Running against time - Workflow enhancements using FME, ArcMap & python scripting to find creative solutions for today's problems

Graphics & Visualization team in City Planning's mission was to build an automation tool capable of creating report maps connected to the development review process for community council. This project aligned to the City's Strategic priority of "Modernization", as well as technology innovation and paperless transaction. 

Take a look! The preliminary program is now available!

BeSpatial 2023, held virtually in May will showcase a dynamic cross section of presentations and exhibitions drawn from our geospatial and information community. It’s a once a year engaging opportunity where you, your colleagues and your teams can listen, learn, network and also have some fun!

Program and Speaker Highlights

Leading Creative Transformation and Change

Shanon Kalra-Ramjoo from the City of Vaughan will give this year's opening address.

Shanon Kalra-Ramjoo, Director of Business Excellence and Operational Performance at the City of Vaughan, is a self-described mover and shaker. Her leadership journey spans across two decades in provincial and local levels of government, the non-profit sector, academia and also in various public service areas. Shanon will provide insight into developing skills beyond your job, to create passion and build a career that excites and motivates you. She will share strategies that you can use, to continuously find opportunities to learn, build new networks, align resources and transform your team's service delivery. 

Stay tuned for more details in our next e-blast which will include a trailer to her presentation....

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2023 People's Choice MApps Award:

Best App: 

Best Map: 

For more details, visit MApps Award

A BeSpatial'23 Workshop:  - Promote and Grow your GIS for Successful Geospatial Managers

Register - Select Registration including workshop option (2 Sessions).   Registration closes Midnight on April 28, 2023.

May 2, 2023 Time: 3:15 - 4:15 PM and  May 3, 2023 Time: 1:30-2:30 PM

Goals and objectives of this workshop

GIS managers have a responsibility to ensure that key decision makers know the value that GIS provides and what new things it can do for them in the future. Why? So that they are always eager for more! But marketing and business development are competencies that are not often taught.

Whether we work for a local, provincial, or federal government agency, non-profit, or private company, we as managers know the many benefits that GIS provides to our enterprise. But put yourself in the position of others within the enterprise. If you are a company manager, elected official, public works manager, warehouse supervisor, budget analyst, or any of the hundreds of other job titles that also work for the enterprise – what do they know of GIS and of the value that GIS provides?

GIS management is a challenging profession. Effective GIS management is a critical success factor for an agency to leverage the potential of its investment in geospatial data and technology and to maximize GIS ROI. Effective marketing is a key factor for a successful GIS. Promoting your GIS is key geospatial management responsibility.

This GIS Management Academy™ workshop introduces a structured project management approach to promote your GIS services effectively.

Enterprise GIS is expensive to develop, maintain, and operate. Even small-to-medium-sized cities, counties, and regional agencies have invested millions of dollars to develop their GIS capabilities, and they can have large annual operating budgets. Promoting the resources and capabilities of your GIS can increase its benefit and help increase its benefits and solidify the long-term support needed for a sustainable GIS.

Audience

Current GIS managers, supervisors, and coordinators, and those who aspire to a successful career in GIS management.

Topics Covered

• The importance of developing your GIS brand and building brand awareness
•  Building pride within your GIS
•  Communicating the benefits of GIS
•  Building effective relationships
•  Developing political skills
•  Understanding and managing the business development life-cycle
•  Exercise: Attendee discussion and feedback

Prerequisites and Recommendations

No prerequisites.  Recommended for GIS managers and leadership teams interested in promoting and growing the use of GIS within their agency or company.

What You Will Receive

• Two (2) hours of instruction (2 sessions) from Greg Babinski, who is a subject-matter expert and workshop author.
•   A copy of the workshop presentation and exercises.

A BeSpatial'23 Workshop:  - GIS Funding, Budgeting & Budgeting & Financial Management for GIS Managers

Register - Select Registration including workshop option. Registration closes Midnight on April 28, 2023

Date: May 2, 2023 Time: 1:00 - 3:00 PM

Goals and objectives of this workshop

This workshop introduces the fundamentals of GIS funding, budgeting, and financial planning and management for GIS managers. It is intended for GIS managers of public agencies, non-profits, and private companies. Every GIS operation competes for financial resources from the agency or business that it serves. Just as the technical aspects of GIS may be mysterious to the uninformed, understanding and navigating financial processes may be a challenge for GIS managers and leaders.

Enterprise GIS is expensive to develop, maintain, and operate. Even small-to-medium-sized cities, counties, and regional agencies have invested millions of dollars to develop their GIS capabilities, and they can have large annual operating budgets. The good news is that many recent third-party studies have proven that GIS delivers significant financial return on investment (ROI) to organizations that deploy it as an enterprise business-support tool. But competing for financial resources and managing them well is a key responsibility of any manager, including GIS.

This workshop will enable GIS managers to navigate the financial aspects related to GIS confidently, to understand weekly, monthly, and annual financial processes, and to compete effectively for the financial resources needed to achieve their business goals.

The information provided in this workshop aligns with related processes and competencies found in the GIS Capability Maturity Model and the Geospatial Management Competency Model.

Audience

IT directors/managers, GIS managers, decision makers, and finance managers who want to understand the funding, budgeting, and financial aspects of GIS operations.

Topics Covered

• The finites of GIS and the agencies that they serve: space, time, and money
• Budget process overview - who are the players and who are the referees?
• Understanding formal budgets and virtual budgets
• Funding GIS - where does the money come from?
• GIS funding models
• GIS expenditures - what is the money used for?
• Your GIS financial plan
• Creating effective budget proposals - written and verbal
• Accounting essentials for GIS managers
• Grants and grant funds management
• Exercise: Attendee discussion and feedback

Prerequisites and Recommendations

No prerequisite. Recommended for GIS managers, consultants, academics, and agency finance officers interested in understanding the financial aspects of GIS management.

What You Will Receive

• 2 hours of instruction from Greg Babinski, who is a subject-matter expert and workshop author.
• A copy of the workshop presentation and exercises.

A BeSpatial'23 Workshop:  - GIS Return on Investment (ROI) Fundamentals

Register - Select Registration including workshop option - Registration closes Midnight on April 28, 2023

Date: May 3, 2023 Time: 2:45 - 4:45 PM

Goals and objectives of this workshop

Show me the money! A geographic information system in any government agency, non-profit, or private company competes for financial resources. GIS managers must be able to articulate the many qualitative and quantitative benefits that GIS provides. But ultimately GIS needs to show the financial benefits that it provides to decision makers. How does a highly competent GIS manager accomplish this?

GIS management is a challenging profession. Effective GIS management is a critical success factor for an agency to leverage the potential of its investment in geospatial data and technology and to maximize GIS ROI. Adequate financial support is a key factor for a successful GIS. This is a key GIS management responsibility.

This GIS Management Academy™ workshop introduces the use of return on investment (ROI) analysis methods to document the net financial benefits that an agency might achieve from its GIS. In this workshop we will review the types of benefits that GIS provides. We will focus on recent (non-GIS industry) literature that documents the significant ROI from GIS at various social and institutional levels.

A major portion of the workshop will demonstrate a simple, objective methodology that has been used to quantify and report GIS performance metrics and ROI. This demonstration will include the use of a custom Excel Spreadsheet template that will be provided to all students who complete the workshop. After the workshop each attendee will have the tools and framework to input data to document their GIS ROI.

Enterprise GIS is expensive to develop, maintain, and operate. Even small-to-medium-sized cities, counties, and regional agencies have invested millions of dollars to develop their GIS capabilities, and they can have large annual operating budgets. Many recent third-party studies have proven that GIS delivers significant financial return on investment (ROI) to organizations that deploy it as an enterprise business-support tool.

Audience

Current GIS managers, supervisors, and coordinators, and those who aspire to a successful career in GIS management. Also, agency budget and finance managers and senior agency stakeholders interested in understanding the quantifiable financial benefits from geographic information science and technology.

Topics Covered

How organizations achieve their goals and objectives

Budgets as tools to allocate resources within organizations

The societal benefits of GIS

• Non-financial
• Financial benefits across society
• Financial benefits within organizations

Fundamentals of estimating future GIS benefit-cost analysis

Return on investment basic concepts

Fundamentals of calculating actual return on investment (with demonstration)

• Quantifying GIS costs
•  Quantifying GIS financial benefits

Practical considerations of using GIS ROI as a decision support tool

Methods of displaying and comparing results

Exercise: Attendee discussion and feedback

Prerequisites and Recommendations

No prerequisites. Recommended for GIS managers, consultants, and academics, as well as budget and financial managers interested in assessing the financial benefits from their GIS operations.

What You Will Receive

• Two (2) hours of instruction from Greg Babinski, who is a subject-matter expert and workshop author. 
•  A copy of the workshop presentation and exercises.
•  A copy of the GIS ROI Excel spreadsheet template.

GIS MANAGEMENT ACADEMY

Workshops from the Academy will be offered in the afternoons of Tuesday, May 2nd 1:00 pm to 4:30pm and Wednesday, May 3rd – 1:30 pm to 5:00pm

Register - Select Registration including workshop option

Presenter:  Workshops will be led by Greg Babinski.

Greg Babinski is a GIS management consultant and founder of GIS Management Consulting Services LLC, located in the greater Seattle area.

Between 1998 and the end of 2021 he served as GIS Manager, GIS Finance Manager and GIS Marketing& Business Development Manager for the King County GIS Center in Seattle. Previously he worked for nine years as GIS Mapping Supervisor for the East Bay Municipal Utility District in Oakland.

He holds an MA in geography from Wayne State University. Greg is a GISP – Certified GIS Professional.

Greg is Past-President of URISA and founder and Past-Chair of URISA’s GIS Management Institute. In 2005 he founded The Summit – the Washington State GIS Newsletter. In 2019 Greg was awarded an EthicalGEO Fellowship by the American Geographical Society. In addition to GIS consulting, he is a GIS researcher, author, and instructor. He has spoken about GIS management across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Greg has taught GIS for Public Policy as an instructor with the University of Washington Evans Graduate School of Public Administration.

In his spare time Greg likes ‘hiking steep, narrow and dangerous trails that lead high above the clouds to awesome views’.

Three (3) workshops will be held each afternoon of BeSpatial’23 (2 days):

•  Promote and Grow your GIS for Successful Geospatial Managers
•  GIS Funding, Budgeting and Financial Management for GIS Managers
•  GIS Return on Investment (ROI) Fundamentals

These workshops are being offered as part of your BeSpatial'23 registration!  Choose the BeSpatial including workshop registration option 

Registration closes on April 28, 2023 at midnight

Register today

Environics Analytics (EA) is the premier marketing and analytical services company in Canada, helping thousands of customers across every industry sector turn data and analytics into strategy, insights, and results. Established in 2003, we specialize in using best-in-class data, analytics expertise, and purpose-built software to address key challenges in areas such as consumer profiling and segmentation, multichannel media planning and execution, trade area analysis, merchandising strategies and site location decision-making. Our ENVISION platform provides quick and easy access to our comprehensive and privacy-compliant databases—including the latest mobile movement data. Environics Analytics is a Bell Canada company.

eNews: March 16

Teranet is Canada's leader in the delivery and transformation of statutory registry services with extensive expertise in land and commercial registries. It also provides insightful property intelligence and data solutions to thousands of customers in the real estate, financial services, government, utilities, and legal markets.

As a trusted provider of Master Data Management (MDM) solutions and services to government, utilities, and commercial enterprises, Teranet enables customers to improve their decision-making processes by providing reliable property information, location intelligence capabilities, and a world-class customer experience. Teranet clients can access the most authoritative and dependable source of parcel mapping, ownership and easement data, and registered plan images. Our systems provide on-demand and direct access to reputable, adaptable, and trustworthy land registry and land related data via a user-friendly customer interface. Our core purpose is to be the most authoritative and reliable provider of spatial mapping services and land registry data to our customers.