Special Interest Groups

Join leaders from MSGIC to get GIS career ready. Whether you’re entering the GIS profession or shifting careers, this session will serve as a primer for attendees attempting to market themselves to prospective employers during the conference, and beyond. The session will include:

• Welcome, Introduction of MSGIC Emerging Professionals Working Group
  Mary Buffington, ESRGC and Christina Gladmon, Straughan Environmental
• Break out groups: Small group discussions, hosted by MSGIC emerging professionals, on resume writing, interview skills, and how to build your digital presence.
• Emerging Professionals Panel Discussion: A conversation with emerging professional about their experience in the GIS industry. Topics include: fields of study, how they applied for their position, if they work with a team or not, and what their daily tasks include as an emerging professional. Panelists include:
  • Farrah Solomon, Carroll County
  • Jeff Koch, Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson, Inc.
  • Joshua Trott, Washington County Stormwater
  • Jane Karakashian, Frederick County

Join industry leaders from across the state to discuss current topics and events impacting Maryland. Speakers will share insight into policy, management, and technical solutions related to environmental management.

• Applied Geoscience in Support of Environmental Justice and Grassroots Organizations in Black Communities
  Dr. David A. Padgett, Tennessee State University
• Climate Resilience Planning and Urban Heat Health
  Esri
• Discover how Clean Water Action’s commitment to organizing guides their work
  Emily Ranson, Clean Water Action

Join GIS leaders from the local, state, and federal jurisdictions to learn about updates on the DoD public safety communications modernization effort, using GIS in a public safety access point (PSAP), and debrief of the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster.

Introduction

Julia Fischer, Department of IT, State of Maryland

Panel Discussion

• Use of GIS in the PSAP panel: Hear directly from PSAP personnel on how location information is translated into vital assistance in helping to locate those in distress.
  Stanley Harris, Calvert County; Ross Coates, Harford County
• “Live” Tour of Baltimore City’s PSAP via Prepared Live
• Use of GIS information within the public safety communications sector: The use of GIS in NG911 is a key factor in providing a more exact location for an emergency response and reducing the response time thus saving additional lives. GIS is also instrumental in 988 calls providing the location of the calling party in distress and if deemed a threat a transfer to that GIS information to a 911 call center for an appropriate non-descript response again to save lives.
  John Holloway, director, Defense Information Systems Agency, U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Global Public Safety Communications
• Indoor mapping standards and funding for public facilities
  Jeyan Jebaraj, Maryland Center for School Safety; Graham Twibell, Interagency Commission on School Construction
  
• Use of GIS in the Francis Scott Key Bridge response and recovery
  Ian Hanna, U.S. Coast Guard; Bineeta Sihota, Baltimore City; Jennifer Zambito, Maryland FiRST Radio Systems

Join industry leaders from private industry, non-profits, and higher education who will share insight into unmanned aircraft systems, how it relates to land survey projects, and UAS support for local municipalities.

Presentations

• UAS and LASR in graduate education
  Amber Merrell, Johns Hopkins University
• The use of drone technology to survey energized electrical manholes
  Steve Pieroski, Billy Brinn, and Brandon Rector, Qualus, Power System Engineering
• Integrating UAV technology in GIS education
  Kierran Sutherland, Community College of Baltimore County
• The future of low altitude aviation: Advanced Air Mobility Mission and regulating BVLOS flights
  John Slaughter, University of Maryland UAS Research and Operations Center (UROC)
• FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Collegiate Training Initiative (UAS-CTI)
  Diana Robinson, Federal Aviation Administration
• Legal fundamentals of drone surveying and mapping
  John Palatiello, Maryland Society of Surveyors

Join leaders from local municipalities, state agencies, higher education, and private industry for presentations on all things transportation.

• Opening remarks
  Tim Kerns Ph.D., director, MDOT Highway Safety Office
• Francis Scott Key Bridge
  Todd Lang, director of transportation planning, and Cindy Burch, transportation planner, Baltimore Metropolitan Council
• Pedestrian enforcement
  Tom Morehouse, police sergeant, Baltimore County Police Department
• Learn about the new dashboards and GIS tools available throughout Maryland
  Doug Mowbray, MDOT Highway Safety Office and Sean Lynn, Washington College
• Unraveling the complexities of crash data in GIS
  Matthew Lewis, Washington College

Discover how municipalities are using GIS for water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities and learn tips, tricks, and industry developments from leading GIS technology organizations.

Introduction
Joe Deluca, geographIT | a division of EBA Engineering, Inc.

Presentations

• Current status, challenges, and future plans
  Jason Heitmann, The York Water Company
• Integration of Workflow Manager and Survey 123 for IDDE and BMP Inspections
  Charles Braese, Prince George’s County
• Inspecting and maintaining the MS4 System
  Josh Trott and Ashley Williams, Washington County
• Predictive modeling and asset management support municipalities in providing safe and sanitary water and sewer systems
  Kyle Mangum, St. Mary’s County
• The latest trends in GIS and the water industry
  Rob Hayward, Esri
• Mobile mapping, street-level imagery, and asset feature extraction and analysis
  Jason Sealy, Cyclomedia