Annual Conference 30 Knowledge Immersion Seminars

This year's line up has been drastically expanded to 16 refreshingly new seminars. Kick-start your conference experience by taking part in one of GITA's half-day, preconference seminars. Be prepared to roll up your sleeves and get hands-on experience in the subjects of your choice! The fees for these seminars are separate from the conference registration; see the registration form for details.

Quick links:
Project Management Series
Spatial Databases Series
GIS and the Web Series
Mobile GIS Series
Solo Seminars

Project Management Series

Project Management Lifecycle: Preparation to Completion
Sunday, March 4, 8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Seminar Lead: Frank Castleberry, Intergraph
Speakers: Chris Erpelding, VELOCITIE Integration, Inc.; Mark Varenhorst, M Varenhorst Consulting LLC; Kathy Westfall, PMP, Florida Power & Light

This seminar will introduce overall aspects of the project management lifecycle. Attendees will come away understanding the importance of pre-project preparation, as well as all the details of individual phases of a successful project. From assessment all the way through to delivery and maintenance of the project, attendees will learn all the skills needed to prepare and manage a project through to successful completion. Discussion topics will include pre-project preparation and phases of a project: assess, define, design, build, deliver, and maintain.

Scope Management Through Every Project Phase
Sunday, March 4, 1:30–5:30 p.m.
Seminar Lead: Ken Lenser, VELOCITIE Integration, Inc.
Speakers: Alice MacPhee, Public Service Electric & Gas; Gary Miller, Wind Lake Solutions; Jennifer Nieland, Wisconsin Public Service Corporation

Seminar presenters will focus on all aspects of scope management, as it relates to successfully managing a project. Topics will include scope change control, the change control process, tools for managing projects, strategic planning, and corresponding outputs, as well as all the related documentation generated and distributed throughout the phases of the project. Topics will include scope change control, change control process, tools, planning, outputs, and documentation (i.e., project plan, requirements specification, system design specification, test acceptance plan, and other project documents).

Keys for Successful Project Execution
Monday, March 5, 8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Seminar Lead: Mark Johnson, Enspiria Solutions, Inc.
Speaker: Mary Adams, Georgia Power; Ken Lambert, LogicaCMG; Otto Marquardt, Wisconsin Public Service Corporation; David Ridderikhoff, Avineon

This seminar will provide attendees with some of the most significant keys for successful project execution. Several of the topics covered will emphasize the importance of appropriately resourcing individual tasks of the project, preparing an in-depth testing strategy, and the process of dealing with change management—setting end-user expectations, preparing end-user documentation, as well as training the different classes of end users. Topics will include resourcing, testing strategy, change management, setting user expectations, end-user documentation, and training.

Spatial Databases Series

Spatial Databases 101: The Fundamentals
Sunday, March 4, 8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Seminar Lead: Dennis Beck, Spatial Data Systems, Inc.
Speakers: Xavier Lopez, Oracle USA, Inc.; David Maguire, ESRI; Chuck Woodbury, Intergraph Corporation;

For those interested in how to put together a spatial database, the components of database, e the basic fundamentals needed before getting started, this seminar will cover all of these topics. Participants will come away with a foundation for making good decisions to create and maintain a spatial database. This seminar will also provide some examples of databases that have gone from good to bad to ugly, and will touch on the fundamental tools that make databases work.

Concepts in Data Modeling for Spatial Databases
Sunday, March 4, 1:30–5:30 p.m.
Seminar Lead: Sue Whiting, Ten Sails Consulting
Speakers: Geovane Cayres Magalhaes, Fundação CPqD; Justin Lokitz, Acquis, Inc.; Jon Polay, eSpatial Solutions, Inc.; Jayant Sharma, Oracle USA, Inc.;

One of the most important fundamentals of deploying spatial databases within an enterprise, production environment is building a data model that not only takes advantage of the latest spatial technology, but also supports the requirements of building, maintaining, and analyzing a complex network model as exists in the real world. This seminar will teach data modeling concepts to attendees as those topics pertain to spatial database technology.

This hands-on-lab will give participants the opportunity to use information learned in the previous two seminars in this series. Presenters will provide step-by-step instructions to develop a database from concept to completion. The lab will provide a manual to fill out with information from the seminar to help participants in the creation of their own spatial database. Preferred prerequisites: Spatial Databases 101: The Fundamentals, and Concepts in Data Modeling for Spatial Databases

GIS and the Web Series

Mapping Applications on the Web: Evolution or Revolution?
Sunday, March 4, 8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Seminar Lead: Charlie Savage, MapBuzz
Speakers: Peter Batty, Intergraph Corporation; Geoff Zeiss, Autodesk, Inc.

The last few years have seen the fulfillment of a long-held dream in the GIS industry – bringing mapping applications to the main stream.  This revolution has been driven by a number of trends finally coming together – the emergence of the Web as an application platform, the availability of high quality data and APIs from Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!, interoperability standards developed by the Open Geospatial Consortium, and commercial and open source software that implements those standards.  In this seminar, we’ll explore the current state of the art in web mapping and learn how it can be used to create and deploy new mapping applications for the general public and the enterprise.  The audience will have a fantastic opportunity to learn about this new mapping frontier and interact with and pose questions to GIS/mapping industry experts.

Security for GeoWeb Services: From Problem Statement to Implementation
Sunday, March 4, 1:30–5:30 p.m.
Seminar Lead: Cristian Opincaru, University of the German Armed Forces
Speaker: Andreas Matheus, Open Geospatial Consortium Architecture Board

This seminar will introduce the subject of security on the Web including spatial data infrastructure, security requirements for GeoWeb services, communications security and standards, data integrity, and confidentiality. Many facets of the behind-the-scenes activities that exist and function on the Web will be examined. This presentation will take this potentially technical and complex arena and demystify and describe it for all audience levels. Participants will come away with a newfound understanding and an increased comfort level of using Web-based applications.

Slick Ways to Bring Interoperability to Your Enterprise
Monday, March 5, 8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Seminar Lead: Chris Tucker, IONIC Enterprise
Speakers: Tim Case, Parsons Brinckerhoff; Jeffrey Harrison, The Carbon Project; Rob Mott, Intergraph Corporation; Raj Singh, Open Geospatial Consortium; Ronnie Yaron, Skyline

Presenters will show how everyone across an enterprise can generate, value-add, and dynamically share geospatial and operational data among various applications from ESRI, Intergraph, IONIC/Oracle, Skyline, GoogleEarth, and more via Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web services. The seminar will offer actual demonstrations of multi-vendor interoperability, particularly focusing on remote value-adding via the OGC's Transactional Web Feature Service. Thick client GIS, Web mapping clients, and network-enabled 3D/4D applications will be demonstrated in concert with each other.

Mobile GIS Series

An effective AVL implementation has all of the ups and downs of any GIS implementation project. A well thought-out program with measurable results starts with an equally thought-out initiative to expand and leverage an organization's existing GIS investment. This seminar will focus on the "lessons learned" in implementing AVL within the second-largest telecommunications company in Canada, TELUS. Too often, we focus on what went right with an implementation. This presenter will discuss what went wrong, so others don't make the same mistakes.

Creating Efficient Procedures for the Field Force
Sunday, March 4, 1:30–5:30 p.m.
Seminar Lead: Paul Hilton, LogicaCMG
Speaker: Robert Earle, National Grid USA;William F. Ernzen, Accenture; Art Macey, Florida Power & Light Company

As work management and other back-office systems have matured and become necessary requirements within all utilities—small and large—the emphasis is beginning to turn toward creating efficiencies in the field. This process starts with the development of proficient and clearly defined procedures in the areas of scheduling, resource management, dispatching/monitoring, material distribution, management of equipment and tools, construction standards and procedures, and field reporting.

This seminar will highlight current mobile data collection and mapping technology, GIS/GPS integration, solution alternatives, issues, concerns and impacts as well as considerations for participants' companies. Attendees will have a hands-on and in-the-field opportunity to use several different mobile field data collection solutions, which will clarify GPS and hopefully leave everyone with a better grasp of the technology, options and alternatives. This presentation will enable participants to literally take newly acquired information and immediately apply it in real time, while making the learning process fun and interesting.

Solo Seminars

Business Requirements of GIT
Sunday, March 4, 8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Seminar Lead: Nancy Lerner, EMA, Inc.
Speakers: Saundra Thaxton, City of Corpus Christi Management & Budget Department; Steve Klepper, City of Corpus Christi Wastewater

Utilities and cities around the world are implementing performance management programs. These programs organize asset, customer, financial, operations, and maintenance data into key performance indicators (KPIs), many of which are spatial. This seminar explains performance management best practices—including balanced scorecard methodology—the role of GIT in capturing KPI data, and options for spatially enabling performance management tools to enhance tactical and strategic analysis. Participants can bring their organization's KPIs for use in the discussion.

One-Call: The Current and Future Prevention of Asset Damage
Sunday, March 4, 1:30–5:30 p.m.
Seminar Lead: Andrew Lund, Witten Technologies, Inc.
Speakers: Dan Colby, Sentinel USA; Jason Adams, AGT International; Michael Parilac, Planet Underground; Rick Pevarski, Virginia Utility Protection Service

In dealing with the numerous and complex issues involved in protecting underground assets, our nation's various one-call systems must keep up with technology. What technologies and issues are facing these systems that help prevent damage to our many assets underground? The integration of existing technologies by one-call centers has already allowed for many improvements to the effectiveness of the one-call systems, and new cutting-edge technologies hold even more possibilities for the future. We will discuss the ways one-call centers integrate mapping information into their processes, the benefits and challenges posed by sharing mapping and damage data, and the future of one-call as more technologies become available and utility mapping data becomes more accurate.

Estimating ROI for Your GIS Investment
Monday, March 5, 8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Seminar Lead: Nancy Lerner, EMA, Inc.

Elected/appointed officials, often armed with only a basic understanding of GIT, are tasked with making investment decisions. Their best tools for making these decisions are bottom-line cumulative costs and benefits—allowing the organization to determine the projected payback period, the break-even point, and the potential return on investment. This interactive workshop presents participants with the opportunity to experience a variety of ways benefit estimates can be developed, see how these methods instill management confidence, and ultimately determine the return on investment. The seminar will draw from GITA's research project, including the use of specialized templates to assist organizations in calculating the return on investment of geospatial technology for various business application areas. 
Seminar attendees will be eligible to purchase the ROI project workbook at a significant discount!

Unifying Work and Resources Through Integrated Systems
Monday, March 5, 8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Seminar Lead: Chuck Drinnan, eWAM Associates
Speakers: Warren B. Causey, Energy Central; Jack Dugan, LogicaCMG

Utilities with aging workforces and infrastructure environments are achieving significant cost reductions while improving customer service by unifying work and labor resources. They are eliminating organizational and system silos, while optimizing work execution and resource utilization through integrated office and field systems. After an industry overview, consultants will discuss the new requirements and users will present their experiences in implementing work and asset management systems. Attendess should come to learn and share views with the industry leaders.

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