Meeting Synopsis

October 16 & 17, 2014

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GIS professionals and students gathered early on the beautiful fall morning of October 16, 2014 at the University of Tennessee Agricultural Campus to find new and insightful ways to utilize GIS. The day began with an excellent keynote from VP of Spatial Enterprise at Critigen, Dr. Brian Cullis. Dr. Cullis spoke to the crowd of 165 about his experience with US base closures, and the benefit GIS provided in the process.

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He emphasized the importance of spatial enterprise over enterprise GIS, asserting the focus of the spatial enterprise on the client, not the infrastructure behind the analysis. Dr. Cullis went on to discuss the significance of communication in the spatial enterprise: speaking the language of the consumer while upholding data integrity. Dr. Cullis concluded that quality of the data should withstand easier emerging platforms.

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The remainder of the forum was spent in fifteen separate breakout sessions. Breakout sessions had multiple themes ranging from utilization of open source GIS to unmanned aerial vehicle applications in GIS.

Dr. Brain Cullis giving Keynote speech on the infrastructure of a spatial enterprise and its

effective utilization of communication.

2014 Eastern Regional TNGIC Meeting

2014 Eastern Meeting attendees walking to Dr. Brain Cullis’ keynote

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The Map Gallery

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An hour long session was provided for attendees to obtain advice from an open panel of four GIS professionals on the experience they found most helpful in landing a first job in GIS. Their backgrounds varied between education, government, and industry. The panelists opened by discussing their educational backgrounds and their methods in pursuing jobs in GIS.

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Panelists answered an array of questions regarding the necessity of programming in GIS, unusual methods of approaching employers, and what it takes to be a triple threat. The major takeaway messages all panelist agreed upon were to be adaptable to location, use your skills within the community, and be engaged in your interactions with other professionals.

Meeting participants fuel up with breakfast, provided by Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, for the breakout sessions ahead.

From left to right: Ray Boswell, Pat Wurth, Amy Davis, and Dave Merrick.

The gallery was populated by

eighteen submissions from

students and professionals across

eastern Tennessee. Participants

competed against one another

for the opportunity to win the

prize of best analysis, best

cartography, best student

project, and viewer’s choice.

Winners of the 2014 Eastern TNGIC Meeting Map Gallery Best Analysis: Predicting Cell Phone Coverage along the Cumberland Trail - Joe Pyle Best Cartography: 2014 The National Hydropower Map - Nicole Samu Best Students Project: Occupational Fatalities: A Geoanalytical Approach - Amy Poole Viewer’s Choice: William Blount High Critical Response Map - Devon DePont

Friday Training Sessions Two half-day sessions were offered to Eastern Meeting attendees on Friday, October 17th. Each session offered an intimate instructional setting that allowed participants to learn new techniques and software. Attendees arrived at the morning session with instructor, Gerardo Boquin, to optimize their geoprocessing procedures with a four-hour session, Introduction to Geoprocessing with Model Builder. The afternoon session with Dr. Bruce Ralston and Dr. Mike Meyers, An Introduction to Free & Open Source GIS Software, offered attendees training on the utility and functionality of open source software.

Getting a Job in GIS

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Special Thanks to all our

vendors:

Eastern Meeting Coordinator, Kurt Butefish, thanking all the attendees and vendors for participating in the 2014 Eastern Conference.

2014 Eastern Regional TNGIC MeetingGeoNET planning committee

Pictured from left to right (front row) Jessica Miller, Joanne Logan, (back row) Blake Sartin, Jonathon Riggsbee, Lisa

Shipley, Kurt Butefish, and Mike Meyers. (Not pictured) Bruce Ralston, Gerardo Boquin, and Tim Prather

Tim Kuhn of the Knoxville Metropolitan Planning Commission addressed the Eastern Meeting about an exciting new project the Commission has been working on. The project focuses on Knox County’s greenways and enabling access to them via a virtual tour. Through a partnership with Knoxville’s AmeriCorp interns, the commission was able to map a majority of the greenways using a human-mounted data collection device. Tim spoke about the difficulties of planning and operating the device, as public awareness of the project created sensitivity to privacy concerns, security and editing issues. Overall the project looked very interesting and we are anxious for the virtual tour to be publicly accessible.

Lunchtime Presentation