Tucson GIS Co-op

Attendees

Agenda

1. Introductions.

2. Presentation: GIS at Tucson Water (Bryn Enright)

3. 2008 Orthophotos – shared resources (Bryn Enright)

4. GIS co-op meeting preferred location and day (Bryn Enright)

5. Arizona Local Technical Assistance Program (Bryn Enright)

6. Open Floor

1. Bryn Enright chaired the meeting and introductions were made. The agenda has not been set for the next year. Suggestions for agenda topics can be sent to one of the co-op chairs:

Bryn Enright (bryn.enright@tucsonaz.gov)

Steve Whitney (steve.whitney@dot.pima.gov)

Peter Johnson (peter.johnson@tucsonaz.gov)

Josh Pope (josh.pope@tucsonaz.gov)

Jennifer Psillas (Jennifer.psillas@pima.gov)

Johanna Kraus (Johanna.Kraus@tucsonaz.gov)

2. Presentation: GIS at Tucson Water

Bryn Enright provided an overview of the last 10 years of GIS at Tucson Water. The Water Department currently maintains an SDE/Oracle Geodatabase with all the water system information include pipes, wells, boosters, fittings, valves, services and hydrants. The production database is used by editors to add/modify information. The editors operate in a versioned environment. The published database is used for read-only viewing and can be consumed by any of the ESRI clients, primarily ArcGIS and ArcIMS. City staff needing access to the information can contact Bryn Enright (bryn.enright@tucsonaz.gov) for a database login. The information is for internal use only. Feature class metadata can be viewed in ArcCatalog.

Alternatively, all City staff can access the information through Water’s eMap site http://twgis/emap. This site has the typical navigations tools as well as tools for creating “redlines” and work orders in Water’s maintenance management system (Synergen). Layer metadata for eMap is available at http://twgis/emap/usermanual/tw_metadata/_eMapFrameset.html.

Tucson Water also uses several ESRI extensions: JTX, PLTS GIS Data Reviewer, Publisher, 3D Analyst, Maplex, Spatial Analyst.

GIS is actively used in several business workflows. Engineers use GIS to diagnose pressure problems. Hydrology creates well and recharge site maps as well as custom desktop applications. New Area Development uses a custom GIS application for new water service requests. The operation and maintenance crews use eMap to schedule work and locate pipes.

3. 2008 orthophotos – shared resources

Multiple efforts have been made to serve the orthophotos to users. Pima County and the City both host servers with the images. It was suggested that there may be a better solution that both agencies can use and help prevent duplication of effort. Steve Whitney suggested further research into the various methodologies for storing and publishing images. Some of the issue that need to be address are:

a. What is the best format in terms of performance and usability by the client applications.

b. Network connectivity between City, County and PAG.

c. Storage space required

4. GIS co-op meeting location and day. It has been suggested that more people would be able to attend if the co-op was held on a different day/location. The results of a poll of the attendees said that people would be agreeable to changing the location and day. Steve Whitney will research the availability of the Public Works Conference Room for the next meeting, with the possibility of it being held on Friday.

5. Arizona Local Technical Assistance Program http://www.azltap.org/

Thanks to Blanca Espino for bringing this to the co-op’s attention. This organization provides free GIS training to its member agencies which include City of Tucson, Pima County, Oro Valley, and Marana. The co-op’s training budget has been cut for the 08-09 fiscal year, so this is a good alternative. The following classes have been scheduled:

a. ArcGIS Desktop II: Tools & Functionality

• Oct 21-23, 2008 Phoenix
• Apr 14-26, 2009 Phoenix

b. ArcGIS Desktop III: GIS Workflow & Analysis

• Dec 9-10, 2008 Phoenix
• June 16-17, 2009 Phoenix

c. Intro to Geo Processing Scripts Using Python

• Sep 3-4, 2008 Phoenix
• Feb 10-11, 2009 Phoenix

If there is enough interest and ALTAP is agreeable, the City has the facilities we could use to sponsor a class in Tucson to save on travel costs.

6. Open Floor

a. Steve Whitney will be attending the AGIC conference Oct 8-10 in Prescott. He reported that they are still accepting submittals for posters http://agic.az.gov/agic2008/presenters.htm. Steve will help to transport the posters.

b. October 28^th, 2008 – ESRI is hosting a seminar in Phoenix for ArcGIS 9.3 called “Improving your Entire GIS Workflow”. http://events2.esri.com/info/index.cfm?fuseaction=showSeminar&shownumber=11742