2013 NSGIC Conference Summary

I had the good fortune to attend the 2013 National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) Conference in Kansas City, Missouri last week.  As usual, this conference was packed with a lot of information, so much in fact that I tweeted, “The information stream at this #NSGIC conference is not a fire hose of info but rather a water cannon.”

Several people commented to me that there were new faces at this conference which I noticed too, but many of the attendees that I’ve seen since joining NSGIC remain, and they continue to be the cylinders of the NSGIC engine and are thriving. The attendance appeared to be down a bit this year, but much of that was due to the scarcity of Federal attendees.  Even with travel restrictions and people’s schedules, 37 states were represented at this conference.

Compared to my notes from last year’s NSGIC this re-cap will be shorter but hopefully informational. So here we go.

NG9-1-1, Map-21, Addressing, Broadband, and FirstNet -These were once again hot topics and were threads running through many of the presentations.  Multiple times I heard people talking about the need to avoid creating “cylinders of excellence”, i.e., groups and people doing their own thing, resulting in duplicated efforts and data rather than working together in order to take advantage of areas of overlap within these programs. I became aware of two links that might be of interest to you.  The FHWA All Roads Study Project Homepage and a nice summary of the Map-21 and related programs.

Addressing - At this year’s conference I heard from several states how their addressing efforts are beginning to pay big dividends.  Prior to this year I had heard about what states are doing to create and maintain address data such as road centerlines and address points.  Now those states that have an address program are beginning to reap the benefits of having a shared address program where multiple agencies and programs are consuming that data and in turn is improving it.  As one state put it, their address layer is now a foundational layer on par with imagery. 

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) - I heard from a couple of companies known for their aerial photography and elevation expertise that they are looking to utilize drones UAS in the acquisition of data. This will be very interesting to see how this unfolds.

U.S.G.S. – This agency continues to reorganize in response to budgetary constraints and the “gray tsunami” with the focus continuing to be elevation and hydrography data.  The two main groups are now Cartographic Data Services and the Topographic Data Services. The liaison structure is evolving from liaisons in the states covering products and services to a point of contact for each state covering those specific products and services.

Private/Public Partnership – One of the states described a model, based on the Alberta Spatial Data Warehouse, in which the government contracts with an industry partner to improve, maintain, manage, and distribute the authoritative data.  This is some interesting thinking given the reduced budgets and people resources within some states.  

State/Local Partnership – Several states described their efforts to work more closely with the cities and counties in their states. One state has a couple of people that travels the state to be at city/county meetings and to work with those folks to assist them with their data collection and contribution to the state.  Another state is planning to offer the counties free access to the state’s ArcGIS Online in return for the counties’ data. 

More Information – If you are interested in reading more and viewing the presentations, be sure to check out the 2013 Annual Conference Archive.

You Are Invited - NSGIC is not just the domain of state Geographic Information Officers and state GIS Coordinators.  This organization and the conference are open to anyone interested in improving coordination of geospatial activities.

Updated Datasets on the GIS Hub

Several datasets have been updated on the GIS Hub by the North Dakota GIS Technical Committee data stewards.  These are:

• Historical 1957-1962 Imagery (Updated to include 5 more counties, thanks to the ND Game and Fish who assisted with funding)
• Department of Emergency Services "Base Map Project" Imagery (Updated, courtesy of the Department of Emergency Services and the Department of Transportation)
• Wellhead Protection Areas - Community (updated, courtesy of the Department of Health)
  
• Wellhead Protection Areas - Non-Community (updated, courtesy of the Department of Health) 

These datasets can be downloaded or delivered via data services (except for the "Base Map Project" imagery which is only available via REST services at this time).  More information on these datasets can be found on the Hub Data Portal. You can either search for the data or you can simply browse to the data within the Categories section of the Hub Data Portal. After you've located the data of interest, click on the More Information button and then scroll down to the Transfer Options section. In that section, click the Download link to download the data or click one of the other links such as the 'Esri REST including WMS' link to obtain the data service information.

Updated and New Datasets on the GIS Hub

Two datasets have been recently updated on the GIS Hub by the North Dakota GIS Technical Committee data stewards.  These are:

• Railroads 24k (Updated, with assistance from Applied Data Consultants)
• TIGER 2013 Roads (New - replaces 2012, courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau)

These datasets can be downloaded or delivered via data services.  More information on these datasets can be found on the Hub Data Portal. You may find it convenient to simply browse to the data within the Categories section of the Hub Data Portal. After you've located the data of interest, click on the More Information button and then scroll down to the Transfer Options section. In that section, click the Download link to download the data or click one of the other links such as the 'Esri REST including WMS' link to obtain the data service information.

2013 North Dakota GIS Users Conference Wrap-Up

The 2013 North Dakota GIS Users Conference, held at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, is a wrap.  The Conference Committee did a nice job of pulling it all together, creating a well-attended event that provided excellent value to the attendees.  If you weren't able to attend you missed out, but we hope to see you at the next conference.

New for this year was the Learning Lab from Esri.  That appears to have been a popular event which was well received.  Thanks Esri for putting that on!

Esri Learning Lab

Also new for this year was the box lunch, sponsored by Kadrmas, Lee, and Jackson (KLJ) who was a Platinum Plus sponsor.  When you get a chance, please be sure to thank KLJ for their sponsorship.

The conference benefited greatly from the many other sponsors and much of the conference value came from the excellent presentations, posters, and workshops. 

I found the keynote presentations to be very interesting.  Dr. Mark Askelson from the University of North Dakota provided a lot of information about drones unmanned aircraft. If North Dakota becomes one of the six states to operate test sites for unmanned aircraft, expect to hear a whole lot more about these.  James Fee, owner of Spatially Adjusted LLC and Spatial IT Director at the URS Corporation, gave us a heads-up that GIS professionals who can still get around on the command line, and in particular, know how to use Python, are well-situated for future work in the geospatial world. And congratulations goes to James for being able to visit AND stay in his 50th state, he had never been to North Dakota before.

James Fee Keynote

ArcGIS Online was prevalent in many of the presentations that I attended. If you haven't looked into it yet, you need to.  It isn't perfect, but it will certainly continue to grow in functionality and applicability in our work flows.

Another one of my takeaways from the conference was the growing use of Esri's Local Government Information Model, or because we all need more acronyms, LGIM for short. Although it introduces some complexities, they may be well worth the effort when trying to develop a new or streamline an existing implementation of GIS into one's organization.

Poster Session

There's no way to cover everything that I saw or heard but hopefully this small wrap-up gives you a glimpse into the conference.  Please also visit the post-conference web site to obtain additional info including links to presentations.

So what about the next conference? There are already some discussions going on.  Please be sure to contact me or one of the 2013 conference chairs if you have ideas or comments for the next conference, currently planned for the fall of 2015. At the moment some ideas are floating around on where to hold it, time of year, and length of the conference.  Nothing is set in stone yet but will be soon in order to set the location and date, so if you have something to suggest, please do so! 

Updated and New Datasets on the GIS Hub

Several datasets have been updated on the GIS Hub by the North Dakota GIS Technical Committee data stewards.  These are:

• GIS Hub General Basemap (Updated)
• Surface Trust Lands (Updated, courtesy of the Department of Trust Lands)
• 1957-1962 Imagery (Updated, thanks to Pembina County who assisted with funding)
• City Boundaries (Updated, courtesy of the Department of Transportation)

These datasets can be downloaded or delivered via data services.  More information on these datasets can be found on the Hub Data Portal. You may find it convenient to simply browse to the data within the Categories section of the Hub Data Portal. After you've located the data of interest, click on the More Information button and then scroll down to the Transfer Options section. In that section, click the Download link to download the data or click one of the other links such as the 'Esri REST including WMS' link to obtain the data service information.

Updated and New Datasets on the GIS Hub

Several datasets have been updated and new ones added to the GIS Hub by the North Dakota GIS Technical Committee data stewards.  These are:

• City Locations (Updated, courtesy of the Department of Transportation)
• Surface Trust Lands (Updated, courtesy of the Department of Trustlands)
• Railroad Mileposts (New! courtesy of BNSF Railway Company)
• County Boundaries (Updated, courtesy of the State Water Commission)
• PLSS Sections (Updated, courtesy of the State Water Commission)
• PLSS Section Corners (Updated, courtesy of the State Water Commission)
• PLSS Section Centers (Updated, courtesy of the State Water Commission)
• PLSS Townships (Updated, courtesy of the State Water Commission)
• PLSS Township Centers (Updated, courtesy of the State Water Commission)
• Soil Conservation Districts (New! courtesy of USDA/NRCS North Dakota State Office)
• Workforce Lodging (Updated, courtesy of the Department of Health)

These datasets can be downloaded or delivered via data services.  More information on these datasets can be found on the Hub Data Portal. You may find it convenient to simply browse to the data within the Categories section of the Hub Data Portal. After you've located the data of interest, click on the More Information button and then scroll down to the Transfer Options section. In that section, click the Download link to download the data or click one of the other links such as the 'Esri REST including WMS' link to obtain the data service information.

North Dakota GIS Hub Data is in Data.gov!

Data that resides on the GIS Hub have been searchable for well over a decade utilizing the descriptive information that is associated with each of those datasets.  These days, this descriptive information is found in the Hub Data Portal. The purpose of the Hub Data Portal is to make it possible to locate data that can then be downloaded and/or streamed via web services from the GIS Hub. 

This descriptive information, termed metadata, has been harvested by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in one form or the other for many years. A key benefit of the harvesting is that other other organizations and users searching for data can more easily discover local, regional, and state data sources. Harvesting organizes this descriptive information and simply points back to the originating sources.

Originally, this harvested information resided in the USGS "Geospatial One-Stop" which eventually morphed into geo.data.gov.  Very recently, geo.data.gov has merged into data.gov.

Spend some time in it and you'll soon find that in data.gov there is a treasure trove of data, both spatial and non-spatial. If you want to do a quick search for North Dakota data you have several options once you click on the Data menu item:

• Use the map to draw a rectangle around the state
• Type in North Dakota in the Enter Location field 
• Enter a search term in the Search Datasets field (e.g., North Dakota water) 
• Use the search filters on the left (e.g., click State Government under Organization Types, then select State of North Dakota under Organizations).

There are additional data sets referenced in the Hub Data Portal that are not yet in data.gov.  This is because the metadata for those datasets have to be validated and modified before they can be harvested by data.gov. This is to ensure that the search and browse tools within data.gov properly work.  As time allows, the remaining metadata records will be validated and modified so that all Hub Data Portal information will be found in data.gov.

Updated and New Datasets on the GIS Hub

Several datasets have been updated and one new one has been added to the GIS Hub by the North Dakota GIS Technical Committee data stewards.  These are:

• Imagery Basemap (this web-service has been updated to now include 2012 NAIP and local areas; data courtesy of City of Wahpeton, City of Grand Forks, Cities of Bismarck & Mandan, City of Fargo, Cass County, Ward County, Army Corps of Engineers, State Water Commission, U.S. Department of Agriculture)
• Watershed Boundary Dataset (new, includes watersheds, sub-watersheds, regions, sub-regions, basins, and sub-basins; data courtesy of Department of Health)
• City Boundaries (updated, courtesy of Department of Transportation)
• NDDOT Landmarks (updated, courtesy of Department of Transportation)

These datasets can be downloaded or delivered via data services.  More information on these datasets can be found on the Hub Data Portal. You may find it convenient to simply browse to the data within the Categories section of the Hub Data Portal. After you've located the data of interest, click on the More Information button and then scroll down to the Transfer Options section. In that section, click the Download link to download the data or click one of the other links such as the 'Esri REST including WMS' link to obtain the data service information.

Updated and New Datasets on the GIS Hub

Several datasets have been updated and one new one has been added to the GIS Hub by the North Dakota GIS Technical Committee data stewards.  These are:

• City of Wahpeton 1-foot Contours (new, courtesy of City of Wahpeton)
• Statewide 24k Contours (new, courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey. Note: this data is preliminary and thus the download is from the U.S.G.S.)
• Trauma Centers (updated, courtesy of Department of Health)
• Workforce Lodging (updated, courtesy of Department of Health & Houston Engineering, Inc.)

These datasets can be downloaded or delivered via data services.  More information on these datasets can be found on the Hub Data Portal. You may find it convenient to simply browse to the data within the Categories section of the Hub Data Portal. After you've located the data of interest, click on the More Information button and then scroll down to the Transfer Options section. In that section, click the Download link to download the data or click one of the other links such as the 'Esri REST including WMS' link to obtain the data service information.

Internet Explorer Compatibility Mode: Improving Performance of GIS Hub Applications

It is very frustrating when a web-based application that used to properly work either doesn't work at all or starts to have strange problems. All Internet browsers can be fickle things and it seems like the Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) has more than it's fair share of issues. 

In IE version 10 there is something called compatibility mode which may help a web site or web application begin to work and for sites that do work, make them work even better in Internet Explorer.  This is true with applications such as the GIS Hub's Hub Explorer and the Hub Data Portal.

With just a quick Internet search, you can find loads of information on the compatibility mode.  But what follows is a brief primer that may be helpful.

First, identify the compatibility mode icon.  In the same area as the URL, you should see an icon that looks like a torn page:

When it's blue as shown in the image above, compatibility mode is on. When the icon is blue, for some web applications there may be some graphics that don't look quite correct and the performance is not what it should be.  When the icon is gray as shown below (recommended for the GIS Hub applications), the application should perform better:

There may be times that the compatibility mode icon isn't apparent.  When this happens, and even if it is present, you can find out more information on the compatibility mode (and other things) by pressing the F12 key then clicking on the Browser Mode menu:

Note that you can also switch compatibility modes by simply clicking one of the items in the Browser Mode menu.

Finally, when switching between modes, or even during other times when a page isn't properly operating or loading, you might want to try holding down the Ctrl key then pressing F5 to reload the page.

Hopefully you will find this information to be useful.

Goodbye to the Old Hub Explorer

After years of useful service, the time has come to begin to say goodbye to the old Hub Explorer. The old Hub Explorer is based on old, discontinued technology from both Esri and Latitude Geographics, which makes it difficult to maintain and in some cases, we are not able to add new data for use with that application. 

A little over a year ago the new Hub Explorer was announced.

If you are still using the old Hub Explorer, please begin to convert over to using the new Hub Explorer. We plan to shut down the old Hub Explorer near the end of June. If you are right in the middle of a project that uses the old Hub Explorer and you need to continue having access to it past June, please contact us at your earliest convenience.

Updated Datasets on the GIS Hub

Several datasets have been updated and one new one has been added to the GIS Hub by the North Dakota GIS Technical Committee data stewards.  These are:

•     NAIP 2012 imagery (updated, courtesy of USDA-APFO)
•     City of Wahpeton 2012 imagery (new, courtesy of City of Wahpeton)
•     State and Federal Roads (updated, courtesy of NDDOT)
•     Mile Markers (updated, courtesy of NDDOT)
•     Railroads (updated, courtesy of NDDOT)

These datasets can be downloaded or delivered via data services.  More information on these datasets can be found on the Hub Data Portal. You may find it convenient to simply browse to the data within the Categories section of the Hub Data Portal. After you've located the data of interest, click on the More Information button and then scroll down to the Transfer Options section. In that section, click the Download link to download the data or click one of the other links such as the 'Esri REST including WMS' link to obtain the data service information.

Updated Datasets on the GIS Hub

Several datasets have been updated and one new one has been added to the GIS Hub by the North Dakota GIS Technical Committee data stewards.  These are:

• Fire Districts
• City Boundaries
• Ground and Surface Water Data
• TIGER Roads (2012)
• School Districts
• School District Centroids (new)

These datasets can be downloaded or delivered via data services.  More information on these datasets can be found on the Hub Data Portal. You may find it convenient to simply browse to the data within the Categories section of the Hub Data Portal. After you've located the data of interest, click on the More Information button and then scroll down to the Transfer Options section. In that section, click the Download link to download the data or click one of the other links such as the 'Esri REST including WMS' link to obtain the data service information.

Updated Datasets on the GIS Hub

Two new datasets have been added to the GIS Hub by the North Dakota GIS Technical Committee data stewards.  These are:

Workforce Lodging Locations (a.k.a., "Crew Camps')

Abandoned Mine Locations

These datasets can be downloaded or delivered via data services.  More information on these datasets can be found on the Hub Data Portal. You may find it convenient to simply browse to the data within the Categories section of the Hub Data Portal. After you've located the data of interest, click on the More Information button and then scroll down to the Transfer Options section. In that section, click the Download link to download the data or click one of the other links such as the 'Esri REST including WMS' link to obtain the data service information.

GIS Hub Data and the Community Maps Program

The State of North Dakota has signed up to contribute GIS data to the Community Maps Program managed by Esri. Administrative boundaries, water features, landmarks, and transportation data from North Dakota state agencies will be used in the basemaps that Esri provides through its ArcGIS Online service. GIS professionals and casual users can access this basemap information via web tools and desktop software.  

We believe it is important to share this publicly available data to help ensure that people within the state and elsewhere have access to the best available data.  We wish to maximize the use of tax dollars by re-using data as many times as possible.  Another benefit of contributing data to the Community Maps Program is that while helping to improve those maps we also have a very good chance of finding areas of improvement in the data that we share.

The Community Maps Program which has the slogan, "think globally, map locally," aims to stitch together multiple datasets to create seamless maps that are maintained by multiple data providers in partnership with Esri.  For example, right here in our own fair state we already have the City of Fargo, the City of Bismarck, and Cass County.  Have a look at the Current Contributor map to get an idea of who is involved around the country and the world.

It is important to note that the Esri basemaps that benefit from the Community Maps Program do not replace data on the North Dakota GIS Hub.  Rather, the data that is shared via the Community Maps Program compliments and depends upon the GIS Hub and the contributions from state agency data stewards.  Basemap data available from the ArcGIS Online service is yet another means to access GIS Hub data.  

So, what's next?  The next step is to begin loading GIS Hub data into the Community Maps database.  After that, Esri will pretty much take care of business but will work with the State to verify the resulting data.  Once the data becomes available on the ArcGIS Online basemaps, we'll be letting folks know via this channel, Twitter, and the listserv. Stay tuned!