GIS Cooperative Meeting Notes

City Information Technology Dept. Pueblo Room

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

GIS Cooperative Chairman Steve Whitney presiding.

Present: (attendee list includes those who attended the Electronic Plans subcommittee, prior to the general Cooperative meeting) Steve Whitney, PC DOT; Laura Pinnas, TEP; Andrew Acuff, PC DSD; Jack Avis, Marana; Robin Smith, COT Water; Bill Marum, COT DSD; Jessie Sanders, COT DSD; Francisco Leyva, COT Traff. Eng.; Bryn Enright, COT Water; Diane Tentscher, COT IT; Christine O'Connor, COT IT; Anita Velasco COT GSD; Dee Korick, COT ES; Larry Cassen, COT ES; Joe Jakoby; COT IT; Grant McCormick, UofA; John Crosby, COT IT/ECAS; Manny Rosas, PAG; Michael Liberti, COT Water; Tyler Jones, Marana; Steve Smith, TDOT; Bob Czaja, COT Water; Andre Clark, UofA; Mike Duncan, NW Fire; Mike Gutierrez, PAG; Melisa Hadinger, COT Water; Terri Schultz, Tucson Fire.

ESRI User Conference round-up: Reports from attendees.

(The majority of the items that were reported pertain to version 9 of the ESRI software suite.)

At the annual conference in San Diego in early August, ESRI presenters described backend improvements for the Spatial Database Engine (SDE) and Geodatabases. Improvements include administrative tools that can be executed while the database management system remains online. ESRI has also cleaned up SDE issues with mass editing. Performance improvements, between versions 8.3 and 9, were touted for SDE and Geodatabases.

Scripting has been expanded to three languages: Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), JavaScript, and Python.

Model Builder is a new product that provides a visual development environment, in which one can drag and drop objects onto the canvas to build a workflow for a process. This tool can design and implement a wide range of applications from a simple field addition to an attribute table, to complex geoprocessing, data, and workflow modeling. Processes can be executed directly from the tool, or saved to a script file. Existing processes/scripts can be dropped into Model Building. It was suggested that it could be used to demonstrate workflows/processes to administrators.

Image improvements were announced, including better capability for larger raster datasets, and making it more feasible to utilize image catalogs, as opposed to an image mosaic.

ArcGIS Server is a new product which provides a development and hosting environment for both desktop and web-based applications. Applications and processes developed for ArcGIS Server could circumvent desktop processes performed with such modules as ArcMap or ArcCatalog. It has capabilities for sharing data amongst users via the internet, which could be a potential way to serve the GIS Library to non-networked users, i.e. Marana, Oro Valley, PAG, etc.

There was a demonstration of a table sized touch screen map.

Geodatabase enhancements include stored symbology, virtual feature movement to delineate between features in dense areas, and performance improvements.

A pause button has been added to ArcMap, enabling the user to pause feature drawing to modify display parameters.

Improvements/enhancements have been made to modeling with raster datasets. Potential for landuse modeling. Models can be shared.

Network Datasets are a future new data type, similar to Geometric Networks, but can participate in traditional Geodatabase topology, and are more suitable for transportation modeling.

Three-dimensional modeling enhancements include a new library of 3D symbology, such as fire hydrants, trees, houses and buildings, etc. 3D animations can be integrated.

Geocoding enhancements include Address Locator objects, which are fully customizable. Composite Address Locators let you specify and rank multiple layers to address match against.

A CD of the technical workshop presentation slides will be made available to all attendees, and will be made available to local folks.

What's new in the GIS Library:
STNETGDB - the re-engineered street network.

The re-engineered, routable street network is ready for review. It is named STNETGDB, until Pima County DOT/Tech Services finds it suitable to replace STNETALL. It is currently available as a coverage in the GIS Library, and a notice will be sent out when it becomes available as a shapefile, personal Geodatabase, and available via ftp. A white paper was distributed at the meeting, and is available here. This white paper explains the changes and enhancements to the street network. Pre-existing attribute field names have changed slightly, and there are a slew of new fields for routing applications and the assimilation of pre-existing, separate transportation layers. A list of these layers will be provided.

All jurisdictions and organizations are strongly encouraged to review this layer as a replacement for STNETALL. Please examine existing applications that are tied to STNETALL, especially those doing geocoding (address matching). If you're interested in routing capabilities, check out the new attributes related to this, taking into account the requirements of the software that you're using.

A metadata description is available. A field-level metadata table is also available.

The white paper is posted here.

Emergency Response Subcommittee Report

The Emergency Response subcommittee has adjourned while the Tucson Fire Department works with City IT on internal planning.

Tucson Community Technology Education Network

The Tucson Community Technology Education Network effort with City High School is ramping up. The high school's IT administrator has recently completed the ArcView training at the Tucson Police Department. The math teacher who will oversee the GIS portion of the City Works program has been hired, and we will be calling another meeting for those who are interested in mentoring the program.

Electronic Plans Submission Subcommittee Report

The Electronic Plans subcommittee met before the general Cooperative meeting. Minor syntax modifications were made to the guidelines, and the next step will be to advertise them. The committee discussed the development of a flyer that would be distributed to constituent organizations, such as utilities, development and engineering firms, home builder associations, etc. It was proposed that a graphics specialty group be enlisted to produce the final product. Feedback is sought regarding the flyer content.

Geospatial Organization Initiative Report

The general membership of the Arizona Professional Land Surveyors Association approved bylaw changes that were put forth by the Geospatial Organization subcommittee, thereby expanding Association membership to include geospatial professionals (Geospatialists). A draft Geospatialist application was distributed, and is available here. The subcommittee is shooting for board approval of the application in September.

Pima Association of Governments Orthophoto Project of 2005

The PAG Regional Data Committee is currently working on the wish list of areas to be covered by the 2005 flight. It looks like approximately 2000 square miles will be flown. The committee is looking to lower the flight altitude of the color product to meet the +/- 2 foot horizontal accuracy of the existing grayscale imagery. LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) will be considered for elevation model production.

The Pictometry pilot is still in the works. The Tucson Police Department is arranging for an evaluation copy of the software for local testing, that would precede the pilot.

GIS Survey

Keep the surveys coming in! The top three initiatives to date are 1) Cooperative participant expansion, 2) Monthly speakers (please feel free to volunteer), and 3) permanent GIS staff.

Pima County/City of Tucson GIS Intergovernmental Agreement

It was suggested by City of Tucson DOT that web cameras located on City/County buildings be included in the GIS Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA), thus opening the door to preparing for renewal by July 1st, 2005. Oracle licensing was discussed as a candidate for the IGA as well. The current IGA is posted here, and groups will be formed to begin the review process.

GIS Cooperative Budget

The Cooperative's fiscal-year 04-05 budget is in place. If you have GIS needs beyond your budget capabilities, submit them to Steve Whitney or Larry Cassen. Training was discussed, and on-site training was proposed for large-scale training needs. For ESRI training, a one week on-site class for up to 12 students costs around $13,000.

GIS Cooperative Flyer

A draft of a proposed Cooperative flyer was distributed, and is posted here. It was proposed that a graphics specialty group be enlisted to produce the final products. Feedback is sought regarding the flyer content.

Open Floor

GIS classifications: A follow-up meeting will be scheduled with City Human Resources representatives to get a status report, and to discuss the process that will be used to gather position information and how recommendations will be made. From the last meeting, the timeline is to be ready for management review by the end of October 2004.

ESRI: ArcIMS is being offered at half-price to municipalities with populations of 25,000 or less.

Next Meeting:

Tuesday, September 21, 2004 / 3:00 P.M / City I.T. Pueblo Room