SCARC Fall 2026 Conference
October 20th, 21st, 22nd, 2026

The Waters Building - Downtown Florence
135 S Dargan St, Florence, SC 29501

Click here for a PDF copy of the Agenda: SCARC 2026 Fall Conference Agenda Final

SCARC 2026 Fall Conference Basic Agenda

Tuesday, October 20th

1:00 pm - Registration Opens

1:30 pm - Introductions and Opening Remarks from the SCARC Board

2:00 pm - Plenary Presentation

3:00 pm - Vendor Introductions

3:30 pm - Conference Presentations

Wednesday, October 21st

9:00 am - Registration Opens

9:00 am - 12:00 pm - Conference Presentations

12:00 pm - Lunch

1:00 pm - 5:00 pm - Conference Presentations

5:00 pm - 7:00 pm - Social at The Town Hall (Restaurant)
Drinks and light hors d'oeuvres

Thursday, October 22nd

9:00 am - Registration Opens

9:00 am - 11:00 am - Conference Presentations

11:00 am - 12:00 pm - Closing Session (Door Prizes, Closing Remarks, etc.)

12:00 pm - Lunch

**This agenda is subject to change based on presentation lengths and other factors. Please check back closer to the event for a more detailed and finalized agenda.**

Presentation Topics

(KEYNOTE): AI and ArcGIS: Transforming How We Work  (Waters Building)

Jo Fraley (Esri )

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming how GIS professionals work by becoming embedded in the tools and workflows they use every day. It is accelerating analysis, automating routine tasks, improving access to information, and helping teams move more quickly from data to decisions. More than adding new capabilities, AI is reshaping how work gets done and where professionals focus their expertise.

This keynote explores how AI is changing geospatial work through human-in-the-loop automation, content creation, analysis, and decision support. It also highlights the skills needed to adapt, including asking better questions, validating AI-generated results, applying business context, and recognizing geographic data as a strategic organizational asset. Attendees will leave with a practical understanding of how AI is transforming GIS workflows and why AI-ready data, human judgment, domain expertise, and geographic thinking remain essential.

State of the State: Statewide GIS Updates and Unraveling District Data  (Waters Building)

Christy Jacobs (SC Revenue and Fiscal Affairs/SC Geographic Information Council), Joshua Dorris, State Election Commission

This session provides a State-of-the-State update on GIS activities across South Carolina's Geographic Information Council (GIS) member agencies, beginning with an overview of statewide initiatives and the aerial imagery program. Based on information provided by GIC member agencies, the presentation will highlight current data initiatives, applications, and upcoming projects.

The second half will focus on election district data ahead of the next election cycle. It will cover who is responsible for creating, maintaining, and updating each type of district boundary (congressional, state House and Senate, county, municipal, school, and precinct). It will also cover where the authoritative source sits in law versus in GIS data, and how to tell the two apart.

Accelerating GIS Delivery with ArcGIS Solutions  (Waters Building)

Adam McSparran (Esri - ArcGIS Solutions)

Discover how ArcGIS Solutions can help organizations deliver GIS capabilities faster by leveraging proven data models, apps, workflows, and automation. This session showcases the latest GIS Request Management, Environmental Review, and 3D Buildings solutions. highlighting new capabilities that streamline service requests, accelerate environmental pre-screening, and support 3D operations. Attendees will also learn how the ArcGIS Solutions Assistant and Build-Your-Own-Solutions tools make it easier to find, adapt, and create solutions that address unique organizational needs while reducing development effort and implementation risk.

     

Forum - GIS at work in a small shop

Melody Porter, Reggie Sander, Jim Kiley, Kevin Whaley, Christy Jacobs

Working in a small GIS shop often means being more than just a GIS analyst. From data management and application development to cartography, field support, and client communications, GIS professionals in smaller organizations frequently wear many hats and balance a wide variety of responsibilities.

This forum brings together GIS professionals who have built successful careers in small teams and resource-constrained environments. Panelists will share their experiences managing competing priorities, supporting diverse client needs, finding creative solutions with limited resources, and identifying opportunities for professional growth while serving as a one-person or small-team GIS operation.

Attendees will gain practical insights into building efficient workflows, developing technical versatility, fostering strong client relationships, and creating impact within their organizations. Whether you are currently working in a small GIS shop or considering a role in one, this discussion will provide valuable perspectives, lessons learned, and strategies for success.

     

Managing School Infrastructure with ArcGIS Indoors at Wake County Schools (WCPSS)

Zach Jaffe (Map I.T. LLC)

WCPSS manages over 200 facilities and serves 160,000+ students. WCPSS partnered with Map I.T. to improve operations and workflows by implementing ArcGIS Indoors for facility management, safety and security mapping, space planning, and wayfinding. In this presentation, attendees will learn the business reasons for implementing ArcGIS Indoors, including how to identify operational challenges and prioritize workflows where indoor GIS can deliver measurable value. Attendees will also gain insight into the business challenges solved with ArcGIS Indoors, as well as the technical workflow for converting CAD drawings into ArcGIS Indoors data and the custom-built tools developed to streamline CAD and GIS integration. We will review the final deliverables and discuss how the effort united departments to create a sustainable indoor GIS solution, all within one calendar year!

     

Beaufort County Schools Implements ArcGIS Indoors (BCSD)

Carol Crutchfield (Beaufort County Public Schools), Zach Jaffe

BCSD manages over 6 million square feet across 32 schools and serves more than 21,000 students. In 2024, BCSD began migrating floor plans from a legacy system to ArcGIS Indoors to improve facility management, asset management, and operations. The District recognized Indoors as centralized data set connecting building information, assets, field data, and operational systems. Following implementation, BCSD leveraged ArcGIS Online, Field Maps, and dashboards for a large-scale asset inventory, enabling staff to collect and manage information on HVAC equipment, water fountains, and other facility assets. BCSD is now expanding its deployment to additional facility applications and integrating its indoor GIS with Concourse for work order and asset management. This evolution demonstrates how ArcGIS Indoors can transform static floor plans into an operational GIS supporting field data collection, asset management, maintenance, and informed decision-making across the district.

ArcGIS Experience Builder: Tips & Tricks

Jo Fraley (Esri)

Discover the power of ArcGIS Experience Builder. Learn how to use URL parameters, use ArcGIS Arcade expressions to display data dynamically, print custom layouts, filter multiple layers at once, create a single app for multiple audiences, creating more accessible applications, and more.     

Set It and Forget It: A Real-World Look at GIS Automation in Action

Dominick Bernstein (Trinnex)

As GIS professionals, we're constantly asked to do more with less. Automation is one of the biggest levers we have for closing that gap, delivering value that goes beyond time savings into faster response and fewer missed issues. This session looks at what's possible: a range of automation use cases for GIS teams, followed by a real-world deep dive into a pipeline that monitors tornado hazard data in near real time, automatically running spatial analysis against critical infrastructure and notifying stakeholders the moment something needs attention. Attendees will leave with a clearer sense of where automation fits in a GIS workflow and the confidence to start spotting opportunities for it in their own organizations.

 

South Carolina Entanglements and Road Conditions Toolkit

Danielle Hall (South Carolina Emergency Management Division), Michael Herzberger, Christy Jacobs

The South Carolina Entanglements and Road Conditions Toolkit is an Esri-based solution that aims to enhance communication and minimize time to awareness regarding County and State road closure and entanglement issues by bolstering collaboration through the use of GIS. During this presentation, the toolkit's workflow will be demonstrated. First, creating test data using the configured Quick Capture app, then viewing the test data on one of multiple web view options within the toolkit. The toolkit is an Experience Builder App composed of several tools and resources which work to provide a common source of truth that is accessible to all levels of government and utility providers alike. Highlights of this presentation include the proven use of the toolkit from our collaborators, as well as discussion of how the configured groups within the ArcGIS Online environment enable users to share local-level data safely and securely to all stakeholders supporting disaster response across the State.

     

Scaling Your GIS:  When ArcGIS Online, Enterprise and the Cloud Make Sense

Kent Rothrock (ROK Technologies, LLC), Carey Jenkins

As GIS programs mature, organizations may require greater control over security, enterprise integration, data management, infrastructure, performance, and administration. ArcGIS Enterprise can support these needs by bringing the ArcGIS platform into an organization-managed environment. Successful adoption requires clear business drivers, realistic planning, and a strong understanding of the architectural, operational, and long-term support considerations involved.

This session will use real-world client examples to explore how organizations evaluate transitions from ArcGIS Online to ArcGIS Enterprise, including common tipping points, lessons learned, and practical considerations around infrastructure, service performance, and enterprise system integration.

Attendees will leave with a framework for determining when Enterprise may be the right next step, when ArcGIS Online remains sufficient, and how to align GIS architecture with broader organizational goals.

RFA Community Snapshot: New Experience Builder app with Business Analyst Infographics

AuJour Washington II (South Carolina Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office)

AuJour created a new Experience Builder application on RFA's website for the general public. It uses Business Analyst Infographics for South Carolina's Workforce, Housing Market, and Healthcare Statistics. AuJour will be detailing the app's impact, usage, and overall functionality. He will also discuss the creation of the product and different ways to create an app that houses other Experiences.

     

Digital Twins: LiDAR, BIM, & GIS for Smarter Water and Wastewater Operations

Zach Jaffe (Map I.T. LLC)

This presentation explores how water and wastewater utilities can leverage LiDAR, GIS, BIM, and 360° imagery to build practical digital twins that improve project planning, facility operations, vertical asset management, and capital improvement programs. Through several real-world project examples, attendees will see how these technologies are being used to capture existing conditions, develop accurate digital facility models, integrate engineering and GIS data, enhance data distribution enterprise wide, and create interactive digital twins that provide a centralized data repository of critical infrastructure. The session will walk through the complete workflow, from field data collection and point cloud processing to BIM development, GIS integration, and immersive visualization, highlighting real-world applications that reduce field visits, improve collaboration, and support smarter decision-making across water and wastewater facilities.

     

Connecting Capital Projects with the Public: Lessons from Beaufort's "Preserving the Promenade" StoryMap 

Kat Kirkland (Interdev and the City of Beaufort, SC)

Capital projects produce a wealth of maps, plans, photographs, and technical data that can be difficult to present clearly. Using the City of Beaufort’s "Preserving the Promenade" as a case study, this session will show how ArcGIS StoryMaps combines historical context, project imagery, design information, and interactive maps to explain both what is being built and why it matters. Incorporating elements to gather public feedback and help project staff identify public priorities, the StoryMap turns capital project communication into a two-way exchange.

The session will highlight key choices in audience, structure, visual hierarchy, map design, and plain language. Attendees will leave with a practical approach for connecting public engagement with informed decision-making throughout a project’s lifecycle.

     

Visualizing Forest Risk Factors with ArcGIS: Leveraging Authoritative Environmental Data 

Tamsen Waldron (American Forest Management Inc.)

GIS provides a powerful platform for accessing, integrating, and visualizing environmental data from authoritative sources. This presentation showcases maps developed in ArcGIS that illustrate factors commonly associated with forest vulnerability, including temperature trends, drought conditions, groundwater stress, precipitation variability, flooding, historic hurricane impacts, wildfire potential, and insect and disease risk.

Rather than predictive modeling, this project focuses on the visualization of existing geospatial datasets to reveal regional patterns and areas exposed to multiple environmental stressors. By compiling and displaying trusted data sources, GIS can provide valuable insight into the complex challenges affecting forest health and resilience. The presentation highlights practical approaches for discovering, accessing, and communicating environmental risk information using ArcGIS.

     

Leveraging GIS to Support Statewide Watershed-Based Resilience Planning 

Britt Hartley (South Carolina Office of Resilience), Gabby Cruz, Weston Beck

State-level Watershed-Based Planning and Coordination using GIS has helped the South Carolina Office of Resilience (SCOR) engage purposefully with communities across South Carolina to build resilience. The agency defines resilience as the ability of communities, economies, and ecosystems to anticipate, absorb, recover, and thrive when presented with environmental change and natural hazards. This presentation will demonstrate how Experience Builder, Survey123, and Dashboards help catalog partnerships and resilience efforts across South Carolina; it will end with an overview of SCOR’s publicly available tools and datasets

     

Making Enterprise GIS affordable for small Municipalities

Adetunji Adeleye (AECOM)

This presentation seeks to explore cost‑effective, scalable strategies for implementing Enterprise GIS in South Carolina’s small municipalities. Its purpose is to highlight the importance of leveraging statewide resources such as FEMA, collaborating with county GIS programs, and adopting cloud‑based Software‑as‑a‑Service (SaaS) platforms like ArcGIS Online. It also emphasizes the value of regional partnerships and the use of open‑source GIS tools. By focusing prioritizing operational workflows and phased implementation, small towns can deploy a modern Enterprise GIS that strengthens public services while maintaining fiscal responsibility.

     

Forum - Women in GIS

Melody Porter, Christy Jacobs, Liz Bradshaw, Eryne Sheffield, Rachal Passer, Tamsen Waldon

Join us for an engaging and candid discussion featuring women from diverse backgrounds, career paths, and experience levels within the GIS profession. This forum will explore the unique challenges and opportunities women have encountered while working in a traditionally male-dominated field, how those experiences have evolved over time, and the progress that continues to shape the industry.

Through a conversational panel format, participants will share personal experiences, lessons learned, and practical advice for women entering or building careers in GIS. Attendees will gain insight into different professional journeys, learn strategies for overcoming obstacles, and be encouraged to build confidence, connections, and opportunities within the GIS community.

Whether you are new to GIS, an experienced professional, or an advocate for greater representation in the field, this forum offers a valuable opportunity to learn, connect, and be inspired.

    

AI Is Moving Fast. Is Your Organization Ready?  

Jack Beers (Trinnex)

Across the country, utilities, state agencies, counties, municipalities, and transportation organizations are navigating a rapidly changing technology landscape. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI), large language models (LLMs), cloud services, and data analytics are creating new opportunities to improve operations and decision-making. At the same time, many organizations are asking an important question: Are we prepared to take advantage of what's next?

This presentation explores why now is an ideal time to evaluate or refresh a digital roadmap. Rather than focusing on specific technologies, a roadmap helps organizations assess current capabilities, align priorities, identify gaps, and better prepare for future change. Through discussion of emerging trends, common challenges, and lessons learned across the public sector, attendees will gain practical ideas for positioning their organizations to adapt, innovate, and make informed technology decisions in the years ahead.

     

Smarter Litter Patrols: Using GIS to Balance Workloads While Preserving Crew Autonomy  

Tamarin Gullett, M.B.A.  (County of Beaufort, SC - Mapping & Applications Division ), Smarter Litter Patrols: Using GIS to Balance Workloads While Preserving Crew Autonomy

How do you create fair, efficient, and repeatable patrol routes without sacrificing the local knowledge and flexibility of field crews?

This presentation explores Beaufort County’s evolution from a highly detailed street-by-street Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) model to a practical service-area-based approach better suited to daily operations. Attendees will see how GIS was used to organize neighborhoods into logical territories, optimize routing sequences, balance workloads across crews, and preserve field autonomy in a workable concept and pilot project.

The session will highlight lessons learned, workflow design, stakeholder collaboration, and how simplifying a technically complex problem produced a more maintainable solution. Future opportunities include integrating citizen complaints, special projects, and automated workflows. The approach is applicable to Public Works, Parks, Utilities, Code Enforcement, Mosquito Control, Emergency Management, and other field operations.

     

Statewide Datasets Today and Tomorrow  

Rick Wallace (NV5 Geospatial)

The presentation will begin with a status update and celebration of the outstanding 2026 South Carolina Statewide Imagery dataset!  This will include images and use cases of the new data.  We will then continue with a discussion of the possibilities of additional remote sensing datasets of interest to State Agencies, Local Governments and Private Sector entities.  The examples will focus on the "why" as we walk thru use cases, applications and examples of: Higher Resolution Imagery, Oblique Imagery, Lidar, Topobathy, Bathy, Thermal Imagery, BIM, Mobile, UAS and more.
We will conclude with examples how the future is here - 3D Mesh, Digital Twins and GeoAI.

     

Geocoding: Tips, Tricks, and Resources 

Rachel Passer, GISP (SC Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office)

SC Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office provides many geocoding resources for South Carolina, including locators and geocoding services. Rachel led the development of RFA Multi Role, a locator and geocoding service used by many professionals in SC. Rachel will discuss geocoding best practices, alternative approaches to assess geocoding results, changes in geocoding tools between ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro, and geocoding products/services available from RFA.

     

Columbia Water's Document Management Effort 

Stewart Hall (City of Columbia - Columbia Water)

Columbia Water's Digital Data Team (DDT) recently completed a major modernization initiative by migrating more than 160,000 engineering records from the legacy Scans file server to a new SharePoint environment known as Scans 2.0. The project addressed limitations of the long-standing U&E Flat File Database and traditional M: drive storage structure, improving accessibility, scalability, and reliability. As part of the effort, the DDT developed a new web-based U&E Application using Esri Experience Builder, providing streamlined access to engineering records and utility documents. GIS Viewer pop-ups now include direct links to associated records, while field staff can access documents from City-issued mobile devices without returning to the office. The initiative establishes a foundation for future digital records management improvements across Columbia Water.

     

Vibe Coding with Claude, ArcPy, and NCTech Street-Level Imagery  

Jonathan Fisk (NCTech Imaging), Joey Wilson

Everyone knows a picture is worth 1000 words, but how many GIS features might it contain? Come see what is possible when Steet-level imagery becomes a backdrop for your GIS. Plus, learn how coupling Claude with ArcPy makes it possible to use your data and your domain expertise to create entirely new experiences with data. It's time to get excited about GIS again!

     

ArcGIS Field Maps Tasks 

Daniela Pena (Esri), Peter Erlenbach

Explore how ArcGIS Field Maps tasks can help organizations modernize field operations with dynamic, location-based task management. This session introduces the Tasks capability in ArcGIS Field Maps, showing how teams can create, assign, prioritize, and track work in real time both, online and offline. Attendees will see the new Tasks capabilities available through ArcGIS Solutions and how they can be used to quickly implement task-driven workflows for common field operations. Through configurable workflows, mobile-to-office coordination, and integrations across ArcGIS, attendees will see how organizations can improve visibility, efficiency, and accountability across field operations.

To see the agenda from Past Conferences please visit our Past Events Page.