Workshop Descriptions

The GIS Code of Ethics for GIS Professionals – An Interactive Workshop

Greg Babinski, MA, GISP, EthicalGEO Fellow, URISA Past-President

$100 Half Day – 8:30am-12:00pm

Cherry Parkes 105

Are you a GIS Professional? GISP? WAGISA member? URISA member? If you answer yes, you are obligated to abide by the GIS Code of Ethics.

The Geospatial Technology Competency Model refers to the business and professional ethics. Professional ethics is a competency to be developed.

This workshop will help GIS professionals understand the GIS Code of Ethics and prepare them to apply it when circumstances warrant. When do circumstances warrant? Always, throughout a GIS career.

During the past few years several high-profile cases related to the GIS Code of Ethics have been publicized. Are you prepared to act if placed in a situation that might require you to violate the Code? Are you able to discuss the Code with employers, colleagues, and customers to frame the ethical limits of applying geographic

We will begin this workshop by discussing the characteristics of a profession and the good and harm that professions can cause. The development and use of codes of ethics through history will be reviewed, leading to their wide use within most professions today.

The GIS Code of Ethics will be reviewed and discussed in detail. We will use case studies to understand the practical application of the various obligations defined in the Code. These include:

I. Obligations to Society

II. Obligations to Employers and Funders

III. Obligations to Colleagues and the Profession

IV. Obligations to Individuals in Society

We will also discuss the Locus Charter – A key tool we can promote for the ethical use of geospatial technology. And we will explore a possible addition to the GIS Code of Ethics.

This workshop is intended to be very interactive. We will go into breakout sessions to discuss our understanding of our obligations and how we might react in potential real-world situations.

Demystifying Esri's Network Information Management System: Business Values and How to Begin

Kelly Auman, Esri

$100 Half Day – 8:30am-12:00pm

Pinkerton 131

This interactive workshop is designed to help utility professionals understand the business value of Esri’s Network Information Management System and the benefits of transitioning to the ArcGIS Utility Network. Attendees will gain insights into how modern network information management supports more efficient asset tracking, operational awareness, and cross-departmental collaboration.

The session will cover the different implementation options available for utilities of varying readiness and technical maturity, allowing organizations to take a phased and scalable approach to adoption. A key part of the workshop will be an introduction to Esri’s newly released migration toolset, which addresses common adoption challenges and simplifies the transition process.

Participants will leave with a clear understanding of how to get started with Utility Network, how to align it with business needs, and how to build a roadmap for long-term success

               

Real-Time GIS with ArcGIS Velocity

Ryan Richardson, Esri

$100 Half Day – 1:30pm-5:00pm

Pinkerton 131

Join us for a half-day workshop where we delve into the world of ArcGIS real-time data integration and analysis. This workshop is designed to provide participants with a comprehensive understanding of how real-time GIS can support decision-making through live geographic data visualization scenarios.

During the session, you will explore the capabilities of ArcGIS Velocity and discover how it can assist in problem-solving by offering immediate insights for addressing spatial challenges effectively. Through hands-on activities and interactive discussions, you will learn how to leverage real-time data to make informed decisions swiftly and accurately.

Whether you are a GIS professional, a decision-maker, or simply interested in the power of real-time geographic data, this workshop will equip you with the knowledge and skills to harness the potential of real-time GIS for your projects and initiatives.

Change Management - You Build it, Will They Come?

Michael Green, Esri

$100 Half Day – 8:30am-12:00pm

Milgard 311

Launching new technology is not like a field of dreams. It takes work and a solid plan to get people to buy in to using the new technology. Michael Green, an Esri adoption strategy expert, will walk you through the change management steps necessary to help build a healthy sponsor network, a strong communications plan and an attainable training plan to get your people on board with the GIS changes going on in your agency.

Indoor GIS Technology Workshop

Brock Saylor,  John Young, and Justin Fraser

$100 Half Day – 1:30pm-5:00pm

Milgard 311

State and local governments in the United States are increasingly requiring educational institutions and municipalities to adopt critical incident mapping (CIM) and emergency management planning to support first responders and computer-aided dispatch (CAD) during emergencies. This presentation emphasizes the significance of integrating Esri products for CIM, emergency management, and asset management, particularly focusing on indoor mapping and digital twins.

Key topics covered include data sharing, safety asset mapping, facility mapping, ArcGIS Indoors, routing, 3D GIS, best path analysis, and evacuation planning, all achieved through the latest reality capture methods and ArcGIS technologies.

Introduction to Developing a Drone Program and Uses in a Local Public Agency

Peter Keum and Keisha Chinn

$100 Half Day – 8:30am-12:00pm

Milgard 301

This half-day session is a starting point for any organization looking to implement a drone program. As Part 1 of a two-part workshop (offered separately), it equips you with the fundamental understanding of drone technology and the necessary regulatory landscape. Mastering these basics is crucial for building a compliant and effective drone operation.

Integrating Drone Data into Your GIS Workflow: Planning, Capture, Processing, and Integration for

Mapping and Modeling (Part 2)

Peter Keum and Keisha Chinn

$100 Half Day – 1:30pm-5:00pm

Milgard 301

This is second part of half-day knowledge workshop aims to integrate drone technology into your GIS projects. Gain practical knowledge about various drone hardware, data processing software, and efficient project workflows, from pre-flight planning to mission execution. We will also focus on best practices for mission planning to flight plans for data processing and explore various ways to integrate these data products into GIS workflows. Learn best practices for processing drone data to create accurate maps and 3D models and discover how to effectively integrate these tools into your GIS environment to support your work and enhance your agency's business.

Building Your GISP Portfolio: A Hands-On Experience

Jordan Carmona, GISP

$100 Half Day – 8:30am-12:00pm

Milgard 110

Does the thought of building a portfolio seem daunting?

Are you a learn-by-doing kind of person?

Do you work better when starting from a template?

Then this hands-on workshop for building your GISP portfolio is for you!

This workshop will briefly cover the GISP process and then dive into example-based work for documenting items in your GISP portfolio submission. We'll work through the major categories, review real-world examples, and set aside time to collaboratively work on attendee-provided examples.

Together, we'll demystify the portfolio building experience!

Young Professionals Initiative

Micah Gelber, Christina Chelf, Dan Miller, Multiple Presenters

$25 (Free for Young Professionals* Signed up for a Morning Workshop) – 1:30pm-5:00pm

Milgard 110 and Camp Colvos

*Open to anyone with less than 5 years professional GIS experience regardless of age!

Includes all events below:

• Afternoon: WGGL/YPI Networking Activity – Young and Established Professionals (Milgard 110) 1:30pm-3:00pm
• YPI Social Event: Young Professionals (Camp Colvos) 3:00pm-5:00pm
• Conference Kickoff Event: WAGISA Welcome Social (Living Taproom) 5:00-7:00pm

Washington Governmental GIS Leaders (WGGL)

Max Mousseau, City of Des Moines; Stephen Beimborn, City of Seattle; Jennifer Radcliffe, City of Tumwater; Jim Jarvis, WA State Dept of Fish and Wildlife; Sergio Velazquez, City of Burien; Daryn Brown, City of Bothell; and Kevin Wyckoff, Lakewood Water District        

$50 Half Day – 1:30pm-5:00pm

Milgard 110

A workshop for government GIS Leaders (active and aspiring), GIS Technical Leads, GIS Admins GIS Professionals and Leaders from the region present information to their peers, with opportunities for questions and discussion.

This workshop provides an opportunity to meet peers and learn from their experience and includes a networking event with young professionals.  

               

Workshop Leader Bios

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 the end of 2021 he served as GIS Manager, GIS Finance Manager, GIS Marketing & Business Development Manager, and GIS consultant 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. He is Past-President of URISA and founder and Past-Chair of URISA’s GIS Management Institute. In 2005 he founded The Summit – the Washington State GIS Newsletter.

In addition to GIS consulting, he is a GIS researcher, author, and instructor. He has spoken about GIS management across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

He developed the original GIS Capability Maturity Model and co-chaired the committee that developed the USDOL Geospatial Management Competency Model. He has authored four articles in the Geographic Information Science & Technology Body of Knowledge.

Greg has taught GIS for Public Policy as an instructor with the University of Washington Evans Graduate School of Public Administration. In 2019 Greg was awarded one of the first seven EthicalGEO Fellowships by the American Geographical Society. In his spare time Greg likes ‘...hiking steep, narrow and dangerous trails that lead high above the clouds to awesome views’.

Kelly Auman

Ryan 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.     

Michael Green is a Prosci-certified adoption strategy consultant with Esri, where he champions transformative thinking about the need to address human impacts of technology-driven change. Michael is passionate about helping public and private-sector organizations apply change management best practices to support successful enterprise deployment of GIS technology. Previously, Michael was training sales manager at Esri, where he introduced strategic workforce development plans aligned with executive vision and scaled to meet unique business objectives. He holds an MBA with an emphasis in GIS from the University of Redlands.            

Brock Saylor is currently a business development/sales lead and senior consultant at Langan, managing Langan’s Digital Solutions/GIS team in the western United States. Brock’s client focus is centered around resorts, K-12, higher education, energy, and local and state government service sectors. He has 15 years of experience in facilities management, SaaS projects, partner management (Esri, OpenGov, AWS, Azure), client success, and designing, deploying, and managing enterprise scale geospatial solutions for a variety of industries and clients. He also manages the western team to provide a variety of services focused on operations and maintenance tracking, lifecycle management, safety, and security, asset and facility management, and smart utilities.

John Young is a geospatial technology professional with over 25 years’ experience applying Esri GIS technologies and related asset and facility management technologies to solve business challenges in property, facility, and utility asset management. During his career (including 17 years with Esri, Inc), he has worked with numerous types of organizations, including government, Fortune 500 companies, education, and healthcare. John’s experience with municipal governments ranges from small to large cities and counties with dense urban and rural environments managing a broad diversity of asset types.  John uses in-depth solution development, program management, consulting skills and business knowledge to provide insight into all functional areas of property, facility, and utility asset management to help organizations become more efficient. John provides strategic insights to clients around operational processes, organization dynamics and technology requirements.

Justin Fraser has six years of experience in Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping, indoor GIS, geoprocessing, spatial analysis, and data conversion.  Justin works with the applied technology team to produce facility GIS and mapping deliverables that cover various market sectors. Justin's areas of expertise include data visualization through GIS mapping, 3D modeling, UAS Integration, Indoor Mapping, web-based mapping, and mobile field collection. He has completed a broad range of projects for K-12, higher education, government, and commercial clients.

Peter Keum is the Drone Program Lead and GIS Analyst for the King County Wastewater Treatment, integrating extensive geospatial expertise with advanced drone technology applications. With nearly three decades of experience and GISP certification since 2008, he is deploying geospatial solutions to support critical wastewater infrastructure. As an FAA-certified drone pilot, Peter has established and directed the division's drone program, facilitating the adoption of this technology and its integration with GIS. Beyond his professional responsibilities, he actively contributes to the geospatial community through involvement with OpenStreetMap Seattle and facilitating the Washington GIS Association DroneSIG (Special Interest Group) monthly as a chair, demonstrating a commitment to open-source geospatial tools and collaborative knowledge sharing.

Keisha Chinn is the Environmental Information Program Manager for the Washington State Department of Transportation. She graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences and a focus on Environmental Studies and GIS. Keisha has worked for WSDOT since 2015, first within the Maintenance Operations Office as a GIS specialist and then helping to kick off one of the very first drone programs at WSDOT back in 2017. Later, a drone program was started within the Environmental Services Office in 2021. Her current role provides technical support to subject matter experts to track, monitor, and report on WSDOT projects that affect the environment by developing and using databases and web user interfaces, GPS field data collection, drone operations, and GIS analysis. She is one of the lead sUAS (small Unmanned Aircraft System) Coordinators for WSDOT and co-chair of the WAGISA Drone SIG.

Jordan Carmona is a GIS Supervisor, whose team is responsible for GIS application development and infrastructure within the Spatial Services unit at Pierce County, Washington. He began working professionally in 2014 and has worked in a variety of sectors: private consulting, municipal government, and retail. Jordan is a self-taught Python developer, certified Part 107 sUAS remote pilot, and received his GISP in the winter of 2018. He has experience in the entire vertical of geospatial systems, from data digitization and GNSS field collection to analytics, automations, administration, and managing a geospatial department.

His professional involvement with the industry includes a term on the URISA Vanguard Cabinet, former board member and officer for URISA Texas, and perennial lurker on the GIS Discord group. Jordan has a dual BA in History and Political Science from the University of North Texas. He enjoys an array of [gardening, programming, photography, coffee, cats]. His alignment is Chaotic Good.

Micah Gelber is an Emergency Management GIS Specialist/ 911 GIS Administrator for Navy Region Northwest. Micah is currently a WAGISA board member where he serves as committee co-chair of the community engagement committee, co-coordinator of the Dick Thomas Award, and co-lead of WAGISA's new Young professional Initiative.

Christina Chelf is a GIS professional with over 12 years experience. Currently she serves as the GIS Manager for City of Tacoma where she leads a team of 8 that is responsible for providing maps, spatial analysis, and data management for city staff. She is also the President of the Washington GIS Association and a part time instructor in the University of Washington GIS Certificate Program.

Stephen Beimborn is the Manager of GIS Analysts for the City of Seattle. In his forty years working in the GIS field, he has done a little bit of everything, including cartography, analysis, programming, business systems integration, project and portfolio management, and people management. He has enjoyed it all, but none more than the cartography. Prior to joining city government nearly twenty-eight years ago, he worked in the environmental consulting field. He greatly enjoys his current role in local government because of the endless opportunities for using GIS in practical ways to solve real problems and help communities thrive.