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North River Geographic Systems Inc

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Georgia

Fulcrum Community and Hurricane Irma

As of Saturday September 9th 2017 the graphic from the National Hurricane Center looks like:

For those of you in the path who are going to have immense fun with high winds, flooding, and possible flying houses carrying a small girl and her dog – Sign up for Fulcrum Community!

Fulcrum (http://Fulcrumapp.com) is providing Fulcrum Community Free to people dealing with Hurricane Irma. If your organization/group whoever needs a data collection app to use during this event all you need to do is download Fulcrum and request access.  It was (and still is) deployed for Hurricane Harvey in Texas.

Request Access Here: https://web.fulcrumapp.com/communities/hurricane-irma/?_ga=2.247777031.1408167726.1504721105-337609111.1500995109

Fulcrum runs on iOS and Android devices. Data (shapefile, File Based Geodatabase, PostGIS, excel, etc) can be retrieved from their cloud and used in any GIS Platform you might have (I use it with QGIS and feed the data live into there). It can also be pushed into any online accounts you might have (from Carto to ArcGIS Online).

It’s preloaded with:

  • Urban Search and rescue App
  • Disaster Shelters assessment App
  • Public Assistance Applicant Damage Report App
  • Individual Assistance for Inundation App
  • Aid Facility App
  • Hurricane Evacuee Info App
  • Wind Damage App
  • Damage Inspection App

Once again – It’s Free. Fulcrum has made employees available to help you with data collection.

Good luck to those of you dealing with the Hurricane.

MAGS Meetup April 2017

This month we’ll be at Mason Tavern on Clairmont, just off of N. Decatur Rd. They do a decent burger, and if you want to hang around after 9:30, they’ll have live jazz. And in case you’ve been under a rock lately, there’s a hole in the highway that no number of metal plates can cover, so unless they’ve installed the stunt ramps by then, do consider MARTA or rideshare if your trip there might be affected by the I-85 closure.

Google Location: https://goo.gl/maps/PPByTDmZfax

Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/geospatial/events/238964683/?gj=wc1d.2_e&rv=wc1d.2_e&_af=event&_af_eid=238964683&https=on

Georgia URISA Luncheon – January 10th 2016

LIDAR is a hot topic in Georgia these days. So – for the January 2016 Luncheon more LIDAR.

“LIDAR Updates – Changes in the Technology and Coverage”
Speaker Name: Ernie Smith

Presentation Summary: Like all Technology LiDAR has become very dynamic with new sensors and available data. We will talk about the advancements and availability of Sensors, Standards, and Data sets. There are many changes in the technology and unless you are working with it everyday, it’s difficult to keep up with all of the advancements.

Standards are also changing due to the sensor technology advancement which means practices and applications for LiDAR are growing. Also drones are being used for data collection and there are some things to be aware of for that use of Technology. We will present a map that gives our best understanding of where LiDAR data exists in Georgia as well.

Location:
Henry County Water Authority (Engineering Building)
100 Westridge Industrial Boulevard
McDonough, GA 30253

Register: http://www.gaurisa.org

Georgia URISA November Luncheon November 8th 2016

gaurisa_blog_logo

 

Speaker Name: Jimmy Nolan

Speaker Bio: Mr. Nolan began working with GIS in 1994 when he was the chief appraiser for Morgan County. In 1999 Jimmy went to work as the GIS specialist for the Georgia Department of Revenue. In 2001 he became the local government project manager for the Information Technology Services division of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia. Since joining ITOS he has been instrumental in helping develop GIS in approximately 50 counties and has worked with local officials in many more counties and cities to enhance data or provide advice and training. Jimmy is the Cadastral Coordinator for the state of Georgia and was on the Federal Geographic Data Committee technical working group that developed the parcel data content standards for the eastern 31 states. He is the immediate past chairman of the Georgia GIS coordinating committee and a former Ga. URISA board member. He has extensive knowledge of how Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal systems model property values and how the data used in these models is organized as well as how these systems integrate with GIS.

Presentation Summary: The presentation will cover:

  • Current initiatives
  • Upcoming LiDAR acquisition projects
  • Coordination between multiple agencies at all levels of government
  • The 3DEP grant application that the state has submitted.

Additional Information:

Join WebEx meeting
Meeting number (access code): 927 999 105
Meeting password: URISA

Join by phone
+1-855-282-6330 US TOLL FREE
+1-415-655-0003 US TOLL
Location:
Hexagon Geospatial
5051 Peachtree Corners Circle
Norcross, GA 30092 USA

REGISTER: https://www.gaurisa.org

Georgia Geospatial Conference

I still tweet a lot. Well – mostly a lot.

A phone call yesterday left me wondering “Are we at Peak #GIS Conference yet?”

— :) Randal Hale (: (@rjhale) September 21, 2016

The other day I asked on twitter if we ‘d reached peak GIS conference. I was a week away from a county GIS user’s group meeting. That next week (this upcoming week) I head to Athens Georgia for the Georgia Geospatial Conference. Two days after that I’m in Knoxville screaming into the void at another GIS conference. I’m actually planning one for East Tennessee that isn’t related to the State TNGIC Conference. That’s not counting anything else I could drive to (within 5 hours of where I’m sitting currently).  There are a lot of conferences. 20 years ago I could argue yeah it’s all new enough to warrant a lot of conferences. These days I really think we’re over-conferenced. The push in Georgia to do things at a GIS level is pretty much following a path that Tennessee took 20 years ago. Granted the tech is different – but the path isn’t terribly different. I doubt anyone in Georgia has driven over the border to TN and asked “what are you guys doing?” (hint – drive across the border and ask).

Which brings me to the Georgia Conference. This October conference has always been a “canary in the mine shaft” for me. Most of the anniversaries that were in my head are forgotten – but this one still rings with me. It’s held every 2 years. At one point during my time on the board I argued we should do it every year. I’m really hoping everyone forgot I said that. The Georgia Conference is mainly put on by Georgia URISA (with a few other orgs throwing in for good measure). I had really planned on skipping the entire affair. I was somewhat coerced into staying involved and I really started looking at it as a bit of a “closure” year for me. This is year 10. I like even numbers.

  • In 2006, I walked into the Georgia Conference as a new business. Talked to some people. Shared some insight – then watched the gears of GIS turning. It was a good conference overall. Met a lot of people and decided to get involved on the Georgia URISA Board.
  • In 2008, I was more or less on the board and watching the conference come together. I had a chance to watch ESRI and ERDAS sort of “duke it out” at the conference. If I remember correctly there was much partying and much learning. On a person note I was about to go full time in this consulting gig. So riding in I was still Randy the Federal Employee. Riding out I was Randy the NRGS Employee.
  • 2010 may have been my best conference and my most stressful. It was a weird year of new friends and new work and trying to figure out me as a business and me as a person and if I was separating them enough. I think that was the year the conference went to “Georgia Geospatial” vs Georgia URISA. We combined conferences with SAMSOG (surveyors), and GITA and took a more “we are one big family” approach to the entire endeavor. I was stepping a very small toe into Open Source at that point but I was a raging ESRI BP.
  • 2012 was a bit more stressful. At that point I was looking at partnering with a company and had also almost decided maybe I needed to do something else professionally. It was an odd year overall. The idea that we were “all one big family” melted with an upturn in the economy. In 2010 we had a large number of surveyors at the conference. 2012 brought less than 10 back. They were all busy with work as Georgia began to wake up from the recession.
  • 2014 was sorta bland as a conference. It was good but life was calling me back to Chattanooga and I was distracted. I had, in between the 2012 and 2014 conferences, moved to Athens. First time I actually slept in my bed at this conference. Life had dealt some blows to work and personal. I was really trying to sort out how to deal with it. I went a bit into hermit mode which didn’t help work but it did help me. You were a hermit? We didn’t notice – oh those of you on the social media side wouldn’t have.
  • Which brings me to 2016. I’m giving two presentations. I’m actually going to meet people I’ve known for 10 years at this thing. I couldn’t tell you who was speaking about what. There will be “hurrahs for the GISP” and “Yay ArcGISOnline is a thing” and map competitions. Overall – this one is all people oriented. I may not attend much of anything but just talking to people. I may attempt to pirate a booth in the conference center – if so find a chair and sit with me. We will talk about QGIS and Fulcrum and which bar we should go visit.

In some ways this conference (Oct 3-5) is a mix of all the previous years. There is some dread at just being in a pile of people for 2.5 days. There’s some excitement because the 10 year journey as a business has really had it’s twists and turns. I’m not twisting or turning at this one at all. Randy 10 years ago doesn’t resemble Randy now. It’s a huge journey of personal and professional. I would love to tell you it’s all been great. It hasn’t. I still make mistakes. Had I stayed doing what I was doing in 2006 – I can’t imagine where I would be. Me in 2018….I can’t imagine that either. There’s an excitement to the air these days for business. I hadn’t felt that since 2006 really. Maybe it’s just less worry – I can worry with the best of them. I haven’t been doing that as much and just trying to live the life. Take more selfies with me and the cat. Go Canoeing more.

img_20161001_100438

So – track me down if you are there. Sit and talk. Tell me about you.

 

 

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