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note: this post has been archived, and is available in read only mode.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 William,  Welcome to GeoNet! I hope you find our community helpful. The humanitarian work you do sounds really interesting and challenging. If there is anything specific you are looking for in the community, let me know. 

Cheers!

[WilliamTarpai]

HI Michelle, I have 2 country projects that I need to get mapped out, 1)

in Thailand, and 2) in Ethiopia.

Next month, in March 2019, a group of our members, including the Arlington

Rotary club will be making a trip to Thailand to visit the farms and attend

an inauguration ceremony organized by the Thai Rotary Club and the

Northeast Water Foundation. The group will be arriving in Bangkok on the 23

rd of March and fly to Khon Kaen on the 24th of March. The inauguration

service and the visitations of the Ponds (created by the project) will be

on the 25th of March 2019. I would like any hints or guidance that might

help our team map out, and create data points which might prove helpful to

decision making in the future.

Thanks William

[MaryBandziukas]

 Hi, I am Mary Bandziukas, writing from New York City.  I was recently hired by the NYC Dept.of Transportation, where I am on the asset management GIS team.  We perform record-keeping and research functions.  We currently are refining a model to prioritize refurbishment of pavement markings.  I was with this team part time for almost 2 years, during which I began to develop a pedestrian trip model for the agency.  One purpose of the model will be to calculate pedestrian risk of being involved in a ped-vehicle accident.  Using documented trip generation rates, I am calculating trips per lot based upon land use, and I will need to decide how to calculate modal split.  The agency has short-term (2- or 3-hour) ped counts and is beginning to collect some long-term counts which may be useful in validating the model.  

The main innovative GIS successes for me over the past few years have been: 

- learning about and using the SatScan tool to generate center lines for sidewalk and crosswalk polygons for the purpose of developing a pedestrian network

- investigating potential applications of the agency's DEMs generated from aerial LiDAR.  We were interested in the potential to identify road imperfections such as potholes.  I implemented ESRI's Bluespots model in this work.  We will have access to mobil LiDAR in the future, which will likely give much better results.

- automating mapping of work orders and other documents with a Python program

If I have to identify areas of expertise, I would say I have had an eclectic career so far, with experience in urban planning and higher ed, as well as recently-developed skills in research and with respect specifically to GIS, in map design and cartography.  Long-term, my "dream" would be to implement service-learning projects between students and community groups.  Shorter-term, I want to provide GIS services to community groups on a volunteer basis.  I expect to learn a great deal about community need and technical aspects of GIS in this way.

Thank you for implementing this group.  I am looking forward to seeing all the interesting things people are doing around the world.  

[MichelleMathias]

Hi Mary, Welcome to GeoNet! Happy to have you join us here. Really interesting work mapping pedestrian paths to avoid ped-vehicle accidents! Here are a few places in our community you might find interesting:

Urban and Regional Planning‌

Transportation‌

Roads and Highways User Group (RHUG)‌

Cheers!

[JamesBarrett]

Hello,

James Barrett is my name. I am library media specialist, learning ARCGIS! If you have any intro lessons to share please post! Thanks.

[PhilipQueen]

Hi James,

Welcome to the exciting world of GIS! Here's some GeoNet links that have been shared above that might help you kickstart your learning process:

New to GIS 

Esri Training 

Also, as a librarian, this might interest you:

Education 

Hope that helps!

[MichelleMathias]

Hi James, Welcome to GeoNet! The places Philip recommended are a great starting point! Let me know if you need help locating anything specific. 

Cheers!

[AbdoAbdelrasoul1]

Abdo Abdelrasoul, SWCA Environmental Consultant, GIS Systems Admin. 12/10/2018 to present

Just started, before that I was managing An ArcGIS Enterprise for the town of Oro Valley, I provide a solution to use GIS in pavement, presented at ESRI User conf. 2017, and again I participated in the lighting talk 2018. I provided a solution in street marking and OMS integration, and operation dashboard in planning (shared with ESRI) I was planning to submit for presentations.

My experience is in GIS applications in local governments, and consulting at many levels (local government to regional, and private sectors) in GIS implementations and management, planning, environmental and water resources, engineering, broadband, real states, and teaching. I have 22 years of GIS experience, Ed. Clark University, MA, 1996.

[MichelleMathias]

Hello Abdo, Welcome to GeoNet! Congratulations on your new position as a GIS systems admin for SWCA! Sounds like you have a lot of great experience in GIS and with Esri software! We welcome your knowledge and hope you share your experiences with others in the community! If you are looking for anything specific a few places to get started in the community are these landing pages: 

Product Communities

Industry Communities

Developer Communities

or Implementing ArcGIS‌

Thanks for joining, I look forward to hearing more from you.

Cheers!

[PhilipQueen]

Where do you work and what is your role?

My name is Philip, and I work as a GIS Technician at a local engineering firm based in Richmond, Va. I do a lot in data collection and maintenance, and in the setup for those efforts. I often serve as Technical Lead for projects.

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

My major successes in the past year have been in helping design collection methods - either workflows in custom AGOL apps or surveys in Survey123. These were both in large, statewide ADA compliance surveys where the existing collection methods were slow and unwieldy, and the updated workflows were able to save hundreds of hours from the process. 

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

Most of my work has been in utility collection and data maintenance. I specialize in developing efficient workflows for collection and maintenance, and finding creative solutions to technical issues. My knowledge in both technical issues and on-the-ground field collection make this possible. I often head to GeoNet when I reach a roadblock during a project to look for existing solutions, and I hope to share my experiences back with the community.

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