Educational Sessions

Web 2.0 technologies have been used to create more interactive Web GIS applications. We will examine technologies that progress this to direct updating of spatial data from the Web—even from consumer devices like cell-phones—including work from a multi-disciplinary research project on this topic (ICING). We will also look at real examples of how these capabilities are now going mainstream in government and business and moving from mash-ups to internally deployed systems.
Copresenter: David Geraghty, eSpatial Inc.

Using the National Integrated Land System for Effective Land Management
Leslie Cone, U.S. Bureau of Land Management
Track: Public Sector
PS

Learning Objectives:

Learn about assistance for geospatial users with land use tools available from BLM.
Learn how the BLM uses GIS data for effective land management.
Understand how the public can gain from using e-government.

Developments within the National Integrated Land System (NILS) project are benefiting the planning and development efforts within the government and public sectors. The BLM’s GeoCommunicator Web site demonstration will highlight ways to search, locate, access, and display land and mineral use record information within the United States. Special attention will be given to ways that this Web site can be used for community planning, parcel development, and e-government planning and implementation.
Copresenters: John Reitsma, U.S. Bureau of Land Management; Larry Money, U.S. Bureau of Land Management; Ginny Pyles, U.S. Bureau of Land Management

A How-to Guide & Case Study: Fostering Business Ownership, Building Consensus, and Getting Budget for a GIS Initiative
Ross Smith, PA Consulting Group
Track: ROI/Business Case
A

Learning Objectives:

Learn how to foster ownership for GIS initiatives across the business.
Discover how to build consensus on GIS direction and investment decisions.
Understand how to secure budget for GIS initatives year-on-year.

Engineering professionals understand the benefits that GIS technology can bring, but often struggle to realize the full benefits within their own department or in the wider business community. This creates challenges for securing budget and executive support year on year for enterprise-level GIS initiatives. This paper provides a how-to guide on ways GIS professionals can overcome this challenge.
Copresenter: Chris Steel, PA Consulting Group

A Better Way for Conversion: The Open, Incremental, and GIS-free Approach
Geovane Cayres Magalhaes, Fundação CPqD
Track: Data Acquisition and Maintenance
T

Learning Objectives:

Understand approaches to data conversion.
Learn how to streamline the conversion process.
Assess end-user oriented technologies to load bulk data without disrupting operations.

In this presentation, we will describe an innovative conversion methodology and tools that allow incremental, GIS vendor-independent conversion. Through geocoding techniques and careful data structuring of landbase and facilities, the methodology achieves independence of vendor-specific format and allows for incremental conversion. The use of the methodology for loading data without disrupting a 24/7 operation will be described for a telco GIS database of 12 million subscribers.
Copresenter: Robert F. Austin, Michael Baker Jr., Inc.

Advanced GIS Data Definitions
Richard Lopez, M.A. Young & Associates, Inc.
Track: Enterprise Architecture & System Integration

Learning Objectives:

Learn how new GIS datatypes more accurately map real-world concepts.
Consider how simple data definitions can easily model your network.
Understand how data model changes replace software updates and data migration.

Basic GIS data models are great for creating and viewing static maps, but many lack the sophisticated networking definitions to model real-world applications, such as the basic behavior of utility company assets or computer and telephone networks. Many of these concepts are simulated through custom software, instead of being able to define the device behavior in the base data model. This presentation will show new data model definitions that more accurately reflect real-world networking concepts.

Utility Design for Reliability—Optimization with Six Sigma Tools
Robert P. Laudati, GE Energy
Track: Planning, Design, and Engineering
E

Learning Objectives:

Get a review of utility performance and reliability metrics.
See an introduction to Six Sigma tools.
Discover techniques for optimizing design for reliability systems.

This paper explores the potential integration of engineering design, operations management, and enterprise asset management systems to help designers develop the next generation of utility infrastructure. The Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) methodology incorporates performance characteristics into design decisions by analyzing the effects of variation before construction begins. By using enterprise asset management systems to provide performance characteristics and reliability metrics from operations management systems, a framework for leveraging DFSS in a utility design scenario can be developed.

Replication for Web-based Viewing
Tim Mckee, Telvent Miner & Miner
Track: Internet and Web Services
E

Learning Objectives:

View architecture for up-to-date GIS Web viewing.
Learn about technical considerations for GIS Web viewing.
Understand data replication for GIS Web viewing.

Implementing a GIS viewer over a terminal server environment provides access to critical spatial data enterprisewide. As with any information system, data is the backbone in aiding decision-making. Keeping data up-to-date as often as possible, while avoiding system down time are two important objectives for implementing spatial tools across a business. This presentation will profile a GIS viewer implementation that includes nightly automated data replication and minimal system downtime.
Copresenter: Ted Duran, Public Service Enterprise Group

The Federated System
Francois Valois, Bentley Systems, Inc.
Track: Enterprise Architecture & System Integration
A

Learning Objectives:

Learn the benefits of indexing data in its native form versus converting it.
Learn how workflow management can be used in geospatial applications.
Understand how multidisciplinary projects can be achieved in a collaborative environment.

In the complex world we live in today, spatial, GIS, and other types of engineering data are primarily managed in a digital format, with an ever increasing number of variations. Federated information management is an approach that relies on indexing data in native form rather than converting data into a common format. This paper will explore the advantages of federated information management and industry standards and technologies that enable its implementation.
Copresenter: Alain Lapierre, Bentley Systems, Inc.

Where Should My Asset Data Be?
Hahn Tram, Enspiria Solutions, Inc.
Track: Business Intelligence/Work and Asset Management
E, G

Learning Objectives:

Learn how to integrate GIS asset data with financial and operational systems.
Understand how to maintain and QA/QC asset data across applications and processes.
Know how to architect a distributed or federated asset registry.

Utilities often have their T&D asset data in different systems, from financial accounting and enterprise resource management to GIS and SCADA, for example. How can the user access and maintain the data across these different platforms? Where should the master data be? Should the integrated asset registry be geospatial, financial, or time-series based? Should the architecture be federated, distributed, or centralized? The answers to these questions will be explored through a sampling of utility practices.

Specifying the Knowledge and Skills That Comprise the Geospatial Field: The GI S&T Body of Knowledge
David DiBiase, Pennsylvania State University
Track: Organizational Impacts & Project Management
A

Learning Objectives:

Understand the objectives and likely impact of the BoK.
Become familiar with the form and content of the BoK.
Identify priorities for a 2 nd edition of the BoK.

The Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge (GI S&T BoK) is the most comprehensive and detailed specification to date of the knowledge and skills that comprise the geospatial field. A team of seven editors and over 70 contributors completed the GI S&T BoK in 2006 after an eight-year development process. GITA attendees will be invited to critique the first edition and to contribute to a future revised edition.

New Technologies for Mobile Workforce Applications for Utilities
David Weinstein, Geonetics
Track: Mobile Applications
E, G, PL, T, W

Learning Objectives:

Understand the trade-offs among emerging mobile solutions.
Learn from real-world case studies of actual implementations.
Identify key mobile platform selection factors for your organization.

Technologies for managing mobile solutions involving geospatial data are undergoing rapid and substantial changes. Many factors must be considered when initiating a mobile solution, including communications infrastructure, disconnected versus connected functionality, data synchronization, hardware platforms, training implications, and more. This paper will review the state of the art in mobile workforce applications. Tools from major vendors will be compared and contrasted. Case studies and lessons learned will be presented based on the experiences of utilities operating in the Northeast.

Questions about Annual Conference 30? Contact us!
Phone: 303-337-0513 Fax: 303-337-1001 E-mail: info@gita.org