I get two or three requests every month for GIS career advice from young people considering a geospatial career, or working adults interested in shifting their career towards GIS. My GIS career path was extremely convoluted, and I think that is the case for many people who want to join the ‘GIS Tribe.’ I came…
The King County Department of Natural Resources & Parks oversees several ecological restoration sites along the Duwamish River. Because the river is estuarine and will be impacted by the rising ocean levels associated with climate change, there was understandably some concern that these sites would also be affected. They needed to visualize what their projects…
By Joshua Greenberg (WGGL Chair) Over 85 GIS users gathered in Seattle at the King County’s King Street Center Conference Center on February 3rd to share their knowledge and experiences using Esri’s ArcGIS Enterprise portal. ArcGIS Enterprise portal “brings together all the geographic information in your ArcGIS platform and shares it throughout your organization” (Esri).…
King County has added to its collection of high-resolution aerial imagery. Local jurisdictions can share in the bounty. Collecting high resolution aerial imagery is habit forming, at least it is for King County. We have been doing it on a regular basis since 2007, and we continued in 2019. The 2019 acquisition captured three-inch-resolution orthogonal…
Back in November I reported on the award of seven EthicalGEO Fellowships by the American Geographical Society. My EthicalGEO Fellowship project is to develop and publish a first-ever GIS for Equity and Social Justice best practices document. The seven EthicalGEO Fellows first met on November 21, 2019 at Columbia University to present their proposals. This…
GIS & You readers know that I have written several articles in the past about using GIS for issues related to Equity and Social Justice (ESJ). A new article in Directions Magazine Insights on Location by Chris Wayne provides an excellent overview of Communities Using Maps to Enact Environmental Justice. Chris Wayne’s article touches many…
When I used to work as GIS Mapping Supervisor for the East Bay Municipal Utility District in California, I would be surprised when a homeowner would pay thousands of dollars to have a fire hydrant installed close to their property. What they were doing was to ensure that their home could be better protected against…
Those in the GIS community know the power of spatial data and geospatial technology to respond to public health emergencies. The story of Dr. John Snow and his use of simple mapping of data to respond to the London Broad Street cholera epidemic of 1854 is famous. Snow is considered to be one of the…
Whether familiar with the history and personalities of mountaineering or not, cartography students of a certain age who studied mapmaking at the University of Washington would frequently hear the name of an earlier UW grad, Dee Molenaar. Any who aspired to turn their hand to depicting terrain on maps would learn from their professor of the exemplary landform maps created by Molenaar.
The Sound to Summit Regional GIS Project is preparing to initiate one on one discussions within the King County region soon. Regional GIS Project GoalsThe strategic objective of the Sound to Summit Regional GIS Study Project is to determine the best feasible way to organize and operate geographic information system (GIS) services within the region…
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