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Wednesday - May 6, 2026 Track 1 Track 2 Track 3 |
Esri Technical Session | Daniela Spade, PhD OU Center for Spatial Analysis Building a Regional GIS Data Hub for Southwest Oklahoma Using ArcGIS Experience Builder and ArcGIS Enterprise Sites Access to reliable spatial data is essential for effective regional planning and decision-making, yet many organizations struggle with fragmented datasets and limited data-sharing infrastructure. This presentation highlights the development of a centralized GIS data portal for the South Western Oklahoma Development Authority (SWODA), which serves an eight-county region in southwest Oklahoma. The final product is an ArcGIS Enterprise Site that provides a single access point where community leaders and partner organizations can discover, download, and interact with regional GIS data. Custom applications built with ArcGIS Experience Builder allow users to visualize datasets through a data viewer and contribute updates through a secure data editor interface. Attendees will see how this workflow, from data restructuring to enterprise deployment, supports collaborative data management and improves access to critical spatial information for local decision-makers. | Pamela Skraastad-Jurney Cross Timbers Consulting, LLC
Walkability in Indian Country
The term “Indian Country” is leveraged broadly as a general description of Native spaces and places within the United States, and it is inclusive of the hundreds of tribal nations that occupy these spaces. Whether for recreation, children walking to and from a school bus or the youth center, elders walking to tribal services and activity centers, family members walking in their neighborhood, or employees walking to and from work, pedestrian activity is prevalent across Indian Country. The FHWA urges transportation departments, including tribal and other partners in rural and urban settings, to consider transportation approaches that will enhance integration, provide safe pedestrian and vehicle accommodations, increase connectivity, and improve the overall health of individuals, the economy, and the environment. This presentation uses an ArcGIS StoryMap to explore walkability within tribal lands as an intersection of transportation, health, culture, and safety. |
Esri Technical Session | Exhibitor Showcase Brent Wilson Woolpert Optimizing Infrastructure Decisions for Sustainable Growth Agencies are under pressure to maintain reliable infrastructure despite aging assets, tight budgets, and rising expectations for transparency and sustainability. This session introduces Trimble’s Lifecycle Asset Management and Decision Optimization Technology (DOT‑US), which integrates asset condition, risk, performance, and financial data to support clear, data‑driven decisions. Through advanced analytics and optimization, DOT‑US helps agencies evaluate trade‑offs, prioritize investments, and forecast long‑term outcomes. Attendees will learn how scenario modeling and proactive planning can extend asset life, improve service levels, and build defensible strategies that support sustainable growth. Key Takeaways:
| Willard Gustafson Freese and Nichols Inc Leveraging GIS to Consolidate and Communicate Water Resource Needs Identified during the Cherokee Nation Drought Resiliency Study Drought resilience and water supply reliability are among the highest concerns for rural water systems today. As such, the Cherokee Nation initiated a drought resilience study focusing on small public water systems in the most drought prone areas of their reservation. The initial phase was to compile a comprehensive GIS database of water sources, infrastructure condition and needs, population and water demand projections, future water supply evaluation, and potential drought management strategies with cost estimates. Using the compiled GIS data, an ESRI Dashboard was then developed that provides stakeholders a means to examine, analyze, and visualize the gathered data. By using spatial and tabular filters, they are able to summarize identified needs by County, Tribal Council Districts, specific Water Systems, or any combination thereof. This dashboard has proven to be a valuable decision-support tool for identifying needs and allocating limited resources for the greatest impact. |
Esri Technical Session | Exhibitor Showcase Lauren Galvis Avolve Beyond the Blueprint - Transforming Plan Review with Embedded GIS Local government teams face growing pressure to speed permit turnaround despite limited staff and increasing project complexity. As electronic plan review becomes essential to development services and economic growth, many agencies still struggle with disconnected GIS and review workflows, losing up to 40 minutes per permit to manual, inefficient processes. This session explores how embedding GIS into plan review gives staff instant access to utility maps, right-of-way data, and infrastructure context during review. Attendees will gain a clearer understanding of common plan review challenges and learn practical strategies to break down data silos, reduce review cycles, and build a compelling business case for GIS and plan review integration. The session will show how connected GIS and plan review workflows improve coordination across public works, planning, and development services while supporting faster decisions, better infrastructure planning, and stronger service delivery. | Jason Nyberg NV5 Geospatial So You Think You Know What a Digital Twin is.... At some point, someone has probably said, “We need one of those Digital Twins everyone keeps talking about,” leaving you wondering, did they know what they were asking for? Do I? This session cuts through the buzzwords to demystify what digital twins actually are and how the concept might apply to your situation. We’ll explore the remote‑sensing technologies used to capture real‑world data and the role of GIS data integration to integrate it into dynamic digital representations of buildings, systems, and even entire cities. Examples range from small‑scale using tools like ArcGIS Indoors, which blends BIM and CAD data for space and asset management and real‑time analytics, to large-scale approaches for infrastructure planning and management, environmental modeling and emergency management optimization. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of digital twins and how to evaluate their relevance within their own organizations. |
Esri Technical Session | Exhibitor Showcase Mark Bowden Argos Connected Solutions Proving ROI to Council: How Geospatial Fleet Data Turns Operational Metrics Into Public Accountability Municipal fleet and public works teams face increasing pressure to demonstrate operational value to council and the public. By combining fleet telematics with GIS, agencies can transform operational data into clear visual reporting that shows how services are delivered across the community. This session explores how geospatial fleet data supports transparency and accountability through route completion heatmaps, vehicle activity mapping, and public facing dashboards. It will also highlight how fleet and GIS data can support sustainability reporting, emissions tracking, and electric vehicle transition planning. Learning Outcomes:
| Carol Valdez Texas Department of Transportation TxDOT ROWs Synergistic GIS Workflow GIS analysts are increasingly tasked with moving data efficiently from field collection to enterprise systems while preserving data quality, data lineage, and usability. This presentation demonstrates how Esri Survey123, VertiGIS Studio, and FME can be integrated into an end‑to‑end workflow that converts field submissions into standardized PDF reports suitable for documentation, compliance, and long‑term record keeping, with automated delivery to end users. Using a real‑world, analyst‑driven workflow, Survey123 serves as the structured entry point for field and office data collection. Submissions are programmatically routed through VertiGIS Reporting to generate clear, well‑structured PDF records. Final delivery is handled through an FME‑configured submission webhook, which automatically emails completed reports to the survey submitter, reducing manual effort and improving data confidence. |
Esri Technical Session | Exhibitor Showcase Christopher Zuniga - BadElf What can you do with GPS in 2026? The bleeding edge of mobile data collection. This presentation provides an overview of the latest trends, applications, and practical techniques for GPS data collection for both beginner and experienced GIS professionals working to map and maintain utility infrastructure. It highlights real-world workflows, common pitfalls, and proven methods for improving the accuracy and reliability of field-collected GIS data. |
Thursday, May 7, 2026
Katy Overbey, GISP, CFM & Samuel Amoako-Atta, GISP, CFM Halff Associates, Inc. Beyond the Floodplain: A Consequence-Based View of Flood Risk in North Texas This presentation demonstrates how standard FEMA flood modeling and readily available GIS data can be transformed into a powerful, consequence-based view of flood risk for North Texas. Using a multi-scale inset mapping approach, the project highlights how flood impacts extend beyond mapped floodplains to affect communities, infrastructure, and critical services. Framed by recent flood response and rescue efforts in Central Texas, the presentation emphasizes the role of GIS at the center of real-time decision-making, emergency response, and risk communication. By connecting planning-focused flood mapping with on-the-ground response scenarios, this work illustrates how GIS supports preparedness, mitigation, and life-safety operations before, during, and after flood events. | Johnny McGlone STV Pedals & Platforms: A Spatial Look at Bike and Subway Access This project examines the spatial disconnects and synergies between transit stations and biking infrastructure through an interdisciplinary team approach. By integrating diverse datasets and perspectives, we explored multimodal relationships across multiple scales to uncover meaningful patterns in access, safety, and connectivity. Our approach is intentionally holistic—bridging technical depth with strategic breadth—to move beyond isolated analyses and deliver a comprehensive view of how infrastructure, behavior, and context intersect. The work demonstrates how collaboration beyond traditional boundaries can elevate spatial analysis and generate insights that inform more resilient and adaptable transportation strategies. | Sergio Castro, GISP City of Edinburg A GIS Approach to Manage Capital Improvement Projects Presentation will give attendees an insight of how the City of Edinburg used to manage Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) prior to deploying GIS solutions. It will showcase current in-house staff management of CIPs, GIS staff involvement and transparency effort for our constituents. |
Patrick R. Gray City of McAllen Legends of the Tri-Force: Using StoryMaps, Field Maps and Survey123 for Asset / Project Management | Victoria Huerta & Nathan Jones AG3 Group, LLC Building Accurate Underground Utility Networks Stormwater systems are often among the least documented utilities, with legacy records lacking reliable horizontal and vertical (X, Y, Z) information. This uncertainty frequently leads to design-phase assumptions, construction-phase conflicts, project delays, and costly change orders. This presentation explores the challenges working within dense municipal underground environments and introduces an emerging approach to addressing these issues through the development of a three-dimensional GIS for stormwater utilities. | Christine Fox Denton County The Creation of Texas’ First Countywide Fire Department Following a homeowner’s death in November 2021, Denton County faced scrutiny for its lack of coordinated emergency service oversight in unincorporated areas. Although the neighborhood was closer to a station in Prosper, a service agreement with Aubrey resulted in a delayed response. Rapid growth, particularly in Municipal Utility Districts, had created inconsistent and sometimes redundant Fire and EMS coverage. In June 2024, the Commissioners Court adopted the Fire and EMS Master Plan, establishing the Denton County Emergency Response Area (DCERA) to unify response across jurisdictions. Using ArcGIS Pro Network Analysis, NFPA 1710 drive-time standards, GeoEnrichment, and 911 call data, the county modeled Emergency Response Zones to support contract negotiations, ensure closest-unit dispatch, and promote equitable, countywide coverage as population growth continues. |
Antonio Williams & Juan-Carlos Torres City of Carrollton Building a Secure Public-Facing GIS Service Health Dashboard for Municipal Infrastructure Municipal GIS environments rely on multiple interdependent systems including map services, ArcGIS Enterprise components, databases, and external ArcGIS Online services. Communicating system health to both technical staff and non-technical stakeholders presents a challenge: detailed monitoring data is sensitive, yet high-level availability transparency is essential. This session presents a lightweight monitoring architecture that separates internal diagnostics from public-facing health reporting. Using a Python-based monitoring application, internal system checks are normalized and aggregated into sanitized status groups. External ArcGIS Online status feeds are retrieved server-side to avoid browser security restrictions, then incorporated into a unified status payload. The resulting summary is published to Azure Blob Storage as a static public dashboard, while detailed system information remains accessible only via VPN. Scalable, low-cost solution for operational visibility. | Betsi Chatham City of Grapevine Public Safety Improvement Plan for Historic Downtown Grapevine Events In response to the unfortunate events across the nation involving perpetrators driving through crowds at community events, a multi-department decision was made to research and implement mechanisms to ensure the safety of patrons during events in Historic Downtown Grapevine. Grapevine GIS developed and implemented a Public Safety Improvement Plan (PSIP) utilizing Public Works barrier device recommendations and guidance from Public Safety. In 2025, the PSIP has been successfully implemented into three major events: Main Street Fest, GrapeFest, and Christmas Capital of Christmas. | Hayden Hunt City of Oklahoma City From Launch to Enterprise: Scaling a Municipal ArcGIS Enterprise Portal In 2022, the City of Oklahoma City Utilities Department launched its ArcGIS Enterprise Portal to modernize how GIS resources are shared across the organization. What began as a small deployment has grown into an enterprise platform supporting 400+ users and over 100 applications across multiple divisions. This presentation will highlight how the portal has streamlined our mapping workflows and expanded access to GIS through web maps and applications available on both desktop and mobile devices. We will also discuss how ArcGIS Monitor is used to evaluate system performance, understand application usage, and identify opportunities for improvement. Attendees will gain insight into how a municipal utility expanded GIS from a limited deployment into a widely adopted enterprise platform and the strategies used to support its continued growth. |
Jose A. Pilartes-Congo Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Super-Resolution Enhanced Monocular Depth Estimation for Urban Surface Modeling from PlanetScope Imagery Expanded academic access to otherwise commercial 3-meter PlanetScope (PS) imagery has improved the ability to map and monitor large geographic areas with near-daily frequency. To support scalable digital twin generation from space, this study proposes a deep-learning framework for surface modeling from single PlanetScope images using a two-stage approach that begins with a fine-tuned SwinIR model for image enhancement, followed by the vanilla Depth Anything Model v2 (DAMv2) for relative surface estimation. The enhanced SwinIR model achieved PSNR, SSIM, and MOS values of 29.02 dB, 0.84, and 4.02, respectively, improving structural detail and downstream depth inference. Although the outputs represent relative heights rather than absolute or survey-grade elevation, the results show that domain-specific image enhancement can improve surface modeling from moderate-resolution PlanetScope imagery and mark a promising initial step toward scalable, updateable surface models for digital twins. | J. Scott Sires & Victory Dan-Dukor Dallas College Innovating the GIS Pipeline: Programs That Work for Students and Employers The Dallas College Geospatial Technology Program shows how a 2‑year college can build national and international impact while delivering high‑quality GIS education fully online. This session highlights our five stackable awards, including the OSA and Level 1 Certificate (C1), both available to dual‑credit students. The C1 equips learners to support Texas House Bill compliance mapping at their schools and contribute as GIS Field Imaging Technologists. For incumbent professionals, the Advanced Technical Certificate (ATC) offers upskilling aligned to real‑world workforce needs. We demonstrate how GoPro body cameras and live MS Teams streaming connect online students to live fieldwork, creating an accessible, immersive learning model. We close with a call to action for GIS professionals and leaders to partner with us, recruit emerging talent, and help expand a flexible, workforce‑ready pipeline accessible from anywhere. | Keither Perkins WSB Not Ready for Utility Network? How the Trace Network Can Keep Your Agency Moving Forward With the deprecation of ArcMap, many agencies are left supporting legacy Geometric Networks while facing the challenge of migrating to ArcGIS Pro and the ArcGIS Utility Network. A full Utility Network implementation can require significant time, budget, and organizational readiness that may not be immediately available. This presentation introduces the ArcGIS Trace Network as a practical, cost-effective option for modernizing network workflows without the complexity of a full Utility Network deployment. We will discuss where the Trace Network fits between Geometric Networks and the Utility Network and what problems it can and cannot solve. Attendees will gain an understanding of the pros and cons of the Trace Network and how it can be used as a stepping stone that supports future migration to ArcGIS Utility Network when agencies are ready. |
LUNCH BREAK |
Nate Lickteig, Blue Raster & Colton Landgrebe, San Patricio County Building a Sustainable GIS Program in San Patricio County Since 2023, San Patricio County, Texas and Blue Raster have partnered to grow a limited GIS environment into a countywide GIS program supporting departments across county government. Through a phased approach that included needs assessments, infrastructure development, and close collaboration with staff, the County has steadily increased GIS adoption and built a foundation for a mature and sustainable program. GIS is now supporting a growing range of operational needs across the County, from data governance and countywide mapping tools to departmental workflows and public applications for elections, emergency preparedness, and other services. Presented jointly by San Patricio County’s GIS Manager and Blue Raster, this session will share lessons learned from building a sustainable GIS program over time, including strategies for gaining departmental buy in, prioritizing impactful projects, and growing GIS capacity in a smaller local government. | Heather Geyer & Matt Kratochvil Fugro From Orthos to Intelligence: Scaling Land Use/Land Cover Mapping with the help of AI Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) mapping is a foundational GIS function supporting environmental management, infrastructure planning, and land use analysis. However, many GIS workflows remain constrained by manual digitization, inconsistent interpretation, and limited scalability, particularly when working with large volumes of orthophoto imagery. This presentations is about the GIS approach, quality controls, and lessons learned applying GeoAI to LULC mapping. By applying machine and deep learning techniques within familiar GIS production pipelines, we accelerate LULC feature extraction and change detection while preserving interpretability and confidence in results. Standardized classification logic and embedded expert oversight reduce delivery timelines, minimize rework, and improve comparability over time. These capabilities are essential for recurring mapping, environmental monitoring, and land use management programs. | Matt Hiland Sanborn Geospatial Bridging the Digital Divide In the United States, the digital divide increasingly reflects uneven digital transformation within government institutions rather than consumer connectivity. Many agencies continue to rely on paper-based workflows and siloed legacy systems, limiting data sharing, interoperability, and enterprise decision-making. This presentation examines the transition from fragmented analog environments to integrated enterprise platforms, using DOT right-of-way mapping and statewide broadband mapping as case studies. These examples illustrate how inconsistent data standards, governance models, funding constraints, and workforce capacity slow modernization. The session emphasizes data democratization and workforce education as critical drivers of resilient, transparent, and effective state government enterprise systems. |
Neil Rose City of New Braunfels Auditing GIS Data: A Practical Toolkit for Finding Hidden Problems
GIS datasets often appear correct on the map, but hidden issues within the geodatabase can affect analysis, automation, and data integration. This presentation introduces a practical toolkit for auditing common GIS data quality problems across datasets and database structures. The toolkit performs automated checks for issues such as null versus blank values, extra spaces in attributes, domain duplication and orphaned domains, reserved words in field names, spatial reference inconsistencies, and missing metadata. Rather than focusing on data correction, this session highlights methods for identifying and measuring hidden data quality issues within production GIS environments. Attendees will gain a practical framework for auditing their own GIS databases and improving data reliability through simple, repeatable quality checks. | Janny Phung & Laura Chapa City of Austin Breaking Up with ArcMap: A Story on Modernizing the Address Data Management System In this session, we will explore our journey to modernize a legacy data management system by adopting a standardized, configurable solution over a heavily customized one. Our goal was to streamline operations, improve maintainability, and enhance scalability across the organization. We’ll discuss how we approached the implementation of business and validation rules using configurable tools, reducing the need for custom code and enabling faster adaptation to evolving requirements. Key challenges will be shared, including decision points where we prioritized configuration over customization to align with long-term sustainability goals. Attendees will gain insights into:
| Samuel Amoaka-Atta & Marshall Settegast Halff Associates, Inc. Texas-Sized Data Collection for the First Ever Texas State Flood Plan In 2017, Hurricane Harvey dropped 50” of rainfall in Texas costing $125 billion in damages. Texas lawmakers initiated the first state flood planning process starting regionally to be compiled into a state flood plan in 2024. Community input web maps for each region were developed to collect locations of flooding issues from local communities. Automated GIS workflows were used to generate topologically correct flood datasets, leveraging high performance, multi machine processing to meet demanding project timelines. This data was used to evaluate and weigh the flood management strategies and mitigation projects that were proposed by each Regional Flood Planning Group to ensure maximum benefits with minimal negative impacts. Attendees will learn about the role of GIS in Regional and State Flood Planning and the importance of automated, scalable GIS workflows for delivering statewide datasets on tight schedules. |
James Allen & Shelly Dragg Carter County NG 911 and GIS from Past to Present: How does it all fit together Moving to NG9-1-1 means the old 911 address tables won’t work for spatial call routing. The demands on GIS to be more precise and spatially accurate will be a requirement. We will discuss moving to Next Gen 9-1-1 from a 911 Coordinator’s perspective. | Richard M. Osuamkpe City of Midland Making Enterprise GIS Work: A Framework for Enterprise-Scale Geospatial Success Many organizations recognize the value of GIS but struggle to move beyond isolated projects and departmental tools to establish a true enterprise program. While technology continues to evolve, the real challenge often lies in aligning people, processes, and strategy so GIS can deliver lasting organizational value. This presentation introduces a practical framework for building scalable and sustainable enterprise GIS programs. Drawing on real-world municipal experience, the session explores how GIS leaders can transition from project-based implementations to a more integrated, enterprise-focused approach. Attendees will learn how geospatial initiatives can align with organizational goals, how leadership and collaboration help scale GIS across departments, and how frameworks can guide governance and long-term program development. Participants will leave with practical ideas and a replicable framework to help make enterprise GIS work within their own organizations. | Tracey Foster Milton, GISP Waggoner Engineering ConstructGIS Manager: Managing Utility Construction Using ArcGIS and Power Apps Utility infrastructure projects often involve multiple contractors, inspectors, and stakeholders, making it difficult to track construction progress, pay items, and project budgets across different systems. This presentation introduces ConstructGIS Manager, a construction management application built with Microsoft Power Apps and integrated with ArcGIS Field Maps and ArcGIS Dashboards. The Power App serves as the central tool for managing project activities, while ArcGIS Dashboards provide real-time visualization of construction progress, pay items, and budget tracking. Field inspectors use ArcGIS Field Maps to collect survey-grade data for newly installed assets as construction occurs. This information feeds directly into dashboards and reports, giving project managers and stakeholders clear insight into project status and performance throughout the construction lifecycle. |
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