never heard about GIS, so when they mentioned GIS my first reaction was 'no, it's GPS.' That spurred me onto learning everything I could about GIS and 2 years later I'm editing our distribution network in ArcPro, making maps for various departments, and writing SOP's for supplemental programs like drones. I have much field and hands-on experience in working with water distribution networks, and I hope to expand my knowledge and experience into Drone Operations in Localities and beyond.

Hamilton Pool   30°20'32.17" N    -98°07'36.95" W

[MichelleMathias]

Hi David,  Welcome to GeoNet! Great, story on how you "stumbled" into GIS, and have embraced it! Our community is a great place to help you on your journey. Here are a few places to get you started. 

Survey123 for ArcGIS‌

ArcGIS Pro‌

Drone2Map for ArcGIS‌

Esri Training‌

Education‌ (check out the MOOC offerings)

Cheers!

[ChrisCrawford]

Where do you work and what is your role?

I work for a private engineering firm specializing in water and wastewater located in Fort Walton Beach, FL. I am currently the Subsurface Utilities Engineering Department Supervisor and the Senior GIS Analyst for our company.

What GIS success have you had this year and what product did you use? 

In the past year, I was able to utilize the Beta version of Survey123 to streamline a sanitary sewer smoke testing project. Having the ability to provide a field sketch ,GPS coordinates, photographs and various other data real-time through Survey123 and ArcGIS Online, we were able to produce reports on a daily basis to allow for faster diagnosis and resolution of the problems identified.

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

I have a Certifcate in Geographic Information Science from the University of West Florida and have more than 15 years experience in the use of Ground Penetrating Radar, utility mapping and data collection, database design and maintenance and project management. I also have a passion for martial arts and law enforcement. Having been formerly certified in the State of Florida in Law Enforcement and Corrections and a former FDOC employee, I would like to use my experience to aide the law enforcement community improve access to information through GIS to aide in investigations.

Bonus Round! 

28.3852° N, 81.5639° W

I try to visit the happiest place on earth several times a year. Each visit is magical in its own way, especially as my kids grow and are able to experience new attractions!

[MichelleMathias]

Hi Chris, Welcome to GeoNet! I hope you find the community helpful and valuable.  Here are a few places that might be of interest; 

Water Utilities‌

Survey123 for ArcGIS‌

ArcGIS Online‌

That is great that you get to visit your favorite place often! Walt Disney World is a magical place!

Cheers!

[Anonymous User]

That is indeed the happiest place on Earth!!

[JackWalker1]

Where do you work and what is your role?

My name is Jack Walker and I am the GIS Director for the city of Mishawaka, Indiana.  I'm the overall coordinator for the city and administer the databases and oversee all ESRI software and data being used, along with interfacing our enterprise GIS with four third party software systems.  I also coordinate and edit data for Public Safety dispatching and records management applications.  

What GIS success have you had this year and what product did you use?

We are still using ArcGIS Desktop but are making plans to set up a test server to start the transition to ESRI Enterprise, Portal, ArcGIS Pro, etc.  We use one way replication, ArcGIS Server services that are not associated to a federated portal, and are not ready to implement Portal yet, so we are not yet ready for ArcGIS Pro.  We provided the interface to get EnerGOV permitting software live which uses ArcGIS Server services for addresses and parcels.  I spent a lot of time in the past year further cleaning up our centerline, address, and common place datasets for Public Safety RMS and CAD software applications. I completed the upgrade of our Cues GraniteNET application for sewer inspections and improved the way it interacts with our Sewer GIS data.  We were also successful in providing a very accurate address file to the US Census for their LUCA project for the 2020 Census, completing the task in only 30 days instead of the 120 days allowed. Another GIS staff member did most of the data work on that project and I served as overall coordinator.  I collaborated with another GIS staff member to greatly improve our web mapping capabilities using ArcGIS Online and feature services.   

What is your expertise and how can that help the community?

I started out in computers being a Fortran programmer.  I have worked for two software companies each for 4 years, one as a programmer of engineering applications and the other providing tech support and software documentation for GIS software.  I have 24 years of full time GIS experience including the last 18 years as the overall GIS coordinator for our city using ESRI software.  I have overseen the development of an advanced enterprise GIS citywide from the ground up. I have also overseen our relationship with strategic partners in our area which includes a twin city as well as the entire county.  

[MichelleMathias]

Hi Jack,  Welcome to GeoNet! I hope you find the community helpful, especially as you begin the transition from Desktop to Enterprise, Portal etc..  The Census Bureau presented at FedGIS conference a few weeks ago, the 2020 census project is fascinating, how exciting that you participated in the LUCA project. Sounds like you have a wealth of GIS experience and expertise you can share with the community as well! Here are a few places you might find interesting: 

ArcGIS Enterprise‌

Portal for ArcGIS‌

Public Safety‌

ArcGIS Online‌

Cheers!

[AnthonyPiecuch1]

Where do you work and what is your role?

Hello, I am Tony Piecuch and a GIS Analyst At Doyon Utilities. We support all of the utilities for all 3 Army Bases in Alaska. We have a small shop, so I am currently wearing many hats as SDE Admin, Enterprise Admin, Field Collection, & Project Closeout. We work closely with the DoD and SDSFIE.

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

Our Biggest success in the last year is migrating from SQL08 to 2012, and successfully deploying the Enterprise 10.6 suite to our whole organization. We were previously limping along on a much outdated version of ArcServer. Currently trying to get collector into the hands of out field personal. 

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

Spatial Data Standards for Facilities, Infrastructure, and Environment (SDSFIE), And ArcEnterprise.

Currently working on providing the best utility service to the Alaskan Arctic Warriors of the US Army.

Bonus:

63.212928 -147.036781 Clearwater Mountains, Alaska Range

Looking forward to getting more involved with the GIS Community. Thanks for having me on geoNet.

[MichelleMathias]

Hi Tony, Welcome to GeoNet! Hope you find our community helpful, especially being a small shop, reaching out to the broader GIS community could be very useful! Congrats on deploying Enterprise from ArcMap! Here are a few places to get you started:

ArcGIS Enterprise‌

Collector for ArcGIS‌

Alaska is definitely on my list of places to visit, the Clearwater Mountains look amazing! 

Cheers!