Women in GIS – March 8, 2023
Today I want to acknowledge International Women’s Day and that King County’s Women in Technology event chose “Women in GIS” to feature as the spotlight.
Presidential Executive Order on Racial Equity recognizes the importance of geography
Several times during the 2020 Presidential campaign I noticed that one candidate would use the term “equity” (versus equality) when discussing issues related to racial justice. On January 20, 2021, shortly after his inauguration, President Biden signed “Executive Order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.” Significantly the order…
GIS for Equity & Social Justice training in 2021
The 15th offering of King County’s introductory workshop, GIS for Equity and Social Justice, is scheduled for January 6, 2021. It will be presented live online via Zoom. Three additional sessions are also scheduled later in 2021. Almost 350 students have now attended this workshop. Read what one student from a recent session of the workshop…
ArcGIS StoryMaps helps King County to recognize Disability Awareness Month in a challenging year
King County needed a vibrant, accessible platform to tell stories and provide resources for people with a disability during the pandemic.
King County GIS receives Geospatial Excellence Catalyst Award
At its 2020 Annual Conference, the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) presented its Geospatial Excellence Catalyst Award to the King County Information Technology GIS for Equity and Social Justice Team.
The memory of the land…
A new web map allows us to explore and acknowledge the memory of the land of indigenous peoples around the world. Property ownership data management is one of the primary applications for a geographic information system (GIS). My first GIS job with the East Bay Municipal Utility District in Oakland was to manage digitizing 350,000…
King County IT GIS team receives SAG Award for ESJ work
The King County Information Technology GIS For Equity & Social Justice Team received Esri’s Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award on July 13, 2020, at the annual Esri User Conference. Selected from over 300,000 eligible candidates, King County Information Technology received the award for its innovative application of mapping and analytics technology, as well as…
Immigrants and Refugees as Geographers
Who is a geographer? What are the competencies necessary to practice geography? The impact of geography on our lives is so powerful and pervasive, that often we do not think about the geographic decisions that we make every day in our personal lives. I think that we under-estimate a class of people most profoundly impacted…
GIS for Equity & Social Justice – A Virtual Coffee Chat
COVID-19 and social distancing have made connecting for Equity and Social Justice (ESJ) chats challenging. This interview is one over ‘virtual coffee’ with three King County GIS professionals. Hear them share their technologist’s excitement that GIS for ESJ is feasible and impactful! Meet them below. Greg: “Mary, Dennis and Fred, as King County IT (KCIT)…
GIS can expose hate crimes — and the message of Confederate Civil War monuments
I started this GIS & You article in May 2019. What took me so long to complete it? Here is what I started to write, beginning more than 13 months ago. Back then I wrote…. “We know for a fact that hate crimes occur. Wikipedia describes hate crime as… …a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a…
GIS & You 