Winter 2012

Esri News for Public Works is a dynamic publication providing short, insightful information to the public works community.

From the Trenches

By David Totman
Esri Public Works Industry Manager

I have to start off my first issue of Esri News for Public Works with a small tribute to Chuck Cmeyla, our former industry manager. If you barely got to know Chuck from his first two issues, let me assure you he was an avid GIS professional and credit to the public works industry, and he is an all-around fantastic guy. This picture says 1,000 words about him. I wish him well in his retirement.

So the first thing you need to know about me is that I have been in both IT and operations. My last assignment was in operations within a citizen-owned utility. I've been there fighting for those precious budget dollars. I hope this newsletter over the years will bring you information you can use to help leverage GIS in your organization.

I read an interesting article in the latest edition of APWA Reporter, "Span of Control Impacts Public Works Efficiency" by Joyce Lorick. It truly resonated with me when I thought about my previous role. To me the underlying message about span of control is communication. It also occurred to me that ArcGIS can serve the same purpose. Span of control is about efficient workflow, and efficient workflow is most often tied to having the right information from which to execute reasonable actions. This sounds like the tagline of our latest ArcGIS offerings: Discover, Create, Manage, Visualize, Analyze, and Collaborate Anywhere, on Any Device, at Any Time.

Suggesting to your boss that ArcGIS can do your next performance review is probably not a good idea, but I hope you get my point. The deployment of ArcGIS throughout an organization does bring information to all levels, it does facilitate efficiency in workflow, and it can optimize your work force so you can respond to the overused mandate of "do more with less." Now that I have set the stage where Chuck began in issue 1, stay tuned to see how ArcGIS can help you deal with aging infrastructure, a changing work force, unfunded mandates, and increased citizen engagement.

Sincerely,

David Totman

In the News

Using Mobile Technology to Manage Park Assets
Using ArcPad with a Trimble GPS, Las Vegas has greatly improved its ability to collect and manage park assets.

Community Involvement Drives Los Angeles Unified School District Maintenance
At the beginning of 2011, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) launched a pilot crowdsourcing program used with ArcGIS that has resulted in 1,000 repair requests in the first eight months of the year.

Making Cities Smarter with IBM and Esri
GIS helps cities become smarter through better spatial management.

Loudoun County Sidewalk Mapping Tool Online
Loudoun County has released an interactive map, based on ArcGIS Online, that shows the sidewalks, trails, and crosswalks throughout the county.

Share Your Story

Submit an article to Esri News for Public Works and share your knowledge and innovative ideas about your work with GIS. Contact the editor, Jim Baumann, for additional information.

Announcements

Hydraulic Modeling and GIS now available from Esri Press

Video Interviews with public works department employees

GIS on the Rise in Citizen Engagement webinar series now online

Public Works Watch

Connect with Your Colleagues

GIS for Public Works Home Page

Follow the Esri Public Works Community on Twitter

Events

Esri Federal GIS Conference
Washington, DC
February 22 - 24, 2012

NACE Conference
Lexington, KY
April 1 - 5, 2012

North American Snow Conference
Milwaukee, WI
April 29 - May 2, 2012

International Bridge Conference
Pittsburgh, PA
June 10 - 13, 2012

Azteca Cityworks User Conference
Park City, UT
June 25 - 29, 2012

Esri International User Conference (Esri UC)
San Diego, CA
July 23 - 27, 2012

Public Works SIG Meeting at Esri UC
San Diego, CA
July 24, 2012
More information to come