North River Geographic Systems Inc

Geospatial Problem Solving

gaurisa

Georgia URISA Luncheon May 2015

Date: May 12, 2015
Time: 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Location: ESRI
3650 Brookside Pkwy # 450
Alpharetta, GA 30022

Modeling Highway Traffic Noise with GIS

Starting with the enactment of the Noise Pollution and Abatement Act of 1972, traffic noise has been an important consideration in the planning and construction of transportation projects. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) established and maintains a national policy that provides guidance for both predicting and mitigating traffic noise impacts. The FHWA also developed the Traffic Noise Model (TNM), a sophisticated noise analysis tool required nationwide for analyzing traffic noise. As a supplement to the TNM and a data management framework, GIS plays a valuable role in traffic noise analysis. This presentation will discuss the practical application of GIS for highway traffic noise impact analysis, including the custom tools, techniques, and methodologies employed to facilitate and manage the process as state and federal policies continue to evolve.

Brandon Batt, Edwards-Pitman Environmental

Brandon Batt is an air/noise specialist and serves as the head of GIS at Edwards-Pitman Environmental (EPEI), an Atlanta-based consulting firm. In his seven years at EPEI, Brandon has specialized in providing GIS and other technical solutions for a variety of disciplines in the firm, including the air/noise, archaeology, ecology, historic architecture, and NEPA groups. Brandon completed his undergraduate degree in 2007 at the University of Georgia, and completed his graduate degree through Penn State’s MGIS program in 2014. Brandon is a self-taught developer, and enjoys employing code and technology in providing solutions for EPEI as the organization continues to grow.

Luncheon Overview: Luncheons are held on the 2nd Tuesday of every month unless otherwise noted. They are intended to provide a social and friendly atmosphere for learning about the successes of our members and to provide opportunities for networking. All are invited to join and students are especially encouraged! You’ll earn 0.1 conference attendance points towards your GISP Certification by attending each luncheon.

Agenda: Meetings are orchestrated according to the following agenda:

11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – Lunch and Networking
12:00 p.m. – 12:10 p.m. – Announcements
12:10 p.m. – 1:10 p.m. – Presentation
1:10 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. – Discussion

Cost
Member Pre-Register and Prepay (ends Sunday, May 10th at 11:59 pm): $12.00
Member Pre-Register and Pay at Door / Walk-In: $15.00
Non-Member Pre-Register and Prepay (ends Sunday, May 10th at 11:59 pm): $15.00
Non-Member Pre-Register and Pay at Door / Walk-In: $18.00
Register Now!

December Georgia URISA Luncheon 2014

Date: December 9, 2014
Time: 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Location: Johns Creek Environmental Campus
     8100 Holcomb Bridge Road
Roswell, GA  30022 
 

Web GIS Strategy, Development, and Philosophy

A discussion of strategy and philosophy regarding GIS on the web. What is web based GIS supposed to deliver? What should it look like? This presentation will focus on the different goals and roles that web based GIS can be used to accomplish and how it can be used within an organization.

Biography: Joseph Woycke, Director of GIS, Cherokee County

Joseph Woycke is the Director of GIS for Cherokee County, GA. He has held that position for the last 10 years. Mr. Woycke built the GIS at Cherokee County and has developed and evangelized GIS use in community development, public works, public safety, tax assessment, and many other phases of local government. He worked for several environmental engineering companies prior to working at Cherokee County. He is a graduate of Miami University (OH) where he studied environmental science.

Luncheon Overview: Luncheons are held on the 2nd Tuesday of every month unless otherwise noted. They are intended to provide a social and friendly atmosphere for learning about the successes of our members and to provide opportunities for networking. All are invited to join and students are especially encouraged! You’ll earn 0.1 conference attendance points towards your GISP Certification by attending each luncheon.

Agenda: Meetings are orchestrated according to the following agenda:

  • 11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – Lunch and Networking
  • 12:00 p.m. – 12:10 p.m. – Announcements
  • 12:10 p.m. – 1:10 p.m. – Presentation
  • 1:10 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. – Discussion

Cost
Member Pre-Register and Prepay (ends Sunday, December 7th at 11:59 pm): $12.00
Member Pre-Register and Pay at Door / Walk-In: $15.00

Non-Member Pre-Register and Prepay (ends Sunday, December 7th at 11:59 pm): $15.00
Non-Member Pre-Register and Pay at Door / Walk-In: $18.00

Register 

Boreds

I’ve been on a lot of boards. OSM. Mid South ASPRS. GA URISA. TNGIC. Four of the five are hard to deal with. The Georgia URISA board never quite was that difficult. There is the normal insanity that comes with every board. Resignations. Anger. Drama. Conferences. Workshops.

I appeared at my first conference in 2006 by calling in sick to my normal job and coming to Athens Georgia for 3 days. Went to talks. Went to meetings. Went to the social. They had rented out a bar that I’m pretty sure had changed names 4 or 5 times since 2006. I passed by it Tuesday night on my way to the 2014 Social. We left the 2006 social in a taxi. One person jumped up and said I DON’T WANT TO GO HOME. So we ended up at the Georgia Theatre. I think I was there until 2 or 3 in the morning watching some band that has no doubt changed names 4 or 5 times since 2006.

Tuesday night I found myself sitting at the Georgia Theatre with one of the original “don’t wanna go home” group from 2006. Since Then I’ve changed positions on the board 4 or 5 times….North Georgia Subchapter Chair, Education Chair, VP, President, and Finally IPP. At some point during educations chair I had a meltdown – divorce. I didn’t really feel that the board was very cohesive at that point. So I had to make my first confessional – “This meeting I planned won’t happen unless everyone helps because well……” and they all came – every one of them…from up to two hours away. So I sat at Gainesville state college with a group of people who understood more than I thought and talked about some mapping application called OSM no one had heard of….. So I got through that meeting and kept going. It was always a nice break coming to Atlanta from Chattanooga for the meetings. I actually miss the drive back to Chattanooga last night. I typically would take the longest way home possible to sit and think. Last night I didn’t have my normal texting buddy….I had a 10 minute commute to the duplex. I piled into bed and here I sit.

I’m a firm believer on boards need fresh blood. If you don’t it gets stale. It’s a problem with one of the boards I was on – no one wanted to let go. So it’s got just painful and I resigned. I resigned from the OSM Board because I sucked at treasurer and I could barely get a handle on my account much less another one.

So now what? I’m not quite done – I’ve got two more emails to send, one more function to preside over, and I can go gentle into that good night for a bit. I’ve got a few more things I want to do…a few more problems I want to cause….but I don’t have to do it while on the board for Georgia URISA……Because they would always win for my attention.

Georgia Theatre
 

QGIS/OSGEO Meetup on October 9th 2014 – Athens Georgia

Well – so the second QGIS meetup happens at the Georgia Geospatial Conference in Athens October 9th 2014. Currently the location is “Hunt me down at the conference on Monday”.

I had a brief email conversation yesterday and my debate is turning this into more of an OSGEO Meetup group. The discussion jumped around “chapter” and “official” and in the end it was decided to just run with a meetup for a while and see what happens. It’s all in the advertising – and I think “OSGEO” has more gravitas than “QGIS”. Not that I’m abandoning the QGIS Group by any means – it just widens the noise a bit with what I can do vs. focusing on 1 piece of software.

Anyway – watch for more info coming shortly. We’re two weeks out from the conference. I’m doing two talks and one workshop. Prepare for more noise on the workshop also as it gets “opened” as somewhat of a pattern for a Mapping Party type of event…for GIS People.

OSM for GIS Practitioners at the Georgia Geospatial Conference

The Georgia Geospatial Conference is in full swing.

As part of the fun I’m teaching a workshop – and yes out of everything I’m doing an OpenStreetMap one. I co-wrote on for URISA and that one seems to have gained a life of it’s own. Since I signed away rights on that one to URISA – I’ve doing one that’s quite a bit different. When you register – please sign up to take it!

This OSM workshop is going to be a bit more hands on and aimed at the GIS professional that wants to work with the data. So what are we covering? Well – about half the day is going to be “hands on”. How Hands on? Bring some walking shoes and a pencil. You’re going to be burning up some shoe leather. When we come back we are going to be entering the data and discussing why you collected what you collected. The last part of the day is going to be comparing that to a county’s GIS data and how you can leverage this data to enhance your Geospatial Information System.

Topics:

  • Data Collection
  • Importing Data – on this one prepare to expend quite a bit of energy discussing the import process and look at several examples of how importing is a good thing – but painful.
  • Downloading the data, Format, Fields
  • Citizen Mappers
  • Using the data to enhance your Geospatial data.
  • Licensing for OSM Data

Bring a laptop. Bring a sense of humour. Prepare to talk and most importantly prepare to explore down town Athens in a way no other conference attendee will get the chance to do.

This might turn into a Part II to the URISA one – or it’s going to be a standalone offering of NRGS…or I’m going to open source it for everyone to use. Haven’t decided how this one plays out.

Please come take it. It will be interesting.