By Kristina Bollin, Technical Specialist, U.S. CAD About this Blog Series: This is the second in a series of blogs that shares the extraordinary and sometimes life-changing stories and experiences of a group of CAD, AEC, GIS and BIM experts who have chosen to share their knowledge with under-served communities and nations. These volunteers work hand-in-hand with KnowledgeWell, a non-profit organization whose goal is to transform the barriers faced by under-resourced nations into opportunities for successful business enterprise and public sector programs. From Guam to Palau and beyond, KnowledgeWell helps these communities to become more self-sufficient, increase their visibility in the global marketplace and create awareness of sustainable, environmentally friendly business practices.

Arlington National Cemetery is the first national cemetery to use an Army-designed geospatial mapping system to manage operations at its 624 acre grounds.

By Pete Kelsey, Technical Account Manager, Autodesk, Inc. 2011 marked my 20th year working in the AEC space. In those 20 years I’ve been incredibly lucky to have worked on projects great and small in the private and public sectors all over the world. One might assume my proudest moments would be related to massive projects like The Bay Bridge, The World Trade Center, etc. While I am proud that I have touched many, iconic mega-projects; whenever I am asked what is the work I am most proud of my answer is always the same. I love sharing my knowledge / experience / expertise with AEC technology with folks who in most circumstances might not ever be exposed to it.

Starting February 2012, students at three Alabama schools have been part of a pilot project designed to enhance child safety between home and school! Using ID cards with radio frequency identification device (RFID) technology built-in, students are scanned as they get on and off school buses. Combining the RFID data with GPS, the system transmits the student’s location data to a remote server, which allows a Huntsville school official to access it if they need to. The technology is called ZPass and was developed and by Zonar Systems. ZPass is intended to improve child safety so that parents know if their kids are on their school bus.

Engineers should be thrilled with the new LiDAR 3D technology that is being integrated to improve mapping applications. By fusing LiDAR 3D data with existing geospatial image analysis workflows, users can now create a more complete visual reference of geographical areas. With traditional geospatial data collection, users weren’t able to manipulate the images in a timely manner resulting in longer wait times to figure out how and why the data could be applied to present and future mapping projects.

Did you know that the Geographic Information System (GIS) Services Division in Monroe County, New York now has its own GIS technology vehicle? “While Google’s Street View picture-snapping cars are out and about in most countries in the U.S., in New York state only Monroe County has its own GIS technology vehicle.” (Mobile GIS Vehicle Puts Monroe County, N.Y., on the Map). Google Street View launched for five U.S. cities in May 2007 and now their 360-degree panoramic views include locations on all seven continents. Google currently uses cars, trikes, snowmobiles, and trolleys to collect imagery. (Cars, Trikes & More)

GEOINT 2011 is right around the corner. If your’e not familiar with the event, GEOINT is the defacto gathering for defense, intelligence and homeland security communities looking to learn more about the latest trends and technologies in the geointelligence space. To get our readers prepared for what should be a successful GEOINT experience, we thought we’d take a look back at [acronym] Online’s archive of articles on geointelligence. From using Google Maps to visualize the post-tornado destruction in Joplin, MO to helping urban residents locate HIV/AIDS testing centers, all levels of government can benefit themselves and their constituents by exploiting all the uses that GIS has to offer.

By Pam Broviak, City Engineer/Assistant Director of Public Works at City of Geneva, Illinois. When my past employer, the city of LaSalle, installed an automatic meter reading (AMR) system, I was excited about the technology and looked forward to improving the efficiency of our meter reading and water billing system. Some of the benefits included tracking and notifications to staff of customer leaks, immediate final reads, high/low water usage, and tampering alerts. Yet, as an engineer, I also planned on using the data for designing, monitoring, and operating our water system. My vision had been to link the data to a digital map created from our GIS where dots represented meters. Colors and other indicators would tell us of real-time reads, flows, pressures, and all that good stuff allowing a visualization of how our system was functioning using real-time actual data. Unfortunately, once I saw the software and asked about the ability to extract data from the database, not only did the vendors seem surprised anyone would even want this information, they made it clear their system was designed for billing only. If we wanted to do anything more with the data, we would have to hire our own programmer and create our own setup.

The visual appeal of a well-designed map created in GIS can blind many to the treasure within. It can also lead people to believe all we are doing is making pretty maps. If you're working for an agency that still doesn't “get” GIS, how can you help open their eyes to the true value hidden within the map? Sometimes the best way is to determine a question your agency has always wondered about and use GIS to provide the answer. One question for our city was, does every building in the city have a water meter? To answer this, we simply plotted in GIS all the water meter accounts using addresses from a file given to us from water billing. Then we compared these account locations to the locations of existing buildings. We used the polygons from our building feature, but we could have also used an aerial. By doing this, we could tell right away where there was a building but no meter. And where we knew there was a building that had to be using water but was shown with no meter, we knew something was wrong. Because we also have water service lines and shut-off valves in GIS, we could also see if there was a service but no meter. But any utility could perform the same check even if they had no service or shut-off data.

This blog entry was submitted by Nancy Mann Jackson. Nancy Mann Jackson is a freelance journalist who writes regularly about local government and sustainability issues. Learn more about her at www.nancyjackson.com. As local and state governments grapple with changing environmental stormwater regulations, some face lawsuits over their stormwater policies. But others, approaching stormwater control from an economic development angle, are finding MS4 solutions that do more than just meet EPA regulations; they also help build stronger communities.