Question: Where do you work and what is your role?
Hi! I am a Nutrition and Community Services Support Specialist at Arizona Department of Health Services in Phoenix. I support the Women, Infants, and Children Supplemental Food Program (WIC). In this position I primarily do administrative and financial tasks for the program, but occasionally produce maps, such as locations of approved farmers' markets to submit to USDA for our State Plan. However, recently my role has expanded to work one day a week supporting the GIS team. I am creating service area maps for our ground ambulance providers and do manual geocoding for opiod related data.
What GIS success have you had this year and what product did you use?
I completed a GIS internship at Desert Botanical Garden in November 2018 using ArcGIS Pro and the GIS manager provided my registration for me to attend the 2019 Esri International User Conference. Also, now officially doing GIS work regularly for my employer.
What is your expertise (GIS related or not), and how can that help the community?
I started in GIS in 1997 and worked in it until 1999. I had a long break, but took GIS courses in 2000-2001 for my Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography. I built a GIS related website to finish my degree in 2005. My next GIS employment was from 2007 - 2009, but was laid off with the crash in the economy. During this time I earned a certificate in 2D CAD. Finally, started working in GIS in my current position by "volunteering" for it on top of my "normal" job about 2015. I am happy to talk about my progress in getting back into GIS when other life circumstances interfere. I am am planning to jump into ArcGIS StoryMaps right away!