After an inspirational Plenary on Day One and Keynote Plenary on Day Two of the 2018 Federal GIS Conference in Washington D.C., attendees dispersed to begin their adventures on the Expo floor and in the many workshops provided by Esri staff and user and partners. The GeoNet team had the pleasure of participating in this year's event, giving the https://community.esri.com/community/events/fedgis/blog/2018/03/20/live-from-the-fedgis-plenary?sr=s...‌, and meeting so many of the wonderful guests that braved the cold, snowy weather to learn what advancements Esri has in store for the future of GIS. 

Enjoy the Highlights of what we captured. 

• YPN Luncheon
• What are the top three things you suggest doing when growing your career?
• What do you look for when hiring candidates?
• Wednesday Keynote Plenary
• On the Expo Floor
• SafeGraph
• Easy2Hike
• Day One Workshop Session
• GIS for Elected Officials
• Day Two Workshops
• ArcGIS for Local Government Solutions: An Overview
• Evolving the GIS Professional: Modernizing Intelligence Production in ArcGIS
• Member Connections at the GeoNet area
• One Last Hoorah! Social at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

YPN Luncheon

by Chris Catania‌

During the Young Professionals Network (Esri Young Professionals Network) luncheon on Tuesday, National Geographic’s Vice President of Media Innovation, Kaitlin Yarnell, shared a compelling commentary on the importance of crafting a visual story and the impact it can have on your career and ability to influence within your organization. Yarnell also took us through the story of how her role as a cartographer at Nat Geo evolved into her becoming a well-known and highly respected thought leader in geography worldwide. Here’s the highlights from her talk and Q&A session with YPN organizer Corianne Jones. We invite you to ask your questions and share your comments below.  

When you have a complex story to tell it’s important to break it down in to smaller parts and figure out how to use visuals to make the story more compelling and memorable,” said Yarnell. “Thinking visually helps to see what parts of the story are most important and how to best tell them.”

As an example, Yarnell shared the Mindsuckers story explaining how National Geographic needed to evolve to reach a new audience with a complex story. To rise to the challenge, Yarnell explained that they couldn’t rely on just one channel but they need to take risks and pursue an approach that included a collection of integrated formats; a creative dub-stub inspired video, compelling photography, a graphic novel element and interactive web content. In the end, the approach worked. Yarnell’s team successfully pushed beyond previously traditional boundaries connecting Nat Geo with their new and younger target audience while also telling an important, complex and compelling scientific story.  

To wrap up the session, Jones sat down with Yarnell to chat about what she has learned from building her team and developing her career.

What are the top three things you suggest doing when growing your career?  

• Know your strengths. Experiment with many things early on in your career, but once you find what you’re good at, focus on it and use those unique talents to stand out from others.
• Have a personal 30 second elevator speech. Always be ready to quickly share your personal mission, your work, or what your most passionate about and why. This is an important tool to have ready, especially when talking with leaders and executives.
• Sketch out what you’re doing before starting projects. Instead of diving right into digital tools, use simple tools to start brainstorming, like paper and sharpie, and map out your ideas. This “analog” first step helps to refine what you’re trying to accomplish with projects.

What do you look for when hiring candidates?

I look for passion. If someone is passionate about a hobby or other areas besides design, like running marathons or publishing their own blog, I usually ask them more about those type of things. I love learning more about those “side interests” in candidates because it helps me gauge their passion and it demonstrates their level of dedication and determination. And together those elements show me that they truly care about they what they’re doing in life and work, and that type of passion usually means that they have the capacity to deliver great contributions on my team.

Wednesday Keynote Plenary

Jack and Sue Gordon, Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence (PDDNI), get real with an intimate, sit-down discussion on stage. As they reminiscence on their acquaintance, Gordon refers to Jack as an inspiration, “He has a vision about what could be and then turns it into action that benefits America's interests.”

In response, Jack compliments Gordon for leading the NGA digital transformation and being the powerhouse behind the IC GIS Portal; a platform for analytics, collaboration, and data sharing that is used throughout the intelligence community—right down to the war fighter. Starting from zero, the IC GIS Portal now has 120,000 users worldwide.

Gordon shares her love for geography, “I really love geography and GIS because I think it’s accessible STEM. You are doing all those fundamental things in a way that allows you to see what you’re playing with.”

They talk candidly about the use of maps and GIS in the White House. Gordon explains how they put a map or some sort of spatial tabulation for almost every intelligence briefing.

Gordon shares the complexity and challenges of the world of GIS. She elaborates, “We don’t show human activity well enough,” referring to mass migration, human crisis in a map view, impacts to regions such as cultural changes.

"The combination of a map plus geospatial information presented differently is really powerful...Would love to show the President better - the feeling - taking story maps to another level." ~Susan Gordon, Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence

Switching the topic, Jack compliments Gordon in her role as the PDDNI, “You create a place of nurturing. You reach out and show the way – Amazing.” He asks if she has any advice for others.

Her advice:

1. Have to be good at your job. 
2. Be big.
3. Be bold - No organization has enough energy to stop someone who does. 
4. Learn to make decisions.
5. Give people responsibility. They work for you. 
6. Be kind - treat people decently. 

She adds, “Tell your kids to get a STEM education… If you are a leader you need to be a technical leader.” 

They transition into a conversation about self-driving cars. Gordon recollects a previous discussion with a friend who commented that children will not know how to drive a car. This led her to begin thinking about how we learn geography, “Most of us learn geography when we start driving cars…Geography is a foundational skill we need - how will people get that experience without driving?”  

Jack discusses an initiative K-12 program to help integrate geography and GIS into early education.

Continuing Gordon asks, “What is science fiction in this field now?”

Jack replies, “AR/VR machine learning - starting to be realized now - was science fiction 5-years ago.”

Their conversation ended in a warm farewell as Gordon exited the stage and Jack gave a welcoming introduction of the American Red Cross presenters.

• Brad Kieserman, Vice President – Disaster Operations & Logistics
• Brian Keenum, Senior Director – Business Infrastructure
• Omari Sefu, Senior Associate – GIS and Disaster Data Analysis

In partnership with Esri, the American Red Cross has developed their RC View system to synthesize federal, state and local data sources to inform service delivery and streamline reporting on large national disaster relief operations. Mapping of home fires, preparedness efforts for our local communities, and disaster relief efforts continue to evolve. With RC View its data-driven decision-making capability increases readiness and better meets our mission: alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies.

Brian Keenum, “We’re confident through data we can do a better job for the future.”

Brad Kieserman gives demonstration while Omari Sefu navigates the maps used for disaster recovery by the American Red Cross. Samples included fire damaged homes, use of mobile (Survey123 for ArcGIS) for volunteers, staff tracking in the field.

“Everything we do…is enabling our volunteer workforce to accomplish that mission.” ~ Brad Kieserman

Data, technology, GIS and data visualization are helping make a better Red Cross. RC View is a live map. We gather virtually and in our headquarters every day, and we look at the map. We respond to more than 360,000 disasters per year. We’re learning how we can provide more service to more people with compassion and quality -- providing shelter, feeding and comfort – because we can see the data.

We’re using your data and products. It ranges from weather, information about social vulnerability from the CDC, to flood maps from FEMA, and local authoritative information. The American Red Cross isn’t “the” team, we’re part of that team. You have helped alleviate suffering because we are using your data.

Nearly 50 percent of Americans can’t withstand an event that costs them $400. We organize so that these people don’t go over the tipping point and remain standing on their two feet.

On the Expo Floor

SafeGraph

After the Keynote Plenary, we headed to the Startup Zone on the Expo floor to talk with members of theEsri Startup Program.  First, we talked with Ryan Squire of SafeGraph who is new to the FedGIS conference. SafeGraph is a Machine Learning tech company that works with Esri customers to collect human movement, the where and when of human activity, tracked via devices such as mobile phones.

This datasets collected by SafeGraph are used by Esri customers who use ArcGIS and need big data collections to understand markets, strategy planning, advertising, and so much more. They came to FedGIS to gather feedback from the Federal customers and learn how they can better provide data collection to help with city planning and government intelligence.

Easy2Hike

We also had the pleasure to meet up with Easy2Hike at the Start Up zone. Easy2Hike is a new company working with Parks and Recreation services to build easy to use hiking trail maps for mobile devices. Easy2Hike partners, Uri Bar and Erez Talgam are avid hikers inspired by their own experiences on hiking trails all over the world. They wanted to develop a mobile app that anyone can use and is easy to update by park administrators without having to know code or GIS.

The Easy2Hike app provides geographic history and story-telling of the parks and trail locations, the ability to push alerts and communications to park goers, and even provides analytics such as the best places to have picnic tables or attractions. Uri and Erez are at FedGIS to get feedback and make connections with other Esri users and partners in an effort to expand their capabilities with their app.

Day One Workshop Session

GIS for Elected Officials

Day One we explored the Expo floor and sat in a workshop hosted by Bonnie Stayer and Lauren Lipovic. The session guest presenters representing different Senate offices demonstrated how government organizations are using GIS to leverage data for communications and understanding of constituents and making policies.

• Annie Hoefler, U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
  • Hoefler shared several projects tasked to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to find more resourceful mapping sets for natural resources, disaster recovery, cybersecurity, and several other projects.
• Chance Costello, U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
  • Castello displayed slides of the Nationwide Local Ballot Measures by County for 2014-2017.
• Romel Nicholas, Office of U.S. Senator Orin Hatch
  • In only 10-minutes, Nicholas developed a map of dissatisfied constituent correspondence from the State of Utah explaining how the information is then used to help guide communications for U.S. Senator Orin Hatch.

Day Two Workshops

ArcGIS for Local Government Solutions: An Overview

We wrapped up the Day Two afternoon with a workshop presented by Rachel Weedon on “ArcGIS for Local Government Solutions: An Overview.” The workshop introduced attendees to ArcGIS solutions, giving an overview of popular solution areas, demonstrating best practices for deployment and a sneak peek at future development initiatives. The workshop also highlighted case studies and examples from cities and counties that currently have ArcGIS for Local Government solutions deployed. Rachel also provided an overview of how MNCPPC has been using the ArcGIS Solution apps.

Evolving the GIS Professional: Modernizing Intelligence Production in ArcGIS

We followed with the final session of the evening presented by Renee Bernstein and Wendy Creighton on the “Evolving the GIS Professional: Modernizing Intelligence Production in ArcGIS.” The workshop showcased how a GIS professional can incorporate Esri's ArcGIS platform into intelligence production, analysis, and sharing for more informed decision-making at all levels.  

Member Connections at the GeoNet area

It was great to meet many current government members of the Esri Community who stopped by the GeoNet booth. We enjoyed the conversations and hearing how you're using the community in your work. We also welcome all new members who signed up this week and invite you to check out the GeoNet Resource Hub‌ for tips, tools and news. 

One Last Hoorah! Social at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

Finally, we attended the Esri final night social. It was a beautiful setting at the Smithsonian National Portrait Museum. Many connected, collaborated and even swapped business cards to continue their discussions outside of the conference.

Welcome and thank you for following the 2018 Federal GIS Plenary!

Please enjoy the highlights from today's plenary session. Feel free to join the conversation and comment bleow.

Be sure to check back today and Wednesday for FedGIS Conference 2018 daily recaps of all the exciting activities. 

Watch the Plenary Videos on YouTube.

**Click on images to open in a new browser and see images in full scale.

• Welcome and thank you for following the 2018 Federal GIS Plenary!
• Welcome toFedGIS Conference 2018!
• GIS – Connecting and Helping Everyone
• Meet & Greet
• Your Work
• Awards
• Vision
• Our Work
• Protecting Plants and Animals to Feed Our Country and the World
• USDA APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services)
• Speakers: Shannon Reid Hamm, Mary Jane McCool-Eye, Lisa Kennaway and Bryson Webber
• Our Work
• Our Work in Machine Learning
• Speakers: Alberto Nieto, Kristen Hocutt
• Density Based Clustering: DBSCAN
• "We live for you..." ~Jack Dangermond
• During the Break
• Return with opening video - ExploringThe Science of Where™
• ArcGIS Pro Mapping - Basemap
• Speakers:Bille Leff
• Pro Imagery
• Speakers:Jo Fraley,Juhan Yoon‌
• Pro Configured
• Speaker:Natalie Feuerstein‌
• ArcGIS as a platform for Science: Ocean Pollution Demo
• Speaker:Brett Rose‌
• Python
• Speakers:James Jones,Alberto Nieto‌
• ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Online 3D
• Speakers: Kyle Talbot, Madeline Schueren‌
• Fighting Fraud, Waste, and Abuse through Spatial Analytics
• Speakers: Joanne Chiedi & Timothy Kropp from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Offi...
• ArcGIS for Developers
• Speakers:Euan Cameron,Kerry Robinson,Jo Fraley‌
• One Platform – Supporting Many Missions (Smart Installations)
• Speakers: Jim Bauerand James Sullivan
• Closing Plenary

Michelle Mathias and Candace Loya ready to share the plenary	The Army’s 132nd: asking them what they’re excited about learning more about this week. “We’re looking forward to understanding how to use and implement Portal so we can better collaborate and share information among the 132nd. And we really want to see what opportunities there are with ArcGIS Pro. Should be a great next couple of days!”

Welcome to FedGIS Conference 2018! 

GIS – Connecting and Helping Everyone

Jack welcomes and thanks the audience for attending the 2018 Federal GIS Conference and shares the focus for this year’s conference including insights on the work that will be shared, the valuable sessions and what’s new in the world of GIS He is excited about the work done to advance products such as ArcGIS Pro, Web APIs, new server technologies, 3D analytics and mobile technology integration for more efficiency in the Science of Where™.

Meet & Greet

Keeping with the Esri Conference traditions and Jack’s inspirational message of collaboration, he asks the audience to stand up and greet one another. Conversation fills the room as the attendees shake hands, exchanging names and business cards.

Hamilton and John make a quick connection during the meet and greet.

Your Work

Jack shares samples of work inspired, developed and designed by Esri customers all over the world. He shares examples of Field Mobility, maps from the Census Bureau and the National Weather Service.

Provided by staff writer: Matt Ball‌

You are working in so many areas – agriculture, energy, natural resources, environment, public safety, defense, transportation, etc. You apply GIS, remote sensing and real-time technologies, and you create and use data of many kinds. The beauty of geospatial technology is its ability to integrate information across domains and across organizations. The culture of governments has shifted driven by policy and technology innovation, especially with open data initiatives that make it easier to share information. You are navigating around barriers and engaging citizens at whole new levels.

Awards

Jack announces winners of the Making a Difference Award. Congratulations to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service, National Centers for Environmental Prediction, and the Office of Dissemination for their work together in GIS.

Accepting the award: Kari Sheets, Ben Kyger, and Tony LaVoi

Vision

 Jack elaborates on the Science of Where™, simply stating that it is the science of geography, of GIS technology, and the science of applying GIS.

Our biggest objective..."Creating a more sustainable future." ~ Jack Dangermond

Jack shares the vision and framework to creating a more sustainable future.

Our Work

Jack explains how the field of GIS is expanding, advancing and always changing to build better services and systems. He discusses the ArcGIS comprehensive geospatial platform from the desktop to the Enterprise.

Matt Ball‌ A big change has been happening under our feet, using services to integrate data dynamically as digital dial tones. We can read data in from many sources and can share data through the cloud to collaborate in new ways. The concept of spatial infrastructure has been around for years. There is a revolution now with how easy it is to share information through services. We can bring data together, mash it up, and create new understanding. It’s available to everyone in an organization through simple maps on any device. At the high-end, it engages data scientists who apply analytics to drive policy planning and decision making. Distributed systems weave together information across individuals, teams, departments and organizations as well as between local, regional, national and global governments.

Protecting Plants and Animals to Feed Our Country and the World

USDA APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services)

Speakers: Shannon Reid Hamm, Mary Jane McCool-Eye, Lisa Kennaway and Bryson Webber

Hamm introduces APHIS's mission to protect American agriculture and natural resources. Using Web GIS for a variety of APHIS programs, they seek to find new and innovative approaches to gather scientific data. With tools like Web GIS, APHIS can transform this data into usable information, share it with the public and continue to protect the health and value of American agriculture and natural resources. 

Hamm introduces Mary Jane McCool-Eye. McCool-Eye shares a recent project on screwworms. Screwworms pose a growing concern for APHIS as infestation can result in costly losses for our country’s livestock. She explains how ArcGIS tools and Survey123 for ArcGIS are used to help prevent infestation of the Screwworm.

Lisa Kennaway talks further about the invasive Gypsy Moth that causes over $30 million a year in damage in US Forests.	Bryson Webber shares a current project to develop systems for real-time tracking of feral swine for monitoring feral swine densities using drones in Texas.

Hamm wraps it up with a demonstration of how they use Web GIS to maximize their efficiency while in the field during disasters.

* Additional resources can be found on GeoNet in the Web GIS space. 

Our Work

Jack discusses the benefits of using ArcGIS Enterprise for building better GIS experiences. Going from Desktop to Cloud allows collaboration, sharing of resources and analytics, and efficiency. It opens GIS to the world. 

ArcGIS 3D, Mobility, and Apps all helping to evolve GIS with new visualization, Analytics and Apps. ArcGIS is a complete image management system.	"Maps are engaging." ~Jack Dangermond, Founder and CEO

Our Work in Machine Learning

Speakers: Alberto Nieto, Kristen Hocutt

Jack introduces the next group of presenters from Esri to discuss Esri’s advancements and use of Machine Learning.

“Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are some of the most important and fascinating concepts in today’s world.” ~ Alberto Nieto

Nieto begins by explaining the main ideas for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning:

Deep Learning Integration- has to do with code structures that loosely resemble the human brain and how adaptive it is at solving problems. In ArcGIS we use these concepts to drive spatial analysis.

Machine Learning Algorithms – Three concepts

• Classification - using Support Vector Machine algorithms to create a land cover classification layer
• Clustering - the new Density-based Clustering tool allows you to process large quantities of input point data into meaningful cluster or sparse noise
• Prediction - using Geographically-Weighted Regression lets geography calibrate the factors that help you predict

Kristen Hocutt demonstrates how clustering in Machine Learning Algorithms were used to reflect over 700K traffic accidents that happened in Virginia, DC and Maryland in 2017.

Density Based Clustering: DBSCAN

• GP Tool & algorithm DBSCAN
• Comparison between DC & Baltimore
• North Street in Baltimore
• Close to Home-Conference Center

Density Based Clustering: HDBSCAN

• Redefines what it means to be a cluster
• Massachusetts Avenue with AOI boundary

Clustering & Classification of Parking Lots

• HDBSCAN in Hagerstown
• Hagerstown Parking Lot
• Image Classification - impervious surface parking lots
• Top 25 Worst Parking Lots

Deep Learning Integration - is code structures that loosely resemble the human brain and how adaptive it is at solving problems. In ArcGIS we use these concepts to drive spatial analysis.

Nieto gives a live demonstration of traffic intersections in Jackson Hole, WY and how using ArcGIS API for Python, the Operations Dashboard can track activity within intersections every six seconds. The example of the integration between ArcGIS and Deep Learning allows us to find new capabilities to predict and improve traffic in areas such of roads and intersections.

Nieto displays real-time feed for traffic prediction and deep learning allows your capabilities to expand.

~Matt Ball‌

A highlight of the use of machine learning technology was the use of unsupervised learning and self-organizing maps to optimize oil and gas inspection routes to wells in remote areas where the road segments haven’t been mapped. We used GPS breadcrumbs from multiple vehicles and multiple days to determine the road location. The machine mutates the lines to conform with the breadcrumb points and created a complete network. A collection of breadcrumbs were then converted into navigable street segments and then analyzed with Network Analyst to determine the optimal routes.

Jack summarizes the first half of the plenary with a few words and explains the use of key elements in ArcGIS such as Real-Time & Big Data GIS Analytics. He shares the ArcGIS enterprise strategy and architecture as an open, inter-operable and standards-compliant platform and concludes with the actual components of what ArcGIS is about.

"We live for you..." ~Jack Dangermond

~ Matt Ball‌

ArcGIS product components are desktop or ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online a software as a service that can be integrated with other components as well as being used independently, and ArcGIS Enterprise that can scale massively via the cloud. With ArcGIS Portal, we enable sharing and collaboration across organizations to achieve the system of systems vision so that updated content can be sent dynamically and periodically to other organizations. We also have extensions to ArcGIS Enterprise: ImageServer, Geoanalytics Server, GeoEvent Server, ArcGIS Monitor and Utility Network Management. We have focused application products around geodesign, location intelligence and location-specific workflows. Then we have ArcGIS Solutions that are industry focused around apps and communities. Finally, we have an ArcGIS Developer Platform that allows users to build custom solutions.

Jack concludes with a slide on GIS Mapping and Advancing.

During the Break 

During the break the “Postcards to Jack” area buzzed with activity as attendees reflected on the first half on the plenary jotting down their feedback, ideas and thoughts. Jack also stopped by to answer questions and talk with users about what they were most interested in and curious about.

Return with opening video - Exploring The Science of Where™

ArcGIS Pro Mapping - Basemap

Speakers: Bille Leff

Leff opens by sharing that she has had the opportunity to help many GIS professionals “transform GIS data into amazing and powerful maps.”

Image: Billie Leff describes the use of the ArcGIS Basemaps Gallery

“Today, I want to share with you some of the capabilities ArcGIS Pro has to offer to help you create maps that inform, engage and inspire.”

She continues how Basemap is an important context for mapping. The ArcGIS Pro Basemap Gallery provides an impressive variety of basemaps from:

• World topographic maps for visualizing environmental phenomena
• Popular light and dark gray canvases for a clean context
• Firefly versions of the World Imagery for a desaturated look
• Vector tile basemaps
• Other layers from the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World‌
• Simple journalistic appearance like the Newspaper basemap
• Education appearance maps with a youthful look such as the Color Pencil basemap
• Historic maps like the Modern Antique
• And adding new ones all the time making them ideal any purpose and audience

Leff switches to demonstrate the Topo of Mapping and Charting Solutions that are in the process of migrating cartographic production from ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro such as a MGCP Topographic Map.

She follows with a slide on TE Imagery using a background for a realistic and detailed appearance demonstrating a map of coastal California areas with terrain in places where it matters.

Pro Imagery

Speakers: Jo Fraley, Juhan Yoon‌

Fraley opens explaining that imagery in the perfect complement to visual language of GIS and a key component of the ArcGIS Platform. Combining Image Analysis with Geospatial Analysis, “unlocks new understanding of our world and the issues we need to address,’ states Fraley.

Fraley asks Yoon to start a visual demonstration of the mountains of Iran investigating a suspected military complex.

Drone video starts playing: Yoon’s gives a fascinating presentation of satellite imagery to drones flying over a facility in Imam Ali and even includes a close-up of roads, walls, and what appears to look like a missile.

Image: Juhan Yoon demonstrates 3D mapping showing what appears to be a missile on a vehicle.

Fraley gives a demonstration in real-time 3D with Drone2Map for ArcGIS at the Yucaipa Valley Water District, California. Using one of our Apps for the field, Drone2Map, it allows us to process the imagery collected to create 2D and 3D products. 

Additional options are available for the creation of different 2D and 3D products. In less than 40 minutes, we had our first 2D products, and the high accuracy of the Surface Model and the Digital Terrain Model. 

Pro Configured

Speaker: Natalie Feuerstein‌

Feuerstein gives a visual comparison of what users currently see when opening ArcGIS Pro versus an example of how a configuration and some add-ins can transform ArcGIS Pro into a focused workstation for intelligence analysts out in the field supporting operations, with little to no GIS experience.

Using the SDK, she demonstrates how users can go from ArcGIS Pro to a more focused experience.

“We’re calling it the Intelligence Configuration for ArcGIS Pro, or ICAP for short, and it’ll change the way intel analysts do business.”

With just a few exciting new capabilities in ICAP, offers the power and potential of using the ArcGIS Pro SDK to build custom mission applications for tactical and strategic intelligence, border security, law enforcement investigations, and many others.

ArcGIS as a platform for Science: Ocean Pollution Demo

Speaker: Brett Rose‌

“ArcGIS is a great platform for Science to interact, visualize and perform analysis.”

Using Web services from NOAA and DOI's Marine Cadastre Program showing aspects of marine life, Rose investigates a scientific study of how human actions, (noise pollution and plastic pollution,) off the coast of Southern California impact whale density, migration corridors, and feeding areas.

The map portrays a visual of how sound pollution can travel for many miles along the deep sound channel utilizing Ecological Marine Units (developed as a collaborative effort between Esri, USGS and many others within the Group on Earth Observation community).

Also follow Dawn Wright for more information about Spatial Analytics and Ocean Sciences‌.

Rose explains they downloaded the Ecological Marine Units as a Pro Package and loaded them into a 3D scene providing with a wealth of information about our oceans and detailed date for each water column.

He moves onto mapping of the impact plastics has on the oceans. “Using observations with Empirical Bayesian Kriging - Regression Prediction, we can use the current direction and speed as explanatory variables and now interpolate a continuous surface that represents the concentration of plastics across the Pacific.”  The output shows us the areas with the highest concentrations of plastics.

“Using ArcGIS as a platform for science allows us to connect data, perform analysis and share our science to everyone.”

Python

Speakers: James Jones, Alberto Nieto‌

James Jones demonstrates Learning to Write Python in Jupyter Notebook, sharing a notebook that allow us to analyze personal relationships for Esri employee tracking.

Alberto Nieto gives a simple and quick example of how WebGIS Automation with the ArcGIS API for Python allows you to connect with federated servers, publish content, clone content, ensuring consistency, reliability, and efficiency across your enterprise.

Alberto Nieto shows how he develops an online ArcGIS community in Python

ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Online 3D

Speakers: Kyle Talbot, Madeline Schueren‌

Kyle Talbot provides a visual presentation of recreation data provided by the USDA Forest Service customizing the basemap with different looks until he settles on one that is a more Mid-Century artistic look suited for Forest service data. ArcGIS Online allows you to harness spatial data and to easily create beautiful maps that tell the stories within that data.

Talbot also demonstrates a map designed for the Pacific Northwest Campsites using familiar images, layers

Madeline Schueren continues the visual journey with 3D Web scenes using ArcGIS Online for maps of popular trails near Mt. Jefferson in Oregon with high-resolution terrain.

Using her iPhone, Schueren demonstrates a map scene in the city of Raleigh, North Carolina to show how simple and beautiful the 3D maps are designed, and how the use of mobile mapping allows for users to see the details of buildings, road signs, and so much more.

Additional related GeoNet spaces 3D   and a blog on /blogs/josephkerski/2017/10/03/analyzing-30-days-of-earthquakes-using-3d-scenes-in-arcgis-online?sr=....

Fighting Fraud, Waste, and Abuse through Spatial Analytics

Speakers: Joanne Chiedi & Timothy Kropp from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Office of the Inspector General (HHS OIG)

The HHS OIG is at the forefront of our country's efforts to combat fraud, waste, and abuse and to improve the efficiency of Medicare, Medicaid and more than 100 other HHS programs. With such urgency to accomplish a grand mission, the HHS OIG is leveraging advanced technologies in spatial analytics to support their work in the opioid crisis. 

~ Matt Ball‌

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Inspector General (OIG) is starting to use Insights for ArcGIS to help guide resources to make maximum positive impacts on the opioid academic. Pennsylvania has one of the highest rates of death. Insights allowed HHS OIG to look at prescriptions across the state. The analysis presents different doctor types. Drilling into the family practice specialists, we expect to see fewer prescription rates. We found one family physician with the highest rate of prescriptions over a year. We dive in to look at this outlier, and at a time series, we see oxycodone prescriptions are far higher than the average and are trending upwards. HHS OIG took at a look to see if the irrational was indeed unlawful Indeed, this physician was indicted for writing fraudulent prescriptions, for unlawful drug distribution and for causing the death of five of his patients.

GeoNet references to today’s HHS presentation:

Responding to the Opioid Crisis with GIS whitepaper 

Health and Human ServicesHealth and Human Services

ArcGIS Solutions for the Opioid Epidemic‌

Insights for ArcGIS - Opioid epidemic 

ArcGIS for Developers

Speakers: Euan Cameron, Kerry Robinson, Jo Fraley‌

Euan Cameron discusses map viewer and explains that the developer’s website covers resources such as example apps (group ArcGIS Example Apps‌.)

Cameron also references GeoNet for useful resources for developers.

Kerry Robinson demonstrates the Mobile Map Package Runtime SDK, OCG Tiles and WMS services, support OGC SEO Package and shows the current vegetation in the DC area.

Robinson demonstrates Runtime over mobile phone. She explains that Runtime also supports a 3D experience with viewshed.

~ Matt Ball‌

You don’t have to be a developer to create a native application. The ArcGIS Developers website gives you the tools to build with GIS components. It shows best practices for the platform that you’re targeting. We outline what you can do with the individual components. There are also success stories that outline how a user has pulled together components to create a solution.

One Platform – Supporting Many Missions (Smart Installations)

Speakers: Jim Bauer and James Sullivan

James Sullivan gives visual demonstration of Autodesk BIM Design (Internal Use of a facilities)	Jim Bauer – Noise Survey using Survey123

Closing Plenary

Jeff Peters closes by reminding everyone to “Connect” while here.

• FSBS PARTNER EXHIBITORS
• ANNUAL FSBS AWARDS AND PRESENTATION
• BOOTCAMP

Esri’s Federal small business partner specialty (FSBS) community will be on full display at the upcoming Esri Federal GIS Conference in DC on March 20-21, 2018.  With over 85 partners in the FSBS, Esri has an amazing community of small business partners who provide a wide range of GIS services and solutions.  Here is what to expect at Fed GIS from Esri’s FSBS partners next week.

FSBS PARTNER EXHIBITORS

Fed GIS 2018 will feature an expanded Small Business Pavilion in which the following 14 companies are exhibiting: 

• Geodynamics - P1
• Continental Mapping Consultants – P2
• Pro-West & Associates – P3
• GeoCGI – P4
• INCATech LLC – P5
• R&K Solutions, Inc – P6
• PTFS – P7
• Innovate! – P8
• PenBay Solutions – P9
• Critigen – P10
• NorthPoint Geographic Solutions – P11
• New Light Technologies, Inc. – P12
• Bad Elf – P13
• Spatial Front, Inc. – P14

Additionally, the following FSBS partners are exhibiting in other parts of the exhibit hall:

• ArdentMC @ the DHS Booth 535
• Blue Raster - 816
• GISinc - 717
• Voyager Search - 641

Small business partners have been honing their skills and incorporating their tradecraft to create solutions built on Esri’s web based GIS platform, ArcGIS.  Using ArcGIS, these partners have adopted the latest technology and implemented their solutions at agencies across the US Federal government.  It is truly exciting to see the depth and breadth of these solutions that span every dimension of the Earth, from land, sea, air, indoors to 3D:

On the ground - providing open data and real-time data for disaster emergency response;

Land –planning for our Nation’s forests and other land use applications;

Sea – leveraging Full Motion Video for underwater exploration and analysis;

Air – using drones to conduct surveillance, damage assessments and inspections;

Indoors – using internet of things (IoT) for the management of facilities and assets

3D – modernizing zoning rule visualization for city planning

Here are just some of the highlights of what our small business exhibitors will be showcasing:

ArdentMC demonstrated their public safety and geospatial expertise when they rapidly launched a series of Homeland Infrastructure Foundation Level Data (HIFLD) Open sites in response to the devastating 2017 Hurricane season.  These sites supported open data geospatial aggregation – see the sites here: Harvey, Irma and Maria.  You can learn more about these implementations from Ardent who will be present in the DHS booth.

Blue Raster will be showing their applications for smart city development and planning:

• The new Economic Development Configurable Application, based on Esri’s newly released ArcGIS Hub, examines all aspects of what makes a city attractive to either a new or re-locating business. These configurable applications take the guess-work out of application development, and allow cities to concentrate on what is important – new business.
• Blue Raster’s work on the The D.C. Zoning Map will also be highlighted. This is a web application provided by the DC Office of Zoning that shows 2016 zoning regulations in an interactive way.  An upcoming release will incorporate 3D visualizations, including the ability to search by relevant zoning parameters, examine building shadow covers throughout the day, and view building heights and standards, helping preserve the character of the city while planning future developments.    

Credit:  Blue Raster

Critigen announced that their Story Maps work for the US Forest Service (USFS) is now publicly available here.  The public release is for the Salmon-Challis National Forest – the second phase of the solution.  In the first phase for the Ashley National Forest, Critigen was awarded the USFS Intermountain Region Regional Forester’s Honor Award for Excellence in Science and Technology.   The work is dedicated to rendering relevant geospatial information to inform Forest Planning through standard geospatial desktop tools as well as ArcGIS Online web maps and narrative Story Maps.

Credit:  Critigen

GISinc will feature their GeoIoT™ solution for indoor GIS, and how to integrate emerging IoT sensor hardware with your Esri ArcGIS Software.  The solution has uses in the areas of asset management, indoor navigation and wayfinding, space management/utilization, water and energy management.  Airports, buildings, campuses, healthcare facilities, installations, and public spaces are just some of the places that can utilize this next generation technology.

INCATech will talk about their work on the Dept of State website: https://travelmaps.state.gov/TSGMap.  They deployed ArcGIS Online to incorporate dynamic mapping and information about embassies and consulates data to assist those traveling internationally.  The website received 11 million views within 36 hours of deployment.  INCATech will also show a Story Map of the services they offer and a Crowdsourcing Story Map in which attendees can participate to win a prize.

New Light Technologies will showcase their work on the FEMA Incident Journal, which provides a set of interactive dashboards and maps based on ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Online.  The Incident Journal provides a curated set of authoritative data in real-time to decision makers across the agency’s many divisions and regional offices which need to work together during disaster events.  Because of the successful use during the 2016-17 hurricane seasons, the system is being expanded to incorporate other disaster event types including tornadoes, earthquakes, and floods. 

NorthPoint Geographic Solutions will be demonstrating a number of web application solutions including

• SmartFor - A new cloud-hosted SaaS GIS Forest Management application which utilizes ArcGIS Online.
• Cleanups In My Community (CIMC) application - for tracking EPA monitored cleanups throughout the U.S.
• Zoning Permitting Application - for the public to apply for land use permits. It also includes administrative and inspector functions and utilizes ArcGIS Online and Collector for ArcGIS. 

ANNUAL FSBS AWARDS AND PRESENTATION

We will also recognize our small business partners during the annual FSBS Awards, presented by Jack Dangermond onstage following the plenary on Tuesday March 20.  Three partners will receive awards in the categories of Partner of the Year, Innovation Partner, and Collaboration Partner. 

Winners will present their solutions during a session on Wednesday, March 21^st “Transformational Small Business Implementations” (1:30-2:30pm, Expo Hall Workshop 2).

Session Abstract:  Federal government agencies rely on small businesses to quickly adopt and implement the latest trends in GIS technology.  These small businesses provide them with new ideas and use cases that allow them to fully exploit the next generation capabilities of GIS. Three small business partners have earned a Federal Small Business Specialty Award in 2018 because of their ability to introduce, implement and extend ArcGIS technology to tackle their customers’ business problems in a transformational way. Hear how these partners improved their customer’s ability to respond to natural disasters, conduct installations inspections, perform environmental damage assessments, as well as better manage their data, space and resources. 

• FSBS PARTNER EXHIBITORS
• ANNUAL FSBS AWARDS AND PRESENTATION
• BOOTCAMP

Additional workshop sessions presented by FSBS Partners can be found in the attached custom agenda.

BOOTCAMP

We will conclude the week with the annual small business bootcamp on Thursday March 22.  This occurs the day after the Federal GIS conference in order for new partners and staff to work more closely with Esri sales and professional services staff, and achieve our common objectives around GIS.

To learn more about the Esri FSBS and upcoming events, go to our website at:

http://go.esri.com/federal-small-business-specialty

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