GIS Tips & Tricks
We have lots of good ideas.
Our range of expertise is not limited to local government: GIS training, avoiding angry Bulls, fishing in Wisconsin. Our Blog will keep you entertained and learning.
In this blog post, we will explore Esri's Winter Weather Operations solution, which provides effective management of fleets, personnel, material tracking, and snow event analysis. Additionally, we will discuss the Winter Weather Outreach Solution, which enables road status communication and facilitates the reporting of snow-related issues
By now, most everyone in the tech world has heard about the Apache Log4j library vulnerability. While we are experts about all things GIS, we won’t pretend to have all the answers to this problem. However, in the essence of transparency and helping to spread the word, we want to share some general takeaways on what we know and some helpful links for more information.
In 2010, ESRI started the Community Maps Program with the goal of enhancing and updating their foundational basemap layers with current and detailed local data. Over a decade later, tens of thousands of updates have been made using the tools available from the program. By contributing data, the community itself benefits from having local knowledge input directly into ESRI maps. This additional data helps power advanced analysis and can be used to create in-depth story maps. Apart from the direct use of updating basemaps, this collection of local data also helps to enhance and power the ArcGIS Living Atlas layers.
One of the main benefits of utilizing Esri’s Survey123 application within your organization, is that it is a very powerful data collection tool. Survey123 can be utilized to collect data on just about anything and everything, and the purpose of the form will vary greatly depending upon what kind of data is to be collected. Regardless of what the end purpose of the survey form is, the best way to ensure data integrity and to streamline the data entry process is to have functionality built into your survey forms themselves to assist the end user! In this blog post, we’re going to be looking at how using an JavaScript query can automate the input of data by auto-populating fields in the survey form based on entering the ID of a specific fire hydrant.
We work with a lot of municipal local government clients and have learned over the years that selecting the right GIS asset management solution these days is a critical, time-consuming task. Decision makers can’t afford to make the wrong decision when investing hundreds of thousands of dollars over a period of just a few years. So we thought it would be a good idea to review some basic questions to ask yourself when evaluating which option…
Workforce for ArcGIS is one of Esri's native GIS applications that allows you to take advantage of a streamlined work order management system that is built directly on top of your GIS platform. This tutorial provides a basic overview of the application both from the desktop browser as well as a mobile perspective. For more information on how your organization can integrate work order management with GIS
Are you ArcGIS Pro-ready? System Requirements Lab has provided a tool (available here or at the system requirements page for ArcGIS Pro) that produces a detailed report in a matter of seconds showing how your system stacks up to the minimum and recommended requirements for running ArcGIS Pro. Please watch this video for more information on how you can easily check your system requirements for Pro.
Hoops Tracker is a Esri Story Map that displays information for the 2018 Class 1A and 2A Boys Basketball Tournaments in separate web mapping applications, paired with a view of IHSA's interactive ScoreZone web page and other IHSA links.
Good relationships are important in Business, Sports, Personal Life...in anything, really. Good relationships are important with GIS data as well. Let's take a look at how relationship classes and related data can aid in the GIS data collection process.
A client from a Water Reclamation Department uses the Collector for ArcGIS app to edit Sanitary Sewer Network data. They requested additional attributes for a Lift Stations layer, as well as the ability to add multiple Pumps to each Lift Station. The solution to this request is a related table in a feature service that allows for editing via the Collector app. This is an overview of the process.
Below you'll find an article in our local paper from Journalist Cheryl Wolfe of the Pantagraph papers in Bloomington, Illinois. She did a fantastic job and we wanted to include her article in our blog as a "Thanks!".
(Reprinted with Permission)
ALL MOVED IN--Employees at Cloudpoint Geographic, Inc. are: (left to right) Jodi Hoffman, Paul Stephenson, Micah Williamson, Joe Christian, Matt Junker, Tyler Severson, and Jonathan Hodel
Hodel plans open house
CHERYL WOLFE
cwolfe@mtco.com
ROANOKE—These days, Jon Hodel often has his head in the clouds and is always thinking higher.
When office space for his growing business, Cloudpoint Geographics, Inc. got too small, Hodel started looking for something bigger. He found it, just a block away in the building that formerly housed Dr. Michael Meier’s dental office.
A building with several smaller rooms might not fit the needs of most businesses, but for Hodel and his employees, it was literally a godsend.
“This office has been a perfect fit for us,” Hodel said of the building. “The Lord provided for us; we couldn’t have asked for a better fit.”
Hodel said it was getting crowded in his old office on Main Street, but now all employees have their own space, in addition to a conference room and a kitchenette. And, the move kept Hodel’s business in his hometown, just where he wants it to be. There was a time when Hodel was thinking of re-locating to another town because he could not get enough high speed Internet service in Roanoke, a service that is vital to his business. But he recently found a way to get by with the service in place.
“We don’t have fiber yet due to the cost, but we’re using the Amazon cloud, and we’re getting by for now,” Hodel said. “We have seen increased efficiency, and cost savings came into play.”
Most people don’t really understand the kind of work Hodel does unless they are very technologically savvy. Hodel is a licensed professional engineer and certified Geographic Information System (GIS) professional. His business started with him, by himself in an office with a laptop, and grew to where it is today with one part-time and five full-time employees. Their work includes GIS mapping for government utilities and public works and asset management, among other projects. Simply put, they make maps, Hodel said. But the maps are not simple.
GIS maps are detailed and made using satellite technology. They allow clients to visualize, question, analyze and interpret data to better understand patterns and trends, as well as what is happening in geographic space. They are also valuable in creating and maintaining more accurate records.
There is a growing interest and awareness of the economic value of GIS. It can be used to manage assets, such as the life expectancy of streetlights or to schedule garbage truck routes to maximize efficiency in fuel and labor. Cloudpoint performs both small jobs and big ones, like a utility mapping job in Mendota that has taken all summer.
These descriptions are only a fraction of the work that Cloudpoint is capable of doing, and they barely scratch the surface of what will be available in the future. Hodel said drones will be used as a powerful commercial tool in the future pinpointing a number of things, from agriculture applications to other commercial uses. He plans to be a part of that technology as it is implemented.
”We’re really excited about the new technology drones will bring,” Hodel said. “It’s fascinating. I really enjoy new things. It’s the engineer coming out in me.”
Hodel said he hopes to hire a licensed pilot to work with drones in the future to create another arm of his business.
The work of Cloudpoint Geographics is far above most of the public’s head, so getting his name out and helping others learn about the services he provides to gain new business is sometimes challenging.
“We find we do a lot of door knocking, and use our web presence,” Hodel said. “Most of our business comes from referrals or face-to-face marketing.”
Hodel wants to do a little face-to-face marketing with the people of Roanoke where he has lived most of his life. He has invited them to come see his new office during an Open House, on Friday, Oct. 2, from 4-6 p.m. He will be glad to explain some of the fascinating aspects of his work to anyone who is interested. And, he wants everyone to know how much he enjoys his new office in Roanoke.
“We’re really happy to be here,” Hodel said.
So how do you get a highly accurate GPS location on something that is not accessible??? Using the Trimble Geo XH 6000 series and Terrasync (cm) Edition we are able to use the "Offset" command in the Data collection tools within Terrasync software. We simply tell the unit that the point is exactly 10 feet south of our current location and we start collecting data. The system will automatically assign the GPS location with an offset of the given distance and bearing. Out in the woods and not sure on the bearing??? Simply pull out your iphone and use a compass app to come within a couple degrees of the actual direction. Keep in mind you will need to calibrate the app prior to using it but it is very simple to do. In addition, remember that the farther away you are standing from your target, any error in the bearing will be greatly exaggerated so its generally good practice to keep the offset distance to a minimum. For more tips and tricks on GPS data collection visit us at www.cloudpointgeo.com.
Visit us at www.cloudpointgeo.com
