United Heritage Center at Dell Diamond
Afternoon Session: 2:00- 5:00 pm
Agenda:  Map Gallery, Presentations


The Williamson County GIS Council (WCGISC) will be hosting an afternoon GIS Day celebration at the United Heritage Center at the Dell Diamond on Wednesday November 19th.  Our afternoon session will be open to the public and run from 2:00 - 5:00 pm with a meetup at the Salt Lick BBQ afterwards.  This is a great opportunity for the public, students, and working professionals, to learn more about how GIS is integrated into and impacts our lives daily.
This open session with also allow you to network with Williamson County GIS professionals. 
We encourage you to stop by and learn more about GIS, GPS and related technologies by talking to local GIS professionals.  


The Agenda for the Afternoon Session:


Map Gallery - Open from 2:00- 5:00pm
  • Map posters that depict how agencies within Williamson County use GIS in their day to day operations
  • Agency representatives will be on hand to discuss their work.

Presentations - 2:00- 4:00pm
 
2:00-2:30pm

“Geodesign: Introducing Geographic Analysis into the Design Process” – Sean Moran, Austin Community College, GIS Department Chair
https://sites.google.com/a/austincc.edu/gis-acc/

Geodesign is a design and planning method which tightly couples the creation of design   proposals with impact simulations informed by geographic contexts (Flaxman, Geodesign Summit 2010). Traditionally, development scenarios are not fully measured and visualized until the end of the planning process. Geodesign promotes the measurement and visualization of multiple development scenarios in the early stages of the planning process. The presentation will include a simple Geodesign demonstration.

2:30 -3:00pm

“Drone Delivery of GIS Content” – Devon Humphrey, Flightline Geographics, Founder & CEO
http://www.flightlinegeographics.com

As camera and UAS technology evolves, higher resolutions and faster turn-­‐around times are becoming the norm. Now, we can capture, process and deliver high definition imagery in 3D via ArcGIS Online in hours, not weeks or months. The latest developments in technology and regulations will be presented.

3:00-3:30pm

"The Effects of Virtual Environments on Spatial Thinking" - Southwestern University.M. Anwar Sounny-Slitine, Southwestern University (Georgetown, TX), Instructor of Environmental Studies
http://www.southwestern.edu/departments/environmental/gis/

Virtual environments, or reconstructions of reality in 3D GIS platforms like Google Maps Street View, are reshaping the way human beings interact with the world around them.  These technologies are now widely adopted across the internet and can have major implications to how spatial thinking is taught.  Introducing virtual environments into classroom settings may enhance learning outcomes and create a better understanding of place, but the effectiveness of this hypothesis is still unknown.  How do virtual spaces enhance or inhibit students in identifying, analyzing, and understanding location?  This project seeks to answer these questions by looking at how virtually recreated environments impact adolescents’ spatial thinking.  In this study we will test spatial understanding through various means-- traditional paper maps, an in person exposure to place, and virtual environments.  After introducing a group of adolescents to a campus area through these means, we will test their ability to find places on campus through a scavenger hunt.  This test will utilize a comparative analysis between adolescents’ exposure to different means of understanding place to see which means is the most effective at creating spacial awareness.

3:30-4:00pm

”Competency Development in GIS&T in Support of Career Planning and Professional Growth” – Tarek Rashed, Ph.D., Geospatial Applied Research Experts House, Chief Scientist and President
http://www.gsareh.com/

Geospatial technologies are increasingly becoming integral to the core mission and day-to-day functions in many industries and professional domains. Available training courses are too generic in nature and fall short from addressing how the technology can best be adopted to serve the very specific goals of a given working environment or desired career path. Competency-based professional training program in Geospatial Information Science and Technologies (GIS&T) refers to the continual growth and improvement of an individual’s competency. This is accomplished by balancing the enhancement of his/her geospatial technical skills (i.e., the traditional focus of training) with the improvement of his/her geospatial knowledgebase underlying these skills (i.e., the typical focus of education). Competency Outcomes training enables individuals to transport the skills and knowledge acquired to whatever situation they may find themselves in, while at the same time instilling in the individuals the confidence to perform well in a given situation. This presentation will discuss the utilization of the Geospatial Competency Model (GCM), released by the US Dept. of Labor (DoLETA), in addressing current shortcoming in GIS&T professional training. Two case studies for building a competency-based training program on top of GCM are presented. The results and impacts of the implemented program on career development and professional growth of GIS professionals and organizations are discussed.

 Why Should I Participate
  • Great opportunity to learn about how local government uses GIS technology
  • Access to GIS/GPS professionals to discuss the technology and projects
  • Great Networking opportunities with local GIS professionals
  • Opportunities for one on one hands on demonstrations
  • Explore good career opportunities in a growing field