SCARC 2023 Fall Conference Presentations and Abstracts

Wednesday, October 4th

9:30 am - Registration Opens

10:00 am - Introductions and Opening Remarks from the SCARC Board

10:30 am - Public Works Agencies Rebuild, Rethink & Reimagine Our Communities with GIS - Plenary

Adam Carnow (Esri)

Thousands of public works agencies have partnered with Esri as their first choice to incorporate spatial thinking into their daily operations. As services evolve due to emerging challenges such as climate change, equity, resiliency, and sustainability, public works professionals continue to use GIS in new ways to update operations and adapt. A partnership with Esri provides thousands of communities with tools to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. Hear about how your peers are using GIS to rebuild, rethink and reimagine our communities.

 11:35 am - ArcGIS Adoption - A Map for Success

Christopher Vokaty (Esri)

Digital transformation is happening at a scale and speed such that, up until very recently, even the most prescient CEO or tech industry insider would have shied away from publicly predicting it. In the face of massive disruption to workplaces, global supply chains, and entire industries, the business case for location intelligence delivered by geospatial technology has never been more compelling. When deploying any new technology, organizations must remember the pivotal role that people play. Achieving the intended benefits relies on the intended users adopting new workflows. Adoption may require significant changes in how individuals perform their work—and change of any kind can be challenging. While a variety of factors can impede individuals’ willingness to change, organizations that proactively consider and address these factors will be in a strong position to meet their technology adoption goals and achieve the business value they envision.

12:15 pm - Lunch in Greystone Hall

1:15 pm -

OCRM Coastal Tools and Web Applications Showcase

Lyndsey Davis (SCDHEC Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM)), Julia Chrisco (OCRM)

DHEC's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) Coastal Services staff will present on the agency's web applications and tools and conduct live demos. They will showcase the following applications: Beach Erosion Research & Monitoring (BERM) Explorer, S.C. Beach Renourishment app, and the new OCRM Project Manager Finder app. Staff will also give a quick technology update on new GNSS equipment and the use of drone technology.

ArcGIS Enterprise Success Stories

Wendy Peloquin (Avineon)

ArcGIS Enterprise represents the next logical evolution in server-side GIS and has many content management functions not previously available.  While it has been available for several years, many GIS offices are still in the early adoption phase or otherwise planning for implementing ArcGIS Enterprise and all of the potential functionality that it offers.  This presentation will discuss in some detail several successful implementations of ArcGIS across the state of North Carolina.  Included will be examples of end products and improved workflows for specific clients as well as some technical details including working with branch-versioned databases and content management challenges.

1:50 pm -

 The National Map - Your Source for Topographic Information

Jo Baker (U.S. Geological Survey National Geospatial Program)

The USGS National Geospatial Program (NGP) provides a foundation of digital geospatial data representing the topography, natural landscape, and manmade environment of the United States. These data, products and services are collectively referred to as The National Map (TNM), which users can incorporate into their decision making and operational activities. Information will be provided on TNM initiatives including the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP), 3D Hydrography Program (3DHP), data discovery and download applications, US Topo, and topoBuilder. Information will also be provided on the role of the National Map Liaisons, such as outreach and coordination related to NGP activities.

What to Consider When Exploring Managed Services

Wendy Peloquin (Avineon)

GIS has abandoned a proprietary world for a more open enterprise environment, where many operational systems must successfully integrate. Maintaining staff with the skills to manage a modern GIS enterprise can be hard for many orgs and outside help is often sought for high-level support. Some vendors now offer Managed Services, which can take many forms, but is meant to support the enterprise GIS in some manner. This presentation will discuss the evolution of the GIS Managed Services industry.

2:30 pm -

Creating a Common Operation Picture

Blake Pierson (Esri)

Create a common operation picture with the ArcGIS system that provides a common ground through the ability to integrate all types of information. Establish a framework based around location to unlock data's full potential in every organization, to perform things like real-time data, trends, interactive analytics, interoperability, and increase collaboration internally and externally.

Using GIS & Statistics to Forecast the Atlantic's Hurricane Season

Nathan Ryan (Bowman Consulting)

A statistical deep dive using GIS and public sea surface temperature data to develop a forecast model to estimate the Atlantic hurricane season's activity.

3:20 pm - Vendor Introductions

3:45 pm - ArcGIS Enterprise: Administering Your Deployment

Carl Flint (Esri)

You're invited to learn best practices for the administration of your ArcGIS Enterprise. This session will showcase how to administer and optimize your ArcGIS Enterprise deployment. ArcGIS Enterprise administrators and managers require effective monitoring solutions to meet the growing demand for feature-rich and high-performing ArcGIS deployments. Topics will include an overview of administrative endpoints, defining data stores, configuring utility services, exploring log files, advanced system and service settings and leveraging ArcGIS Monitor 2023 to identify and report on health, performance, and usage of your enterprise GIS.

5:00 pm - 7:00 pm - Vendor Social

Thursday, October 5th

9:00 am - Registration Opens

9:15 am -

LEADing the Way: An LCRR WebApp and Real-Time Dashboard

Stewart Hall (City of Columbia), Matthew Naglak (City of Columbia)

The City of Columbia's Water GIS team is taking an active approach to staying ahead of the EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule Revision. Per the rule revision, all water utilities are required to submit service line inventories information by October 2024. To stay ahead of this deadline, The City is proactively collecting attributes from multiple sources with the goal to create a complete inventory of the City’s service lines. Our process includes utilizing Esri’s Field Maps and real-time data visualization dashboards to track daily progress. This presentation will showcase on-going efforts, struggles and successes in the data development of the City’s water GIS network and how we are successfully capturing information required by EPA mandate.

Collaboration and Conservation - Building the State's Conservation Priority Model

Megan James (South Carolina Conservation Bank)

The South Carolina Conservation Bank is required to "develop conservation criteria ... that advance and support federal, state, and local conservation goals, plans, objectives, and initiatives" (Section 48-59-50(B)(5)). Coordination with other State agencies, land trusts, and conservation organizations is key during this development process. Using information and data from various groups throughout the State allows the model to better reflect their various conservation priorities, and updating the model each year allows for those priorities to change over time. Bringing all of these groups together with one goal in mind has led to increased collaboration and conservation for the State of South Carolina.

10:00 am -

ArcGIS Pro: Harness the Power of your Imagery - Greystone Hall

Carl Flint (Esri)

ArcGIS provides a rich suite of tools and APIs to perform end-to-end deep learning workflows with a variety of data types with ArcGIS Pro. ArcGIS Image Analyst is an extension for ArcGIS Pro that provides tools for advanced image interpretation, exploitation, and analysis. In this session learn how deep learning can be applied to perform feature extraction and classification in the ArcGIS Platform. You will see how Deep Learning tools, Pre-trained deep learning models and AI-infused apps make deep learning easier to use. Learn how to get the most out of your imagery with ArcGIS Image Analyst.

Exploring the Use of Modern AI Tools for Easement Mapping in GIS - Salon AB

Jim Sahlie (SolisGIS)

Mapping easements in GIS from metes and bounds legal descriptions can be extremely time consuming due to a number of challenges ranging from source document quality/availability and the effort required to transcribe the descriptions into the format required by GIS for COGO input.  Fortunately, modern AI tools are providing ways to significantly streamline this process.

11:00 am -

Mapping 100% of The City of Columbia’s Sewer Network - Salon AB

Jack Beers (CDM Smith), Stewart Hall (City of Columbia)

In 2014, the City of Columbia, SC agreed to a $750M EPA wastewater consent decree. A Sewer Mapping Plan was mandated to document SOPs and map all manholes and pipes with attributes: material, age, size, invert, elevation, and slope. Other than traditional mechanisms such as surveys, the City also utilized ongoing inspections, and institutional knowledge, but faced challenges to consolidate data within the EPA's 9-year deadline. This presentation will showcase the City's use of ArcGIS tools for tracking, quality control, and data management to map 1,100 miles of sewer infrastructure.

Creative Geospatial Solutions in a GovTech World - Salon C

Chris Mumford (Schneider Geospatial)

In today's rapidly evolving world, local governments are faced with the challenge of managing foot traffic and providing convenient access to information for constituents. We are excited to share a wealth of knowledge and insights with case studies showcasing how local South Carolina governments have effectively addressed time and budget challenges through innovative geospatial ideas. Learn how the integration of modern features for asset inventory management, appeals reduction, local sales exploration, lost tax revenue recovery, and simplified online permitting not only provide diverse engagement avenues for constituents but also significantly enhance customer service. By leveraging these advancements, office traffic is reduced, enabling more efficient allocation of time and resources to other crucial tasks. This is an invaluable opportunity to learn from the experiences of other South Carolina counties who overcame challenges and achieved impressive results.

12:00 pm - Lunch in Greystone Hall

1:00 pm -

Utility Data Inventory and Improvement Planning for the Next Big Data Migration - Salon AB

Karen Andres (Magnolia River Services, Inc.)

For more than 20 years, Magnolia River Services has been supporting our utility clients' corporate goals to innovate, leverage technology, and improve operational performance by implementing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for location-based asset data.  In this presentation, Magnolia River describes the tools, processes, and outcomes that were developed to conduct a utility asset data inventory to guide our clients through the data improvement planning process in advance of an enterprise-wide software data migration with GIS data integration.

Managing SCDNR Land Records with ArcGIS - Salon C

Tanner Arrington (South Carolina Department of Natural Resources)

SCDNR owns, leases, or manages over 1.2 million acres of land in South Carolina. We are using a suite of ArcGIS software to organize, analyze, and publish SCDNR's managed lands. Parts of the ArcGIS system are connected to support managed lands workflows, from internal land acquisition processes to public facing applications.

1:45 pm -

ArcGIS: Real-Time Use Cases - Greystone Hall

Jay Folwer (Esri)

Real-time data comes from many sources – devices, sensors, IoT platforms, apps, and more. Working with this data effectively requires ingestion, visualization, streaming/recurring analysis, and often alerting and action. These capabilities exist across a range of products that meet different use cases. ArcGIS GeoEvent Server and ArcGIS Velocity provide a real-time framework in ArcGIS, as options for on-premises and SaaS. Join the discussion to understand how elements of ArcGIS can be used together and applied to different real-time tracking, monitoring, and situational awareness use cases.

Material Barcode Scanning in ArcGIS Field Maps - Salon AB

Cole Kassing (Avineon)

This presentation will focus on recent advancements with ArcGIS Field Maps, specifically with the introduction of Barcode Scanning as a field input. By scanning a material barcode, on a natural gas pipe for example, the user can auto populate attribute information for that feature by utilizing Arcade Expressions or Attribute rules saving time in the field and standardizing inputs. This presentation will go through the steps for setting up Field Maps, Arcade Expressions, and a short demo of the full data collection process in Field Maps.

The Hazards Vulnerability and Resilience Institute: Who we are and what we do - Salon C

Margot Habets and Erin Kemp (Hazards Vulnerability and Resilience Institute - University of South Carolina)

The Hazards Vulnerability and Resilience Institute (HVRI) is housed within the Department of Geography at the University of South Carolina. Through its work in partnership with various state partners, HVRI has contributed research, data analysis, and visualizations to various plans and projects including the 2023 State Hazard Mitigation Plan. Our goal is to investigate the spatial variation in hazards exposure, vulnerability, and resilience throughout the state and the country. Our research has included COVID-19 case distribution over time, the construction of community resilience indices, learning resources for natural hazard damage over time, and the relation of social vulnerability to long-term recovery resources. This presentation gives an overview of HVRI’s work of the last three years and previews some current projects that may be applicable to South Carolina GIS professionals and partnerships.

2:45 pm -

The State of the State GIS - Greystone Hall

Adam DeMars (Revenue and Fiscal Affairs)

Adam will discuss the State of the Statewide Imagery Flight as well as other State GIS Coordinator topics.

 
3:15 pm - 4:00 pm - Closing Session (Door Prizes, Closing Remarks, etc.)  - Greystone Hall