Governor Signs Bill to Establish State Geospatial Coordinating Board

The bill which establishes a Geospatial Coordinating Board for the State of Pennsylvania was signed by Governor Corbett on Wednesday, October 22.  This law will now be known Act 178.

The Act takes affect within 60 days of the signing, which is around December 22.  Please check back for updates on the process to form the new Geospatial Coordinating Board. PaMAGIC will have a voting position on the State Geospatial Coordinating Board and will be actively soliciting member involvement in setting priorities, and in delivering researched information in response to Board requests.

For more information on the bill, see press releases from  Senator Gordner's Office and Representative Cutler’s Office.

To review the provisions of this bill, follow link to Senate Bill 771.

PAMAGIC Technical Training Session at Central PA GIS Day

ArcGIS Online Best Practices
PAMAGIC is pleased to announce a technical training session at Central PA GIS Day on Wednesday, November 19 at HACC Midtown 2 Campus (1500 N. 3rd Street, Harrisburg, PA).  The session will be co-led by Carrie Tropasso (DCNR) and Tim Cooley (GeoDecisions) and focus on ArcGIS Online.  For more information, please see the Central PA GIS Day website

Building and Customizing Story Maps using the Map Tour and Map Journal Templates (Carrie Tropasso)
Story Maps combine intelligent web maps that incorporate text, photos, and interactive map-related functions.  ESRI has provided many templates to easily and quickly deploy Story Maps, and they allow you to download all of the code for a more customized experience.  This session will highlight all of the steps necessary to create and customize two story maps from scratch using the Map Tour and Map Journal Templates.  Customizations that will be covered include: hybrid hosting of images between ArcGIS Online and On-Premise; integrating clickable hyperlinks in description text; customizing story map point icons; changing template colors and header icons, and incorporating videos and multi-media.

Customizing Collector for ArcGIS (Tim Cooley)
Collector for ArcGIS is Esri's solution for field collection using devices such as smartphones or tablets.  Recently Esri released a Sign Inventory tool for Collector which is designed to help collect and categorize signs and poles in the field.  An overview will be given about downloading and setting up Collector along with the Sign Inventory database, which leverages the ArcGIS for Local Government model.  Steps will then be taken to customize the Collector for our specific needs from both the data management end and GPS accuracy.

Biographies
Carrie Tropasso is the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources GIS Technical Lead.  Her primary roles within DCNR are ArcGIS Online administration, story maps, collector apps, map service and web mapping/mobile application development, enterprise Geodatabase administration and to support the Department’s overall GIS efforts and strategic plan.  She has over 16 years of GIS experience both in the public and private sectors working on and managing projects of varying size and content all across the state.  In addition, she has a Master’s degree in GIS from Penn State University and is a GISP.

Tim Cooley started working at GeoDecisions 9 years ago after graduating from Penn State as a Geography major, and during this time obtained his GISP.  Tim has focused on a diverse set of GIS disciplines from tracking/routing for the Transportation Engineering Agency (TEA) to commercial insurance projects.  As part of his work for GeoDecisions, Tim spent time in Abu Dhabi helping to establish and modernize the GIS Department for the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council.

For those interested in attending, please contact Patrick McKinney at pmckinney@ccpa.net 
Room 220
3:00pm-4:45pm

Senate Bill 771 Passes - Biggest Step Behind Us

About 10 years after the first House testimony, Pennsylvania will have an official Geospatial Coordinating Board representing all levels of government, and public and academic sectors. Senate Bill 771 has unanimously passed the House of Representatives today, and awaits the Governor's signature!!

Thanks to Senator Gordner, Representative Cutler and their staffs for all their work and support to bring us to this point.  Thanks also to all the organizations and individuals that were part of the Coalition that worked very hard and with a great deal of patience to "get this across the finish line"

When the bill is signed, it will take affect within 60 days.  Planning will start very soon toward the formation of this organization.  Please check back for updates on the process to form the new Geospatial Coordinating Board.

For more information on the bill, see Senator Gordner's Press Release.

To review the provisions of this bill, follow link to Senate Bill 771

Need for Integrated Water Resources

PAMAGIC President Eric Jespersen and Board Member Dave Gilbert discuss Integrated Water Resources in a three part interview conducted at the PMAA Conference in Hershey:
 https://www.youtube.com/user/GeoDecisions

Geospatial Coordinating Board - Contact State Representative

Hello, All. We have seen our efforts to create a Geospatial Coordinating Board advance farther than ever before - Senate Bill 771 passed out of the Senate unanimously in the Spring and the Bill has passed the first two considerations and Appropriations scrutiny in the House. We think the legislation could come to a vote without any aggressive push from constituents and supporters but fear leaving that completely to luck in a session with many large, complex issues at hand.

Please make email or phone contact to the district office of your PA House Representative before September 12 simply requesting that they ask House leadership to allow Senate Bill 771 forming a Geospatial Coordinating Board to come to the floor for third consideration.

This request is pertinent for all Representatives, regardless of political affiliation.

Eric Jespersen
President - PaMAGIC
717-475-7869

Pennsylvania State Government Recognized for Technology Advances

Stories below illustrate how Pennsylvania State Government is using technology, particularly the cloud.

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/blog/innovation/2014/09/pennsylvania-earns-high-marks-for-technology-usage.html

http://www.govtech.com/computing/Pennsylvanias-Data-Center-Cloud-Deal-Has-Big-Potential.html

EnerGIS 2014 Conference

Join your fellow GIS colleagues, contractors and vendors, September 15-16 in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, for one and one half days of talks, networking and socializing! Papers will be presented on a variety of GIS / energy industry related GIS topics.

Quan Vu of Tableau Software will keynote the conference, while Tony Simental, West Virginia State GIS Coordinator and Susan Pool will present on GIS uses at the West Virginia Geological & Economic Survey.

EnerGIS 2014 is bigger and better this year, with the inclusion of the first annual EnerGIS Social on the evening of September 15. Enjoy a few education filled days with your GIS and Energy industry colleagues.

EnerGIS is produced by the GITA Mid-Atlantic Chapter, and hosted by Range Resources Appalachia, LLC.

For further details please visit the conference website at:

http://www.energis.us/

Mark E. Limbruner, GISP

GIS Manager

Range Resources - Appalachia LLC

PSLS Adopts Statement on Mapping and Positioning Services

The Pennsylvania Society of Land Surveyors adopted a statement on mapping and positioning services.  Use the link below to read the news release posted on their website.

http://www.psls.org/News/3083228

View the complete statement at:

http://www.psls.org/resources/Documents/Committees/Statement_on_Mapping_and_Positioning_Services_2014.pdf

GeoAdvisory Board Status Update

Well, folks, the effort to create a Geo Advisory Council is at the gate! We had hoped for a final vote before the summer recess but just missed the mark. Senate Bill 771 went through the Senate and passed unanimously on third consideration, and has progressed through the first two considerations in the House, an unrelated amendment (failed), and a successful review in the House Appropriations Committee. It still requires a majority vote upon third consideration in the House and if successful there then just the Governor's signature. There is still a chance the bill will stay dormant without consideration through the end of the session in December; if that occurs the whole process starts over as if the bill had never been introduced.

At the present time we are ascertaining the chances it will be brought up for consideration and if we need to mobilize. Stay tuned!

USGS Announcement

Attached here is the 13 page USGS Announcement 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8wHxB_-kjxBdjE3VGQwWWxFZ1U/edit?usp=sharing

Senate Bill 771

Here is a link to SB771 http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2013&sInd=0&body=S&type=B&bn=0771