GIS Support for Greater Maple Valley/Cedar River Community Conversations

In a recent web newsletter (“May 2025 Unincorporated Area Community News“), the King Co. Dept. of Local Services highlighted a series of community conversations for which the KCGIS Center provided support. GIS Analysts Chris Landback, Josh Popelka, Toni Carpenter and Paul McCombs implemented invaluable materials for these meetings.

Community members were invited to share their input at topic-specific stations and complete interactive activities. On average, 25-30 people attended each of the five meetings.

The mapping that KCGIS staff provided allowed for community input on topics like parks and open space, transportation, services and utilities, and land use and zoning will be used to develop policy directions for the Greater Maple Valley/Cedar River Subarea Plan.

Chris Landback is a GIS professional with over 22 years working in the public sector. Chris’ work has included database design, data development, analysis, and cartography.

Josh Popelka is a GIS professional with over 15 years of experience ranging from leading field mapping crews in remote wilderness areas to spatial analysis, data architecture, print cartography and creating custom web maps and map applications. He has experience creating and maintaining natural resources, real property, urban and regional planning, public works, and public transportation GIS data.

Toni Carpenter is a GIS professional with over 25 years of experience working in the public sector. Her work has ranged from editing and data maintenance to mapping and analysis to publishing web maps and applications. She is a member of the Geo Engineering team, focusing on web-based solutions.

Paul McCombs is a Principal IT Engineer for King County GIS Center, with 30 years of experience. He provides GIS expertise and leadership for the King County DLS Permitting division, King County Regional Planning Office, King County GIS Technical Advisory Committee, and Best Practices for GIS editing and analysis workflows.

See DLS’ May 2025 Unincorporated Area Community News for more details on the community conversations.