Small City Woes

[DerekBernard]

I'm only five weeks into a new job with a small city.  We use ArcGIS for city owned utilities, streets, parcels, addresses, parks, zoning and stuff like that.  We probably only use about 5% of the ArcGIS capabilities.  No one really knows what my role as GIS Coordinator is so I've been going around to different departments asking them what I can help with.  I've been cleaning up and adding small amounts of data, fixing some web apps that have stopped working and dabbled in some custom systems my predecessor had put together.  The problem I'm having is that I don't seem to have that much to do.  I fill my time by posting basic questions on the Community and watching video after video of different training sessions or past conference presentations.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do to make my job more complete and successful for the small community I'm with?  I am a department of one with no direction.

[CarsonMorton · Accepted solution]

I am in a similar position as a department of one here at Forty Mile Gas.

My motto is "my job is to make your job easier". I think you could chat with the other departments about how they use your maps/apps. Find out what they wish they had, and what frustrates them. Tag along with the field crew and look over the office staff's shoulder to see how they are using things.

Sometimes they will have suggestions. Sometimes you'll just see things that can be improved.

I blew everyone's minds when I made it possible for them to search for a meter by the account number. "you can DO that?"

Good Luck!

[DerekBernard]

Yeah, that's what I'm trying to do.  I'll have to schedule some more times with folks and just learn what they do and see what I can add 🙂  Thanks

[HenryP]

I wonder if it would be a useful exercise to try and step back for a high level view of some of the governance and strategy aspects around a city's use of GIS, and what the goal might be. This exercise may highlight areas of the organisation where focus could be applied.

There was a GIS Managers event at the 2023 User Conference and there are some great resources here: https://community.esri.com/t5/gis-manager-s-group/2023-esri-gis-manager-s-summit-back-and-even/ba-p/...

Also, there is some great strategy and governance guidance from the Esri Canada team, these might really help you grow that 5%:

- https://resources.esri.ca/news-and-updates/geospatial-governance-distilled

- https://resources.esri.ca/gis-strategy/geospatial-strategy-essentials-for-managers-volume-2

- https://resources.esri.ca/gis-strategy

[KarenBowman]

Do you guys have a snow maintenance map? You could build that with help of Road and Bridge Office. Does your Assessor's Office have their own GIS person, if not then you could help map property boundaries. Build them the Equity Property Value Hub. Help the Emergency management with road maps, public web app for evacuations and notifications during an emergency. Help Elections with some of the solutions that ESRI has to offer or just help with maps during elections. Do you guys have a layer that shows the books/pages of all county roads in your area? If not work on that. Map all road easements in your county. That is just some things I can think of. Teach other departments to use ESRI products to help them in day-to-day jobs.

[GeraardsbergenGIS]

Create an ArcGIS HUB for your community and share as much public data as possible, your residents will thank you for it. I did this for my city Geraardsbergen, in Belgium (about 34.000 residents): https://gisbergen-gbergen.hub.arcgis.com/. It's made in Dutch but you can use the Google translate button to view my HUB in English, I'm sure there's some similar stuff you can share with your community. Use Survey123 to gather feedback, create StoryMaps with the help of your local tourist information offices, ... This is also very effective to use as an example for your colleagues and management of how you can implement GIS in your city.

Also as mentioned above, communicate with other departments, some of the ESRI tools (ArcGIS Solutions - Workforce - Survey123 - Field Maps - ...) included in your ArcGIS Online account could be very useful for them to improve their ways of collecting and sharing data. 

Good luck!

[CKillian]

A great place to start is with the local government Solutions.  These are preconfigured solutions that are fully supported by the esri team.  You can quickly deploy these solutions for demonstrations to show what capabilities exist in the local government space.  

solutions.arcgis.com

[Paul_E]

I am in a similar situation in the City of Laconia (population=18,000). The difference is that I have been in my position for 8 years now. I still don't think management has a clear understanding of the potential of GIS. (I have tried.) This is compounded by a general fear of change, old-timers who have a lot of knowledge but lack computer savvy, and administrators that are penny-wise but pound-foolish. Even though my title is "GIS Coordinator," my position is in the DPW. That said, I have done work for the City Council, the City Manager, the Planning Department, the Assessing Department, the Water Department and the Fire Department. I enjoy the variety. Yet despite this, I have been unsuccessful at broadening my position to a city-wide level like the IT department.  (That actually might be a good thing).  In a lot of ways, I have a great job. I generally set my own goals and am allowed the latitude to pursue what I think is important. In other ways, I feel like I am isolated. I don't get a lot of support or direction. At this point I have several data bases to maintain and projects to flesh out. I am never without something to do.   

There have been some really good suggestions on this thread. Ultimately, I think you should make your work fun.

Do you have a GPS? Personally, I love to do field work on sunny days and deskwork during inclement weather. (Do you have a buildings layer? If so, is it maintained? I have seen some incredible homes.)  I like to attend conferences and seminars; in-person is best.  If you can anticipate what is needed, you can look like a hero when they ask you for it.

Here are my suggestions.

1) Be patient. Government is a big boat. History and politics play their roles--even in a small city. Managers may want to outsource services despite the added cost. If the entire GIS Department, (one person) decided to take another job, would they have access to their critical information?  Even though the technology has been here for years (even decades), steering this boat takes a lot of time--as does inspiring one vision for the future.  While I was able to digitize most of our permits, I am embarrassed to admit that we still use carbon paper for others. Given gentle attention, I expect your work with other departments will bear fruit, but you need to give them time to figure it out.  

2) Make your job fun. Take time to train yourself, or to connect with people, or to hunt for missing data points, or to digitize old records  or to do whatever it is that you like to do.

3) Take advantage of the time that you have. Before you know it, the City will be asking more of you and not necessarily GIS stuff.  It will be "Please work with the ____  event committee," "supply data to the engineers," "coordinate the 911 addressing with the state," "meet the contractors to discuss master plan," "attend the discussion on asset management," . . .   

Hang in there. I think it will come together.