 | WAGISAWashington GIS Association |
Professional Development Committee | Upcoming Events:
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About the Professional Development committeeThe Professional Committee will identify, organize, and implement educational events that may, or may not, coincide with the annual conference. This committee will also be responsible for outreach to educational institutions and develop any annual GIS Day activities. This committee is focused on professional educational opportunities for our members, and promotes the GISP credential. Where possible, the committee will seek opportunities for members to connect with professionals in related technologies. Suggested activities:
Workshop Date: May 19, 2026 Location: Meydenbauer Events Center, 11100 NE 6th St, Bellevue, WA 98004
GIS Management Boot CampGreg Babinski Full Day 8:30-5:00 GIS management is part of the knowledge economy – a system driven by knowledge, innovation, information, and experience. Intellectual capital is a GIS manager’s most valuable asset. But our intellectual capital must be nurtured by lifelong learning, professional connections, and shared experiences. GIS management is one of the most demanding and also most rewarding of careers. Agencies invest millions to develop GIS and millions more every year to maintain, operate, and utilize their GIS. GIS is expected to deliver an array of benefits, from enhanced services, better citizen engagement, regulatory compliance, and financial ROI. GIS does not come ready-to-use out of the box. Every GIS is a custom system, built with data, hardware, software, applications, and a team of GIS professionals each with their own competencies. The GIS manager is the glue that holds this system together. This workshop is based on a framework of the essentials of a successful GIS operation. First – what are the characteristics of a successful GIS? How do we know a successful GIS when we see one? Second – what are the management outputs that guide, support, and sustain a successful GIS? And finally, what are the essential competencies that a highly effective GIS needs to deploy to ensure the GIS succeeds? This workshop presents eight key perspectives for a successful GIS manager: envision the strategic future, engage stakeholders, manage resources, curate data, curate technology, lead your team, lead change, and lead innovation. Workshop author and instructor Greg Babinski has more than 37 years’ experience as a GIS manager and observing and analyzing what makes managers succeed or fail. Lifelong learning and continual professional growth are essential for a successful career in GIS management. The GIS Managers Boot Camp™ provides valuable insights and best practices within a structured framework that can be used throughout a manager’s career. Intended Audience: Current GIS managers, supervisors, and coordinators, and those who aspire to a successful career in GIS management. Learning Objectives: Having a strategic vision that aligns with your agency business priorities, Stakeholders and your user community, Managing your GIS resources, financial, technical, human, Curating your data – the asset that can last forever – data architecture is key, Curating your technical platform – system architecture is key, Managing and adapting to change, Building and leading a team, Looking beyond – innovation and future focus, Then – put is all together, day after day Presenter: Greg Babinski Greg Babinski is a GIS management consultant and founder of GIS Management Consulting Services LLC and the GIS Management Academy™, located in Edmonds, Washington. Between 1998 and 2021 he served as GIS Manager, GIS Finance Manager, and GIS Marketing & Business Development Manager for the King County GIS Center in Seattle. Previously he worked for nine years as GIS Mapping Supervisor for the East Bay Municipal Utility District in Oakland. He holds an MA in geography from Wayne State University. Greg is a GISP – Certified GIS Professional. Babinski is Past-President of URISA and founder and Past-Chair of URISA’s GIS Management Institute.
Full Day (8:30-5:00) $250 Presenters: Gerry Gabrisch, Ryan Richardson, TJ Abbenhaus, Peter Keum Full day workshop is divided into three main parts. Part one will focus on the essential knowledge to establish and manage a successful drone program within your organization. This section covers the fundamentals of drone technology, including hardware, software, regulatory requirements, and staff training. Part 1 will also cover typical workflows and various use cases. Part two will delve into the various components of successful flights. The focus will be on practical knowledge of setting up automatic mission planning and manual flights for 2D aerial and 3D model data collection. In addition to practical flight best-practice information, will go over some existing drone image-processing software, ranging from SaaS to desktop to subscription to open-source options. Lastly, Part three will focus on the workflow for using Esri tools to integrate with the organization's existing GIS ecosystem. Will also share data plans ranging from naming conventions to data stores for future use, and share the products with others in the organization. Detail Agenda: Intended Audiences: Beginner-to-intermediate drone enthusiast and GIS specialist interested in building a drone program to utilize drone data to support one’s organization's needs. Local agency staff who are interested in integrating drones to support local government operations. Current or newly certified drone pilots/GIS specialists who are interested in developing drone data products to integrate with GIS. Learning Objectives:
1. Develop knowledge of drone programs and their components to build successful, robust programs.
2. Understand various workflows to develop products with integration with the existing Esri GIS system.
3. Share various use case examples. Gerry Gabrisch, Lummi Nation GIS Manager: Gerry holds an M.Sc. in Geography from Western Washington University, with a focus on geoprocessing and Python programming. Gerry has held an FAA Part 107 license since 2017, when Lummi (with the help and advice of Peter) started its drone program. Lummi currently flies a Matrice 4E, a Matrice 350, and a Phantom 4 Pro v2. In addition to the RGB cameras, Lummi owns a Parrot Sequoia multi-spectral camera, an L2 LiDAR, and an H30T radiometric-thermal camera. Gerry has experience processing drone imagery using Agisoft Photoscan, Open Drone Map, WebODM, DJI Thermal Analyst, and DJI Terrascan.; Peter Keum, M.S., GISP, King County Wastewater Treatment Drone Program Lead/GIS Analyst:. Peter is a Drone Program Lead and GIS Analyst for the King County Wastewater Treatment Division, where he merges his passion for maps with advanced drone technology. With over 28 years of GIS experience in wastewater treatment and holding the GIS Professional (GISP) certification since 2008. He has been flying drones since 2015 and became a FAA-Part 107-certified pilot in 2018. He established the Wastewater Treatment Division's drone program and enjoys helping others in King County understand drones' capabilities. Additionally, Peter is a founding member and monthly facilitator of the Washington GIS Association (WAGISA) Drone Special Interest Group (DroneSIG). ; Ryan Richardson, Esri Solution Engineer: He is a GIS professional who thrives on leveraging technology to tackle intricate challenges. With a strong commitment to problem-solving, Ryan currently serves as a Solution Engineer at Esri, a leading provider of geospatial software solutions. Based out of Esri’s regional office in Olympia, WA, Ryan supports the State and Local Government team. In addition to his role as a solution engineer, Ryan is an Esri Certified UAV Pilot and holds an FAA Part 107 UAV pilot certificate. His expertise in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) allows him to harness drone technology for mapping and analysis. Ryan is also passionate about education and knowledge sharing and serves as an instructor for a drone mapping certificate program at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA.; TJ Abbenhaus, Esri Solution Engineer: He is a Senior Solution Engineer specializing in imagery, remote sensing, and geospatial workflows across the ArcGIS platform. With deep experience helping government agencies modernize legacy imagery systems, TJ focuses on guiding organizations as they transition drones, aerial collections, and satellite data into scalable, cloud‑ready architectures.He advises customers on building performant, updateable digital twins, optimizing large imagery libraries, and integrating video, true‑ortho production, and advanced raster analytics into repeatable operational workflows. At Esri, TJ works closely with state and local government partners across the Pacific Northwest to help them meet mission‑critical needs with modern, efficient imagery solutions. He is passionate about demystifying complex technology and empowering users to capture, manage, and share geospatial data at scale.
Half Day AM (8:30-12:00) $125 Presenter: Mary Phillips This introductory course provides a hands-on foundation for building web applications with ArcGIS Experience Builder. Participants will learn how to create an organization-branded template, apply themes, and design a consistent header, footer, and splash screen with basic accessibility features. From there, the course guides learners through adding and configuring core application components—including maps, side panels, and layout elements such as columns, rows, and flow rows. Attendees will practice creating/configuring a Widget Controller and adding/configuring a variety of widgets, such as Legend, Map Layers, Bookmarks, Filters, Near Me, Search, and a custom information button. The course concludes by introducing more complex elements like charts and multi page navigation using buttons and menus. Participants will also learn how to configure responsive tablet and mobile views using both automatic and custom layout options. No prior Experience Builder knowledge is required. Access to an ArcGIS Online account and a personal laptop are recommended in order to follow along during the course, but are not required. A copy of applications created during the course and configuration notes will be provided to all attendees for later reference. Detailed configuration documentation will be provided to all attendees for later reference. Intended audience: This workshop is designed for GIS professionals, analysts, planners, and communicators who are new to ArcGIS Experience Builder or have limited experience building web applications. It is ideal for participants who want a guided introduction to branding, layout, widget configuration, and responsive design. No prior Experience Builder knowledge is required—just a basic familiarity with ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise. This session is a strong fit for anyone who needs to create simple, polished, and user friendly web applications to support internal teams or public audiences. Advanced Experience Builder Half Day PM (1:30-5:00) $125 Presenter: Mary Phillips This advanced course is designed for users who want to deepen their Experience Builder skills and create highly interactive, data driven web applications. Materials from the beginner course will be provided for participants who choose to attend only this session. The course begins with a section on working with the attribute table, building custom table views using data views and linked relationships. Participants will learn advanced widget configuration and interactions, including Select by Attributes, Filter and Select, Query, and List widgets. The session also covers creating a custom Help widget and enhancing usability with built in tooltips. The latter portion of the course is dedicated to designing for accessibility. Learners will explore best practices for accessible configurations and will build a text based, data driven narrative using dynamic content, custom data views, and an embedded Nearby Instant App. By the end of the course, participants will be equipped to design sophisticated, responsive, and inclusive applications tailored to complex workflows. Access to an ArcGIS Online account and a personal laptop are recommended in order to follow along during the course, but are not required. A copy of applications created during the course and configuration notes will be provided to all attendees for later reference. Detailed configuration documentation will be provided to all attendees for later reference. Intended audience: The advanced workshop is intended for users who already understand the fundamentals of Experience Builder and want to build more sophisticated, data driven applications. It is well suited for GIS analysts, developers, and power users responsible for designing interactive workflows, integrating related data, and supporting complex organizational needs. Participants should be comfortable with core Experience Builder concepts such as layout components, basic widgets, and navigation. However, all beginner level materials will be provided for those who choose to attend only the advanced session and need a quick refresher. Presenter: Mary Phillips Mary is a Certified Geographic Information Systems Professional (GISP) with more than 30 years of experience delivering high quality geospatial solutions across local government and consulting environments. Since 2015, she has maintained her GISP certification and continues to lead projects that blend technical depth, clear communication, and user focused design. Her expertise spans ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Enterprise, ArcMap, QGIS, GeoMedia Professional, and Orbit 3DM Feature Extraction. From 2001 to 2018, Mary led the development, implementation, and daily operation of a countywide GIS program, serving as the primary point of contact for all GIS initiatives. She supervised and mentored GIS Technicians, collaborated with internal departments and external agencies to maintain critical datasets, and managed major projects including orthophotography contracts and foundational base data development for two municipalities. She also produced a countywide road atlas, developed interactive web mapping applications, conducted spatial analyses, and provided GIS training and technical support to staff. Since 2019, Mary has worked as a GIS Analyst and Consultant and is the owner of Sagebrush Geospatial, supporting clients such as the City of Seattle IT GIS Department and the City of Quincy. She designs and maintains ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise applications, with a strong focus on Esri’s Experience Builder. Her work includes developing a comprehensive suite of Experience Builder templates for City of Seattle employees and contributing to two multi month, cross departmental efforts to rebuild complex, high traffic internal web applications. Mary produces comprehensive project documentation, including detailed test cases and custom user guides designed in Experience Builder. Her background also includes Parcel Fabric migration and maintenance, spatial analysis, and custom cartographic production for infrastructure projects.
Real-Time GIS Half Day PM (1:30-5:00) $125 Presenter: Ryan Richardson Incorporating Real‑Time GIS into an organization’s operations workflow enables organizations to move from reactive response to proactive, data‑driven decision‑making. This workshop demonstrates how real‑time solutions such as Winter Weather Operations and Street Sweeping provide transparency for leadership and the public by visualizing live operational status, materials usage, and service coverage as events unfold. Participants will see how real‑time analytics transform streaming data into actionable metrics, allowing decision makers to track progress, measure performance, and manage resources such as salt, fuel, and labor with greater accountability. The session also highlights how big data analytics built on real‑time GIS can streamline workflows by automating data collection, reducing manual reporting, and integrating operations data into a single, authoritative operational picture. Concepts covered in this workshop are applicable to workflows beyond public works, such as emergency management and transportation. Designed for executive leadership, yet technical enough for GIS practitioners, this workshop focuses on how Real‑Time GIS drives operational efficiency, improves public trust, and delivers measurable return on investment across public works programs. Presenters: Ryan RichardsonRyan Richardson is a GIS professional with a passion for using technology to solve complex problems. He currently works as a Solution Engineer at Esri, supporting the State and Local Government team out of Esri's regional office in Olympia, WA. Additionally, he is a FAA Part 107 UAV pilot and teaches a drone mapping certificate course at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. Ryan thrives on leveraging technology to tackle intricate challenges.
WGGL Forum Half Day PM (1:30-5:00) $75 Presenters: Stephen Beimborn; Jennifer Radcliff; Kevin Wyckoff This year’s WGGL forum will follow the pattern of previous events. GIS Professionals and Leaders from the region present information to their peers, with opportunities for questions and discussion, and to meet peers and learn from their own, unique experiences. In the workshop, we will explore navigating the relationships between IT and GIS, GIS job titles, and branding your GIS. Content will be developed by a committee of presenters, but will likely be similar to past events. Intended for GIS Professionals and IT/GIS Leaders, many of whom will also be presenters. The learning objectives for this workshop will cover sharing experiences of conflict and cohesion between IT and GIS groups, GIS branding, and working with varied GIS job titles.
YPI Special Interest Group Half Day PM (1:30-5:00) Free with conference registration; $50 for workshop-only Presenters: YP-SIG Committee Optional YP-SIG Lunch: 12:00pm-1:30pm Afternoon YP-SIG Workshop: 1:30pm-3:00pm YP-SIG Social Event: 3:00pm-5:00pm The session will begin with a structured networking activity intended to help participants connect with peers and more experienced professionals in a supportive, low-pressure environment. Guided prompts and facilitated small-group rotations will encourage meaningful conversations around career paths, technical skill development, workplace expectations, and navigating early career challenges. Participants will leave this portion of the workshop with new contacts, conversation strategies, and a stronger sense of belonging within the geospatial community. Following the structured activity, the workshop will transition into a more informal networking and discussion period where attendees can continue conversations, ask questions, and build relationships organically. Facilitators will be available to share tips on job searching, resumes and portfolios, professional growth opportunities, and ways to stay engaged in the GIS community beyond the conference. Intended audience: This session is ideal for students, recent graduates, early-career professionals, and anyone seeking to strengthen their connections within the geospatial field.
Professional Development Committee Members |
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