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City of Cape Coral hosts the fifth meeting of the Southwest Florida ArcGIS users group

01/09/07

 

                 The assiduous growth of Southwest Florida has created an arena for any motivated entrepreneur to stake his ground, start up the business of his choice and benefit from flourishing development and an attractive economic boom. Much like these driven individuals, who are the backbone of physical growth, there is another class of people who see the growth as an opportunity for different reasons.

             This opportunity lay in all the numerous unanswered questions that will arise when planning for the future. Let me explain; often, the analysis that ends with topics such as land use planning, environmental study recommendations, emergency operation preparedness, etc., that the general public will never see, is the catalyst for a GIS user to flourish in their own right. The general public, policy makers, real estate firms, chain store growth management, and others can sit and contemplate, or stress over, the amount of unanswered questions piling up. However, an inquisitive mind will go one step further and that is to find the answer. 

             The GIS Analyst will have these questions play out on the computer screen as complex analysis which will provide an educated guess for what the future holds then administrative bodies can make their decisions, confident in the proven ability GIS sustains. GIS Analysts are an asset to growth management, environmental sustainability research, 9-1-1 rescue operations and also positively impacts the investment a developer relies so heavily on when subdividing slices of paradise. Quantifying the impact of an organization’s GIS can be an arduous task when factoring in all of the current applications, users, projects, as well as other potential tasks for such a technology. However, this was not the case at the first meeting of the Southwest Florida ArcGIS users group.

             Hosted by the City of Cape Coral GIS Division, Dr. Darryl Clare, GIS Manager presided as the M.C.; the inaugural meeting welcomed more than 60 users from across the state and various backgrounds. An informal meeting of the minds, this gathering also brought together professionals who represented the whole range of office hierarchy etiquette. Management and worker bees united for a half day seminar that showcased the experiences of some, GIS growing pains from others, practical uses in the field, vendor demonstrations, management praises, private firm usage interacting with public entity, and of course the hard copy map display would not be absent from the proceedings. The seminar consisted with a majority of presentations which provided a range of valuable information regarding the ArcGIS software.

             Among the presenters was Derek Burr from AIM engineering, who delivered her detailed experiences with the new installation of the ArcGIS update, 9.2. Next, Marvin McIntyre, representing the City of Cape Coral Utilities Division, displayed his usage of ArcGIS in the intricate system of municipal utility infrastructure. To accompany Marvin in demonstrating the usage of GIS in field operations were Jon Kio and Jim Connolly. Jon spoke to the audience about the value of using GIS in the filed and the many benefits which have added to greater efficiency when facilitating the emergency coordination efforts to confine utility breaks. Jim gave a field GIS usage demonstration by displaying his truck which has a sign inventory software, Cartegraph, installed as an extension of ArcGIS. From the private industry, Jim Hunt, representing Wilson Miller, presented his customized tool utilizing ArcGIS for inventory of address records for field usage as well. Last, but certainly not least, was Rob Hofmann from the ESRI regional office. Rob gave an informative presentation focused on what is new with the ArcGIS update, 9.2.

             In Conclusion, this seminar was able to assemble a group of people who may have not had any previous interaction or stage in which to meet. This users group will establish itself as a valuable tool for professionals to exchange horror stories, provide feedback, and ask questions alike. The group has a website currently hosted by the City of Cape Coral, but will soon have its own dedicated site for discussion boards, contacts, and future meeting dates.

 

Dan Cobb, GIS Technician, City of Cape Coral, Florida

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