| Title | Description | Speakers |
| Conference Opening | Help us open the 2023 GIS in Action conference! We'll make introductions, go over some logistical information that you'll want to know about the conference, and get you all set for a fun and entertaining event. | Theresa Burcsu; Nikki Hart-Brinkley |
| Quantitative Tax Lot Remote Sensing - Data Analysis | Quantitative Tax Lot Remote Sensing: Bridging Connections Between Remote Sensing and GIS using the Tabulate Area tool for Determining Vegetation Square Footage within Tax Lots - This presentation demonstrates integrating precision ground control six-inch aerial remote sensing upon individual city of Portland tax lots by utilizing the Arc Pro tabulate area tool. | Vincent Sandor |
| Localizing Social Vulnerability in the Portland Metropolitan Region - Geospatial Collaboration | Localizing Social Vulnerability in the Portland Metropolitan Region - Although several national indices exist, there remains interest in localizing our understanding of social vulnerability. The Social Vulnerability Tools project was a joint effort by the Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization and Metro in order to identify which communities in the five-county Portland, Oregon metropolitan region experience barriers to services and programs before, during, and after disasters. | Joe Gordon |
| Streamlining Internal Operations with GIS: Introducing Non-GIS Staff to the Technology - Geospatial Collaboration | Streamlining Internal Operations with GIS: Introducing Non-GIS Staff to the Technology - The City's GIS program has been around for over 10 years. Like many other cities, our primary focus has been within the public works asset management realm. As the program has matured, we have been given the time and opportunity to work with internal teams who may not be as familiar with GIS technology and what it is capable of. We’ll be focusing on two notable projects where we were able to create GIS solutions for users. - Solid Waste Leaf Disposal Tracking and Noxious Weed Spraying. | Patrick Hanley |
| Empowering Public Librarians to Learn GIS Skills - Students, Emerging Professionals, & Education | Empowering Public Librarians to Learn GIS Skills and Teach Library Patrons About GIS Tools and Creating Maps - The GIS-Mapping Exchange is a partnership between public libraries nationwide, Portland State University, the Center for Geography Education in Oregon (C-GEO), and GIS academics/professionals. Our goal is to partner with public librarians so that they can develop and implement GIS projects that are most useful for serving their communities. | Lauren McKinney-Wise; Spencer Keller |
| Collaboration Technology in ArcGIS - Geospatial Collaboration | Collaboration Technology in ArcGIS - The ArcGIS collaboration technologies are a powerful way to share layers, maps, and apps across environments and keep them up to date while working on projects and initiatives together. This session will introduce you to the fundamentals of Distributed Collaborations (Enterprise – Enterprise, or Enterprise - ArcGIS Online) and to Partnered Collaborations (ArcGIS Online – ArcGIS Online). Additionally, we’ll explore the setup, care, and feeding of your deployed collaborations and how to identify when they misbehave. | John Sharrard |
| Going with the Flow: Mapping Streams for the Oregon Private Forest Accord - Geospatial Collaboration | Going with the Flow: Mapping Streams for the Oregon Private Forest Accord - Signed in 2021, the Oregon Private Forest Accord (PFA) is the result of an agreement between timber and conservation groups to recommend changes to Oregon's Forest Practices Act. Improving regulatory certainty and better protecting natural resources, these changes focus on fish habitat protections, improving compliance monitoring, and much more. | Arthur Rodriguez |
| GEOHub: Oregon's New Geospatial Library - Geospatial Collaboration | GEOHub: Oregon's New Geospatial Library - In 2017, the Oregon Legislature passed HB 2906, now codified as ORS 276A.500-515, to improve and increase the sharing of critical geospatial data. A key part of this recent legislation is the duty of public bodies to share both open and secure geospatial framework data and for this data to be securely accessed or stored in a geospatial data library. For this reason, we’re creating a portal for secure data exchange that enables public bodies to share geospatial data without the need for written agreements in a user-friendly and persistent manner. | Rachel Smith |
| That was Then (2002) This is Now (2023) - Photogrammetry and Imagery Advancements | That was Then (2002) This is Now (2023): Image Resolution, Ground Accuracy, and Machine-Learning Advancements in Remote Sensing Applied to Portland's aerial imagery. Starting from the first air-platform one-meter city-wide Portland remote sensing sorties circa 2002, to current research and test area outputs detailing the latest prototype testing and image processing improvements. | Vincent Sandor |
| Keynote | Governor Kitzhaber will lay out the various interdependent factors that impact two key issues with which our society is currently grappling: housing and wildfire. Authoritative geospatial data is essential to solving these and many other problems that impact all of us. These two issues represent the intersection of natural resources management and social services provision. We don’t usually think of them as being interdependent because we don’t often consider these issues and others as part of a larger system. Systems thinking is essential to solving these inextricably interrelated issues and many others. Improved governance is the key to success in this regard. We are, for the most part, using governance models developed at the start of the Industrial Revolution in the 1890s. We must do better. We must change our governance structures and collaborate more effectively to solve our shared problems. | Former Gov. John Kitzhaber |
| Shadow Reduction Image Processing Methods for Aerial Imagery - Photogrammetry and Imagery Advancements | Shadow Reduction Image Processing Methods for Aerial Imagery - Aerial imagery frequently incurs long shadow effects, especially during Winter/Spring collection sorties caused by shorter sunlight hours. Various image processing methods can be combined to reduce shadows resulting from buildings, trees, and other tall features casting shadows which reduce image interpretability. This presentation examines the use image processing methods for reducing shadow in order to enhance aerial imagery for GIS base mapping purposes. | Vincent Sandor |
| ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online - Photogrammetry and Imagery Advancements | ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online - ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online is a complete SaaS for image management and raster analytics—use Esri’s cloud resources to host, analyze, and stream imagery and raster collections in ArcGIS Online. In this technical session, learn how ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online can be used end-to-end to easily manage aerial and satellite imagery data, and then pivot quickly to analyze that same data using powerful raster tools and deep learning models, all in the cloud. | John Sharrard |
| 2019 LiDAR Derived Product Developments and Workflows - Photogrammetry and Imagery Advancements | 2019 LiDAR Derived Product Developments and Workflows | Brent Freeman |
| Mitigation Bank Data Management in the Portland Harbor Superfund Site - Geospatial Collaboration | Mitigation Bank Data Management in the Portland Harbor Superfund Site - Stakeholders have an interest in assurances that those with oversight responsibility of our trust resources have consistently verifiable and enforceable checks and balances established. Synchronized redundancy of data repositories may help increase stakeholder confidence that Portland Harbor clean-up and remediation goals and objectives are tracking toward accomplishment. | John Marshall |
| GIS Consultant Panel - Students, Emerging Professionals, & Education | GIS Consultant Panel - The GIS Consultant Panel will provide an opportunity to hear from a variety of professionals working in various roles as GIS consultants. This panel is meant to support emerging and current GIS professionals, as well as anyone interested in pursuing a new career in GIS. Panelists will share their career path stories, practical advice, and information about the many projects GIS consultants have the opportunity to work on. Participants will learn about the differences between enterprise and project-based GIS work. This session will include a question-and-answer session and provide opportunities for networking. | Nikki Hart-Brinkley; Diego Portillo; Bryce Gartrell; McKay Larrabee |
| Creating a Digital Twin using ArcGIS Pro - Public Works: Essential to Expert | Creating a Digital Twin using ArcGIS Pro - Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant 3d Revit Modeling project integration to ArcGIS Pro | Kevin Ramey |
| Mobilize Asset Management - Public Works: Essential to Expert | Mobilize Asset Management - Mobile asset management has become a crucial function for many organizations. With the integration of ESRI Field Maps and Survey 123, field workers can easily capture, manage and analyze field data. FME Server acts as middleware that connects these tools to SQL Server, facilitating data transfer and automation. By using these tools together, organizations can achieve operational efficiency, reduce errors and costs, and make informed decisions. | Chris Zeitner |
| Implementing GIS Asset Management for Municipal Transportation Infrastructure - Public Works: Essential to Expert | Implementing GIS Asset Management for Municipal Transportation Infrastructure - The development of GIS-centric asset tracking for municipal Public Works departments is usually most robust for Water, Sanitary Sewer, and Stormwater utilities. GIS data for local transportation and public right-of-way infrastructure is often developed and maintained on an ad hoc basis, limiting its accuracy and usefulness. The City of Hillsboro Public Works department recently engaged in a multiyear effort to formally identify and define its Transportation assets, migrate various standalone file geodatabases to centralized enterprise feature classes, and implement supporting business processes to ensure the GIS data will remain timely and accurate. | Kate Rosson |
| Automated Vehicle Location and GeoEvent Server - Public Works: Essential to Expert | Automated Vehicle Location and GeoEvent Server - How many miles of curb have been swept this month? What about miles plowed, sanded, or pretreated for ice? Were any roads missed during this month’s sweeping run? The City of Hillsboro Public Works Department has created an application using Web AppBuilder in the City’s Enterprise Portal to support winter weather and sweeper operations. | Layne LeBleu |
| Everything, Everywhere, All at Once: The GIS Multiverse | Everything, Everywhere, All at Once: The GIS Multiverse - This session is for everyone, from beginners to experts, no previous experience is necessary. Session focuses on the integration of Esri and Microsoft technologies to enhance investment in both platforms. The presentation will showcase Survey123 for ArcGIS design tips/tricks, use of Javascript calls to the REST API, ArcGIS Dashboards, M365 Power Automate Flows, ArcGIS Connectors for M365, use of M365 SharePoint Lists, and M365 Power BI analysis tools. Filled with demonstrations of the technologies. | Aaron Paul |
| Using Web GIS to Geospatially Enable the Oregon Legislature | Using Web GIS to Geospatially Enable the Oregon Legislature - This presentation will highlight a variety of web mapping applications in ArcGIS Online through the use of case studies and technical detail. Using web GIS, Oregon's nonpartisan Legislative Policy and Research Office is supporting information dissemination to and on behalf of the legislature. Who is my legislator? What geographic area does a legislative district cover? What are the characteristics of a legislative district? We’ve been answering these questions and more with ArcGIS Hub, ArcGIS Instant Apps, ArcGIS Business Analyst, and more. | Ariel Low |
| Adding Reporting Tools to ArcGIS Web Apps | Adding Reporting Tools to ArcGIS Web Apps - Why is reporting in GIS so hard? It's because most reporting software isn't made for GIS. When you need to put spatial data into meaningful reports that provide insights, you shouldn't have to use business intelligence software. There is a better solution: VertiGIS Studio Reporting. It's geared towards GIS data. It integrates with Esri apps. In this session, we'll tour the design interface, create a template, and add it to an app. Then, we'll run through some examples - parcel reports, regulatory reports, and demographic reports. | Aaron Oxley |
| Illuminating Infrastructure through Scalable GIS Data Collection and Design | Illuminating Infrastructure through Scalable GIS Data Collection and Design - In a world where data is the new gold, the value of high quality and quantity of data in our public infrastructure is more important than ever. This presentation will cover a GIS platform with a data-enriched, photo-based approach to collecting, designing, and maintaining infrastructure. The presentation will cover a successful implementation of digital twin street light assessment and LED conversion with a focus on the intersection of lighting infrastructure with equity, environmental, community revitalization, public safety, and active transportation issues through the lens of GIS will be covered. | Nick Mesler |
| Navigating and connecting using Indoors | Navigating and connecting using Indoors - Indoors helps City of Portland to manage their office space, including hoteling, hot desking, floor viewing, and other information to help employees, and the public, to find their way around, be productive, be safe, and connect with others. | Diego Portillo |
| UAS Data Explorer: Making your UAS archive accessible - Photogrammetry and Imagery Advancements | UAS Data Explorer: Making your UAS archive accessible - With the democratization of UAS or Drones, many organizations have been able to meet their aerial mapping needs by creating an in-house UAS program. As time goes on, the importance of data organization, management and disbursement of UAS-collected data becomes more apparent. This presentation will focus on the “PBS UAS Data Explorer”, a proof-of-concept initially created to use as an example in conversations with software companies as a template for what UAS Program managers need to manage a program at scale. | Derrick Westoby |
| Evaluating the Achievable Accuracy of Low - Photogrammetry and Imagery Advancements | Evaluating the Achievable Accuracy of Low-Cost Lidar Systems for Topographical Mapping Using ASPRS Standards - Recent years have witnessed a significant decrease in the cost of lidar data collection using un-crewed aerial systems, resulting in a surge in new users. However, many lower-cost lidar systems employ cheaper hardware and generate noisier point clouds with lower precision. Lidar software providers have developed optimized processing routines for such point clouds, but there has been a lack of studies on the quality of data they produce. For topographical mapping applications, the achievable accuracy of these systems must be known. To this end, the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) published the Positional Accuracy Standards for Geospatial Data in 2014. | Christian Stallings |
| Geospatial Collaboration: The Foundation for Problem Solving | This session will begin with a few short presentations to set the stage for a panel discussion. We want to engage the audience in a discussion on how geospatial collaboration can serve as the foundation for solving wicked, interconnected problems. Location is a key element in all of society's most difficult problems...and all such problems need geospatial data to help connect the dots and devise appropriate solutions. But that data comes from lots and lots of places, isn't always FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable), and isn't always fit for purpose. Collaboration among all the various data providers is essential and can serve as the foundation for problem solving among the broader community. Let's see if we can determine some next steps for improving such collaboration. | Theresa Burcsu; Nikki Hart-Brinkley; Rachel Smith; Cy Smith; Robb Kirkman |
| Hexagon Statewide Orthoimagery Program - Photogrammetry and Imagery Advancements | Hexagon Statewide Orthoimagery Program - The HxGN Content Program, Hexagon’s aerial data program, offers the largest library of aerial imagery and elevation data across the United States, Europe and parts of Canada. This presentation provides highlights of the Content Program and focuses on a few of Hexagon's State government programs and the applications of the data. | Rob Eadie |
| ORURISA Emerging Professionals Mentorship Program - Students, Emerging Professionals, & Education | Panel Speakers: Andrew Beland, Paul Ferro, Sierra Hosea, Nathan Kossnar, Drue Lindstrom, Gavin McRobbie, Meredith Payne, Alison Percifield, Madeline Steele, Erik Strandhagen, Dion Webster, Rhett Wiley, and Chris Zeitner. ORURISA Emerging Professionals Mentorship Program - The ORURISA Emerging Professionals invites you to join us to learn about our group and about what we offer the geospatial community, particularly our professional mentorship program. During this session you will hear from current mentors and mentees about their experiences and the projects they are currently working on during this year's mentorship program. Our group advocates for networking and community-building to advance knowledge and skills in the geospatial field. Please join us to learn more and become part of our network! | Alicia Milligan; Catherine Green; Claire Brumbaugh-Smith |
| Transitioning Emergency Response Maps from ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro | Transitioning Emergency Response Maps from ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro - The Bureau of Emergency Communications (BOEC) is the 911 center for all of Multnomah County. Recent upgrades to mapping software used by emergency responders required transitioning a process to build custom map data from ArcMap and Python 2.7 to ArcGIS Pro and Python 3, including moving to vector tiles. | Paul Cone |
| Using ArcGIS Dashboards to track regulatory compliance at the City of Portland - Geospatial Collaboration | Using ArcGIS Dashboards to track regulatory compliance at the City of Portland - Datasets can often become overwhelmingly large and complicated to the point that the general message of what the data is saying is lost. This presentation will focus on the design of dashboards using ESRI’s ArcGIS Dashboards to track, maintain and make sense of stormwater regulations by the City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services. | Ian Hackett |
| Let's Talk Trash - A Composting Study Collaboration | Geospatial Collaboration | Let's Talk Trash - The U.S. generates hundreds of millions of tons of solid waste every year. As cities evaluate long-term strategies to divert material from landfills and increase sustainability, composting is a key to sustainable municipal and regional management of household food waste. Finding an appropriate composting site requires intentional and dedicated collaboration between multiple parties which includes data-driven decision-making, stakeholder outreach, and transparency for the public. | Chris McDougall |
| Using Esri ArcGIS Hub as an Initiative Platform - Geospatial Collaboration | The Smart City PDX team at the Bureau of Planning & Sustainability is utilizing ArcGIS infrastructure for the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Open Data Portal. Implementing data visualization projects on ArcGIS Hub and Online allows for City of Portland data teams to tap into existing technology infrastructure to share work publicly. The goal of ARPA is to distribute $208 million of federal funds to Portlanders, prioritizing communities disproportionately affected by the COVID pandemic. All ARPA projects align citywide equity outcomes. Disaggregated data collection by demographics is standardized across projects by City of Portland ARPA Data Standards—a unique approach nationwide to the implementation of ARPA funds. Building on the unique data management approach developed for ARPA, the Community Safety Data Project seeks to break down siloes in data services and build coordinated access to community safety data for the City and its residents. This work depends on close partnerships with practitioners and subject matter experts in each community safety bureau/division. With access to timely and integrated data, the City can better respond to urgent and evolving community safety needs from a holistic view. Future work on the Community Safety Data Project will replicate ARPA’s model for building community partnerships to inform on community data access needs. | Stephen Christy; Vishal Bakshi |
| Migration to Utility Network - Technology Showcase | Migration to Utility Network - The City of Hillsboro is in the process of migrating the sanitary sewer GIS system from the Geometric Network to the Utility Network. This presentation will outline the steps taken to begin the migration process. The city decided to partner with Esri through the Esri Enterprise Advantage Program (EEAP) to help assist for the migration process. Please note, this project is still ongoing so the migration is not complete at this point. | Brian McLeer |
| The Ups and Downs of Being a GIS Analyst - Students, Emerging Professionals, & Education | The Ups and Downs of Being a GIS Analyst - The professional life of the GIS analyst can be diverse. Many hats may be involved and the demands may be wide-ranging. For some, that suits their personality. For others, it may be a source of difficulty and frustration. In this collaboration session, a group of GIS analysts from the Pacific Northwest will provide an insight into their successes, their failures, and their needs, and, in so doing, encourage a healthy exchange of experiences and ideas with their audience. Of course, we have good reason to be optimistic that the needs tend more towards successes than towards failures. Above all else, the goal of the session is to be as helpful as possible. For the presenters, it provides an opportunity to further their ability to share their thoughts and, where appropriate, seek guidance from their peers. For the audience, it provides an opportunity to contribute to the GIS community by assisting and encouraging each other with respect to the many requirements and challenges typically encountered by GIS analysts. | David Howes; Johanna Bailey; Rachael Haggen; Jack Colpitt; Dion Webster |
| Guidance for ArcGIS Pro Tools and Processes Development | Guidance for ArcGIS Pro Tools and Processes Development - The purpose of this session is to provide helpful guidance with respect to the development of Python tools and processes to support ArcGIS Pro workflows. Examples are drawn from an endangered species protection area project that was originally supported by ArcMap-based .NET (C#)/ArcObjects procedures, but which is now largely supported by ArcGIS Pro Python geoprocessing tools and scripts, accompanied by a .NET feature navigation add-in. Transition considerations will be discussed and a review of tools for creating Public Land Survey System quarter sections will help illustrate the benefits of straightforward respectful and flexible coding practices that are applicable to programming in any language. | David Howes |
| Google Earth Workshop | This workshop is an introduction to the ‘big data’ analysis capabilities of Google Earth Engine via the Python API, including accessing remote sensing and earth model data collections, calculating spectral indices, and sampling environmental variables for areas of interest. Using the 'area descriptions' created by the US 'Home Owners' Loan Corporation' (HOLC) in the late 1930s (the origin of the term ‘redlining’ ) that were compiled digitally by the Mapping Inequality project, the workshop characterizes modern day environmental conditions in the different HOLC grades using measures such as land surface temperature, vegetation greenness, and seasonal temperature variations. Requirements: A Google Earth Engine Account A Google account for access to the Collaboratory virtual machine environment | Dr. Nicholas Kohler |
| Lightning Talks | Presentation list: see second section of this page | Matthew Hampton; Amy Johnson; Aaron Paul; Ashley Reade; Carl Swanson; Jennifer Kirkland; Ian Maher; Jake Lovell; Lorena Nascimento; Brian Murphy |
| Exploring and creating public data with the Community, Open Data Events - Geospatial Collaboration | Exploring and creating public data with the Community, Open Data Events - The organization of community events, like the Open Data Disco Tech event hosted in March by the City of Portland SmartCity PDX team, was an opportunity to engage with local residents to explore the City’s neighborhood data and other City of Portland open datasets and maps. This Disco Tech included workshops and tables to help people to learn about data from zero to subject matter experts. "DiscoTech" is short for "Discovering Technology." It is a term coined by the Detroit Digital Justice Coalition which defines a replicable model for a multimedia, mobile neighborhood workshop fair. DiscoTechs are designed so that participants learn more about the impact and possibilities of technology within our communities. | Hector Dominguez Aguirre |
| Modeling the Risk of Respiratory Hospitalizations During Wildfires - Students, Emerging Professionals, & Education | Modeling the Risk of Respiratory Hospitalizations During Wildfires - Wildfires across the western United States are increasing in size and frequency. Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from wildfire smoke creates respiratory health risks. Increased respiratory hospitalizations during fire season add pressure to the healthcare systems. The current study models the risk of respiratory hospitalizations during wildfire events across the state of Oregon. | Lee Mitchell |
| Planet-scale raster catalogs with STAC - Photogrammetry and Imagery Advancements | SpatioTemporal Asset Catalogs (STAC) is a set of standards defining geospatial metadata, catalog organization, and search APIs. With a growing set of tooling and support from the open-source community, STAC is making it easier and more efficient to discover, search, and analyze geospatial data. Element 84 operates EarthSearch, a STAC catalog of the complete Sentinel-2 archive in Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) format, as part of the Registry of Open Data on AWS. This talk will explore STAC and uncover what makes it a powerful technological foundation for building large data catalogs like Element 84's EarthSearch. An overview of the EarthSearch architecture will be presented, including processing items into a STAC catalog using cirrus-geo, and indexing and search using stac-server. A key point of the talk will be to examine the value of STAC for cloud-based workflows. Querying EarthSearch using open-source STAC tooling to discover scenes and access data chunks will be shown to illustrate this value. | Jarrett Keifer |
| Herbicide treatment of reed canary grass - Data Analysis | Herbicide treatment of reed canary grass: A sampling design approach on accuracy assessment - Reed canary is an invasive species in the Pacific Northwest region, adversely affecting wetland restorations, and chemical treatment is found as the most effective eradication method. The main goal of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of various herbicide treatments based on glyphosate using remote sensing techniques. Initial studies showed robust sampling methods are vital for performing image classification and focused on assessing the performance of the supervised classification as a function of the ratio between training and validation sample size. | Sudeera Wickramarathna |
| Assessing Public Transport Accessibility and Revealing Gaps in Service - Data Analysis | Assessing Public Transport Accessibility and Revealing Gaps in Service – Trimet Accessibility Analysis: Public transit is one of the most powerful tools with which to interconnect any community, providing accessible, reliable, and efficient service that connects people with work, school, and other services. My analysis examines the walking accessibility to Trimet stops, considering the frequency of service, and produces a heat map to visually represent the distribution of accessibility. The goal is to provide a tool for planners and transit users to plan better routes and visualize potential gaps in service. | |
| Predicting land use from neighbors in time and space | Predicting land use from neighbors in time and space - Land classification data (NLCD) are naturally stored as categorical values, indicating uses such as forested or developed, which can be challenging to work with using typical machine learning techniques. Most modeling techniques require numeric data in order to calculate distances and relationships in a hyperspace. Reconstructability Analysis (RA) is a technique that works exclusively with discrete data, and is well suited for analyzing land use values. Occam software uses RA to analyze tabular data extracted using GIS software and is shown in this talk to predict land use changes. | David Percy |
| Geometry as a comparable attribute in a Pro notebook | Geometry as a comparable attribute in a Pro notebook - Have you ever tried to compare two features related in space and time? In this talk, I'll go over the workflow I currently use to update the geometry of our multifamily housing dataset at Metro as part of our quarterly RLIS (Regional Land Information System) updates. Using a Python Notebook in ArcGIS Pro, it is easier than ever to identify and quantify geometry changes per feature and automate acceptance of changes that meet a series of tolerance thresholds. | Al Mowbray |