GIS in Action 2019

Oregon Explorer Mapping and Reporting Tools for Planners
Janine Salwasser, Institute for Natural Resources
Come learn about the new Oregon Explorer mapping and reporting tools that have been developed for planners.  They include support for community wildfire protection plans, sage-grouse development siting, wetland mitigation planning, watershed restoration, land use planning, and more. Since it was launched in 2007, the Oregon Explorer natural resources digital library (www.oregonexplorer.info) has been providing access to data, mapping and reporting tools, and archived scholarly information to help local citizens, planners and policymakers make more informed decisions about Oregon’s natural resources and communities. The Oregon Explorer program is a collaboration between the Institute for Natural Resources and the Oregon State University Libraries and Press. The presentation will include a demonstration of new planning tools sponsored by Oregon Department of Forestry, Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, Oregon Department of State Lands, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife that are being used throughout the State. 

Boat Oregon – Use Cases of ArcGIS Online for the Marine Board
Joe Severson, Oregon State Marine Board
Presenting complex and proposed rule changes for the Oregon State Marine Board that will impact the boating public has been challenging at times. We’ve found that presenting this information through Story Maps has allowed the Marine Board and the public an opportunity to visualize proposed changes in an easy to use mapping application. This presentation will share an example of recently passed rules on the Willamette River through a Story Map that was shared to the boating community and the Board of Directors to help in crafting the rules. I will also highlight the use of a Story Map that presented a recent legislative concept for a Waterway Access Account with the Marine Board and examples of what it can do. This Story Map takes you on a journey across Oregon showing planned, constructed and potential projects that this account would help to create, should it pass legislation. Then I will highlight our ArcGIS Online Web Mapping Application –Interactive Boat Oregon Map or iBOM. This map shows the public where is public boating access, displays current rules and regulations on the water, and works with Survey123 to display boating hazards and obstructions on the water as reported by our Law Enforcement Partners across the State.

Discipline and Transparency in Allocating Limited Resources
Danila Cariello, Decision Lens
Across all governmental agencies, planners and managers must make tough decisions about allocating resources and justifying those decisions to elected and appointed leadership. Organizations face multiple competing priorities that must be balanced in order to optimize resources.

Each fiscal year, Washington State Government spends over $900 million on information technology, with 100 state agencies vying for that funding. State Legislation (RCW 43.88.092) requires a rigorous, categorical, and transparent priority ranking process. The Washington Office of the CIO (OCIO) was charged with ensuring every IT dollar advanced the governor’s policy objectives as required by statute. The existing process was inadequate to satisfy the requirements of the legislation.

Washington CIO engaged Decision Lens to implement our solution and process to resolve these challenges. The Decision Lens Solution improved their prioritization process by implementing structure, transparency, and effective project prioritization. They were able to develop specific and nuanced criteria and create prioritized lists that were easy to explain and justify. Constrained resources mean there are too many demands and not enough budget, requiring data spatial creation and maintenance:

• What areas do I need to fly for updated photos and Lidar and how often?
• What areas are priorities for Broadband?
• Connecting to GIS to conduct “geographic project bundling,” for example, if we are repaving 5th St, are there utility projects also proposed so we don’t dig the street backup after.

Decision Lens has been used by both the public sector and private sector to help their organizations optimize the planning and prioritization process. Popular uses include Transportation & Transits, Facilities, Utilities, Environmental Remediation, and Information Technology.

Map My Form: GIS & Electronic Data Collection
Grant Herbert, FLO Analytics
Electronic field forms are quickly becoming a must-have tool for organizations that keep track of hundreds of complex and interconnected assets, such as utilities. In this presentation, Grant will highlight how electronic field forms can be combined with GIS to provide robust, streamlined data collection and visualization workflows for projects as well as daily activities, increasing efficiency and quantifiable saving time and money. He will walk you through the steps involved—from conception, through implementation, to successful outcomes—so you will leave the presentation empowered with the knowledge of how to begin the process of using electronic field forms at your organization. 

Essential Web AppBuilder Widgets for Local Governments
Solomon Pulapkura, VESTRA Resources, Inc.
 Local governments have three important workflows (among others) that are performed repeatedly. These include –
• Mailing notices to owners and/or tenants
• Generating reports as part of various activities
• Researching information that is often spread across many systems.
GIS can be used very effectively, to perform the above. This presentation will show three widgets that will allow local governments to quickly and easily generate mailing labels, create reports, and view information combined from several business systems in one location, within a Web AppBuilder based application. The widgets are essential to local government workflows and can save hours of effort and research time.

"Am I doing something wrong?": A usability evaluation of a PPGIS interactive map application
Zuriel van Belle and David Banis, Portland State University
Geoweb-enabled Public Participatory GIS (PPGIS) methodologies incorporate interactive map applications as the main driver for public engagement and data collection. However, little is known about exactly how the public interacts with these applications to produce spatial data, a fact that contributes to criticisms of final data quality. Usability evaluation offers a solution for developing better PPGIS data production systems by identifying problems in the application interface with which the public engaged. Drawing on a case study example of a PPGIS application developed to collect socio-spatial data from members of the public, this presentation evaluates usability using two analysis techniques. The first technique uses controlled experimentation methods to capture performance, preference, and data production metrics. The second technique employs verbal protocol analysis (VPA) and structured interviews with map application users to explore the nuances of how these participants use the tool. Taken together, these analyses allow us to critically assess the application interface and suggest design changes to mitigate future usability problems with similar PPGIS applications. (Please note: there are four authors for this presentation: Zuriel van Belle, David Banis, Tim Hitchins, and Rebecca McLain)

Applications of GIS at NW Natural
Laurel Garrett and Shivon Van Allen, NW Natural
NW Natural provides natural gas service to over 740,000 customers in Oregon and Southwest Washington. A team of two specialists and nine technicians utilize GIS to map and manage assets, interface with customer account information, support data for feeds to internal clients, draft construction plans, and manage emergency response. Mapping and modeling natural gas distribution is critical for maintaining network integrity and meeting regulatory requirements. The importance of GIS is recognized by company leadership, and opportunities to update technology and expand applications are growing. Current and future projects include conflation to utilize public parcel landbase data, implementing an improved field mapping solution, and planning for the transition to the ArcGIS Pro utility network. This presentation provides an overview of everyday uses of GIS at NW Natural and highlights several utility-specific applications and challenges. We will also demonstrate an emergency response feature of a NW Natural web application.

Field Mapping Challenges and Solutions for Utilities
Patrick Gronli and Ben Hillam, Portland General Electric
Maps are integral to safety and reliability for the utility crews who keep the gas flowing and the lights on in our community, but the culture that exists "in the field" has traditionally been reluctant to adopt new mapping tools and workflows. The data behind the maps are often misunderstood by map users, who are quick to identify discrepancies or inaccuracies but who aren’t aware of the complex work processes that exist to get the data from design to construction to maps. It’s a virtual juggling act for us GIS Professionals, who must manage not only data and map products, but expectations as well. At PGE, opportunities to improve GIS data accuracy, visibility, and accessibility are ever-present; this discussion will introduce some of these opportunities and the solutions that have been developed to help our crews “keep the lights on”.

GIS In Utilities: Using Spatial Analysis for Stormwater and Sanitary Sewer Asset Repair Prioritization
Gavin McRobbie, City of Hillsboro Public Works Department
The City of Hillsboro Public Works Department shares a common problem with most municipal utility agencies: aging infrastructure and deferred maintenance due to funding shortfalls. Historically, stormwater and sanitary sewer utility repairs within the City of Hillsboro have been prioritized based mostly on CCTV inspection ratings combined with a labor-intensive video review to ensure these ratings are valid (they are often not). While identifying the most important repairs is a thoughtful process, the approach is subjective and doesn’t easily allow for comparison amongst all assets throughout the City. In order to reduce bias and increase efficiency, a standardized scoring system has been developed for a data-driven, risk-based approach to rank and prioritize repairs. Utilizing spatial analysis alongside asset attributes and inspection data, this score provides a holistic assessment to predict an asset’s likelihood and consequence of failure. Employing an automated process to generate the score enables staff to quickly identify the worst assets city-wide or within a focused area while reviewing only a fraction of what was previously required, thereby freeing up valuable staff time for other projects.

A Rural County's Experience Deploying ArcGIS Enterprise
Levi Roberts, Crook County
Crook County is a rural County with a relatively small population. The County had implemented a standalone version of ArcGIS Server, and used a hybrid Server/Online environment to host online mapping applications. This worked but there were many limitations, especially with ArcGIS Pro coming in the near future. Over the winter the County migrated to a full Enterprise environment. This presentation will cover the reasoning for making the jump, as well as the steps involved and lessons learned along the way.

Interfacing ArcGIS Desktop and GIS Server for Web-Based Basin Analysis GIS
Lesley Bross, Jarrett Keifer, and Geoffrey Duh, Portland State University
The Center for Spatial Analysis and Research (CSAR) at PSU is currently engaged in a multi-year agreement with the USDA-NRCS, National Water and Climate Center (NWCC) to develop a spatial decision support system (SDSS) for improving water forecast accuracy. One of the goals of the SDSS is to make the GIS data used in the analysis available to government and public users. We designed and developed a data repository framework (eBAGIS) that integrates the geoprocessing capabilities of an existing desktop basin analysis GIS (BAGIS) and an internet-based GIS server to share the basin analysis GIS data. This presentation introduces the PostgreSQL-based GIS repository developed in Django, a high-level Python web framework, and the REST APIs developed for interfacing with ArcGIS Desktop addins implemented with VB .NET framework. The internet GIS repository (webservices.geog.pdx.edu/ebagis/) allows NWCC water supply forecasters and hydrologists to upload their basin analysis GIS data created on their desktop ArcMap and share these data with water managers and the public over the internet.

Challenges Connecting Building Information and GIS
Wayne Coffey, Tanja Hopmans and Levi Cecil, Portland Public Schools and Christine Rutan, Oregon Metro
PPS has struggled for many years maintaining accurate building system information. Initiatives to re-build data infrastructure have resulted in updated AutoCAD floorplans and enhanced GIS infrastructure to manage and share school facility data. Our IWMS (IBM-Tririga) tracks detailed operations activity and integrates bldg/room bi-directionally with AutoCAD to maintain accuracy between area measures and labeling. Since GIS provides more accessibility using webmap services, our goal is to establish stronger connections between all three systems that gives building operations visibility to a wider audience.
Working with our local GIS vendor, The Gartrell Group, PPS established workflow processes that convert CAD floorplan geometry into a geodatabase with record ids (using a combination of Python and Lisp scripting) that can then integrate detailed data related to from the IWMS data warehouse into the geodatabase. The result is a more accessible and manageable source of key operations data that leverages ArcGIS licensing and tools while not disrupting the more complex IWMS/CAD tools. Currently PPS harnesses these processes into a “Portland Maps” like tool that provides a map interface with tiered data summaries of schools from the property, the building, the floor (where the floor plans are then visible) and room queries. Many issues still exists. Our team would like to demonstrate successes and how these parallel/differ from ESRI’s emerging Indoor Mapping application.

Engaging Coastal Users to Update the Rocky Shores Management Strategy
Deanna Caracciolo, Oregon Coastal Management Program
Approximately 41% of Oregon’s coastline is composed of rocky habitat. These areas include the dynamic headlands, cliffs, tidepools and offshore islands that make the Oregon coast so memorable. Managing these highly diverse and utilized areas is complex and requires the incorporation of science, local knowledge, and best management practices. The state is currently updating the Rocky Shores Management Strategy (RSMS), which is part of Oregon's broader Territorial Sea Plan (TSP). The RSMS is the guiding framework for how agencies manage rocky shore resources within state jurisdiction (0-3 nautical miles from shore). For this update, multiple GIS tools and methods have been utilized to support community scoping as well as data synthesis and projection. This presentation will outline how staff are applying GIS tools to this update to create a more seamless management strategy.

An Innovative Approach to the Minimization of Environmental Impact to the Streaked Horned Lark
Sean Carroll, US Army Corps of Engineers
Understanding that Army Corps of Engineers activities impact the environment, specifically the placement of dredge materials, which result in the creation of deposition islands, the Army Corps of Engineers have actively adapted mitigation measures to minimize these impacts. One such example is mitigation measures to maintain the habitat of the streaked horned lark (Eremophila alpestris strigata), a subspecies of the wide-ranging horned lark, endemic to the Pacific Northwest, and listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The Army Corps of Engineers, in association with the U.S. Geological Survey and Center for Natural Lands Management, have adapted an innovative approach to geospatial habitat suitability analysis utilizing the Google Earth Engine and ESRI ArcGIS Pro. These analyses have guided the Army Corps of Engineers in implementing a shifting-habitat-mosaic management approach to maintaining the streaked horned lark habitats during the planning stages of dredging activities. This approach has wide reaching implications and may serve as the foundation for similar developments to minimize the environmental impact of Army Corps of Engineer activities outside of the Pacific Northwest.

Cannabis Identification and Prioritization System (CIPS) - Using GIS To Identify Cannabis Grows And Prioritize Water Quality Concerns In Northern California
Solomon Pulapkura, VESTRA Resources, Inc.
Over the last several years, the trend in California has been for marijuana growers to move their operations from the High Sierra forests to lower elevation foothill and valley locations to take advantage of better climatic, soil, and overall growing conditions. This has resulted in significant, additional environmental and water resource related concerns over Northern California watersheds, due to potentially increased pollution in the local, regional, and state water supplies through increased soil erosion, and nutrient and pesticide laden runoff.
Given the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) jurisdiction over waste discharges, the development of efficient tools that accurately and efficiently identify and characterize grow sites was desired. This resulted in the development of the Cannabis Identification and Prioritization System (CIPS). CIPS enables SWRCB and other stakeholders to identify priority water quality concerns by ranking those watersheds where marijuana grows pose the highest threats to water quality.
The goals for the CIPS solution include - a) Accurately identify marijuana grow locations and characteristics, b) Utilize the Water Boards’ ArcGIS platform, c) Develop user interfaces that enable the Water Boards and other agency end-users to access CIPS, assess conditions, and establish priorities for mitigation, and d) Scalable, both in terms of the geographic extent, and number of end-users accessing the system.

Warming, Vegetation, & Remote Sensing: The Use of NDVI to Track the Influence of Climate Change on Arctic and Alpine Plant Communities
Charlotte Copp, Lewis and Clark College
The Arctic is warming at a faster rate compared to the rest of the world and vegetation there can be used as a signal for a changing climate. In this research I ask, how will climate change alter arctic communities in Ísafjörður, Iceland and alpine communities in the White Mountains, New Hampshire? I used NDVI data to track climate responses at a global scale. I supported these findings with species observations in survey plots in the White Mountains and in Iceland. Although there a similarities in species composition in these two locations, climate change will affect them in different way. This is due to several factors including anticipated changes in climate at the local scale, land management style, and microclimatic conditions. Collectively this research suggests that effects of climate warming on plants are not homogeneous across latitudes or altitude and local management should be applied to support species conservation a the regional scale.

Refugee Camps as Climate Traps
Jamon Van Den Hoek, Oregon State University
As of writing, there are 19.9 million refugees under UN mandate in 126 countries who have fled war and political persecution. Despite the sheer size of this population, refugees are consistently excluded from national surveys and censuses meant to target the most marginalized, inform progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and improve measurements of poverty and living standards. The global refugee population is thus not only being “left behind” in pursuit of SDGs, refugees are also more likely to be trapped in intergenerational poverty and require special assistance to adapt to global environmental change, which may exacerbate the potential for economic isolation, social conflict, and economic instability. Using remote sensing, climate model, and geospatial datasets from 2000-2015, this study offers the first global assessment of camp-level environmental and climatic conditions at 922 UNHCR refugee camps in 60 countries. We find that refugee camps often share similar conditions as other settlements within a given host country, yet are consistently more isolated and, inevitably, vulnerable due to enclosure and land use policies that reflect and reinforce the securitization of refugees. Our results thus improve understanding of the potential for camps to act as ‘climate traps’ and help illuminate pathways for targeted investment in refugee livelihoods.

A Case Study of Human Ecology Mapping in Central Oregon Forests: What Public Participation GIS data can tell us
Alicia Milligan and Krystle Harrell, Portland State University
Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) has become increasingly important for generating socio-spatial data from users of a particular area to help influence land management and planning practices. In this case study we collected sociocultural data from users of the Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests in anticipation of updating forest plans to include human values and uses of the forest to comply with the 2012 Forest Planning Rule. This presentation will describe our development and implementation of an interactive web-mapping application which allowed data collection from a wide spectrum of forest users. Through data disaggregation by demographics and use characteristics, and employing a number of spatial analysis techniques, we are able to discover informative and distinct spatial patterns of forest visitation and activity diversity, as well as threats to the experience of specific places. The techniques described in our case study can be of use for a variety of land use planning applications where decision makers require or would benefit from an understanding of people-place relationships.

Creating Cached Vector Tile Basemaps using ArcGIS Pro
Kyle Marenger and Russell Barlow, Oregon Department of Transportation
Vector tile layers utilize cached vectors; the data in vector tile layers are stored in individual layers which contain geometry, attributes, and styles. This means that one set of vector tiles may be styled in numerous ways without having to generate a new cache for each basemap - saving time and energy in map production and design. This presentation will cover caching, stylization and the publishing processes for creating a custom basemap ArcGIS Pro 2.2.4. and an analysis featuring ESRI Insights platform.

Link to Story Map presentation: https://geo.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=2b75a2aedd714cc0bbfa075afe07d83a

ArcGIS Pro for Assessment Maps
Jonathan McDowell, Clackamas County Technology Services
Since January 2008, Clackamas County Assessor’s Office and GIS have relied on ORMAP data model and custom tools to maintain parcels and produce assessment maps. The tools that assist with maintaining the attributes and creating cartographic features use ArcObjects code. The tools used to create the assessments maps use Python code. ESRI is deprecating ArcGIS Desktop in favor of ArcGIS Pro. This requires an evaluation and redevelopment of the tools used for parcel maintenance and map production. This also provides the opportunity to attempt the replication of the ORMAP tools with out-of-the-box customization of ArcGIS Pro. Using the Map Series, Tasks, Location Services, and ArcPY Scripts it looks feasible to replace the tools without writing .NET code.

What’s new in ArcGIS 10.7
John Sharrard, ESRI
This presentation will provide an overview of recent updates in the ArcGIS Platform. This will include what’s new in the ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Enterprise 10.7 releases, ArcPro 2.3, ArcGIS Online, and the many apps that are part of the ArcGIS Platform. Brief mention will also be made of new products to be introduced in 2019, including ArcGIS Urban, ArcGIS Indoors, Tracker and more! 

How mature are we? Insights into Oregon's GIS Framework
Theresa Burcsu, State of Oregon
Oregon’s GIS Framework program, now in its official 19th year, has experienced tremendous success by building a strong network of Oregon GIS community members, increasing awareness of geospatial data value across partner organizations, and creating an impressive collection of datasets. The program is now preparing to start a major overhaul in response to legislation passed during to the 2017 Oregon legislative session. Before initiating major changes, it is important to have a clear understanding of the current maturity of Oregon GIS Framework to serve as a baseline for future assessments. This presentation will explain the methods used to perform Oregon’s maturity assessment and its outcomes. It will conclude with lessons learned as well as recommendations and plans for future activities in the near and long terms.

Geospatial Data Act and Oregon’s Spatial Data Infrastructure
Cy Smith, OSCIO Geospatial Enterprise Office
Information about people, places, and events in Oregon are key to effective and consistent provisioning of government services. Those services are sometimes provided by a government organization at a single level, but it is more likely that services are provided by a combination of government organizations that exist at multiple levels: city, county, special district, regional, tribal, state, federal. Those organizations often have to work together to provide needed services. If they can share information with each other and with their customers or clients, services can be provided more efficiently and consistently. The public can receive the same level of service in a rural area that they receive in a more urban area. That’s really the point of a National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) and Oregon’s spatial data infrastructure, our geospatial Framework. Congress enacted the Geospatial Data Act in October 2018 to authorize the coordinated development of the NSDI. Oregon’s Legislature enacted ORS 276A.500-515 in July 2017 to authorized the coordinated development and sharing by public bodies of Oregon spatial data infrastructure. Both efforts are moving forward, and this presentation will describe the progress made so far and what the future holds for all of us.

GEOHub Portal Conceptual System Design
Marcus Glass, Timmons Groups
The State of Oregon Geospatial Enterprise Office (GEO) has undertaken the development of a Conceptual System Design for the GEOHub portal that will provide a platform to securely share data among public bodies that utilize the Framework layers designated by the Oregon Geographic Information Council. The GEOHub will provide cost-savings, a greater ROI for all participants and more importantly, create data consistency across all public bodies.
Our presentation will provide an update on the initiative and create a forum to ask questions of Cy Smith, Oregon’s GIO, and Timmons Group, consultant.

Creating Dashboards with Configurable Apps
John Ruffing, ESRI
Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS is a configurable web apps that provides location-aware data visualization and analytics for a real-time operational view of people, services, assets, and events. In this session we will introduce the key features of dashboards, walk through examples of the many different types of dashboards and finally demonstrate the configuration and deployment of an Operations Dashboard.

Visualization workflows in Jupyter Notebooks, ArcGIS Pro, Portal, and PowerBI
Al Mowbray, Metro Data Resource Center
Metro has been in development of a program to reduce landfill-bound commercial food waste since 2015. My involvement on this project has been in data development and visualization. Jupyter Notebooks have helped me keep track of workflow steps and enabled easier iterative data development. ArcGIS Pro, Portal, and PowerBI have been used to visualize the data development work and create dashboards and reports to monitor the number of regional businesses participating in food-diversion measures. The benefits and drawbacks of each of these tools will be discussed in the context of this project.

Drone Selection and Comparison of GNSS vs Drone Contour Maps
Jack Walker, Oregon Tech
The Geomatics Department recently purchased a drone with the intent of generating “Survey Grade” geospatial information. This presentation will discuss the selection considerations which lead the department to purchase an Intel Falcon 8+ UAS. Some of the growing pains associated with this new geospatial tool will be discussed. The drone was used to create a 1-foot contour map of a 25 acre parcel and compare the contours to an RTK GPS map of the same area for an initial evaluation of whether the drone could create a survey grade product.

Automatic Surface Change Detection Using DSMs Derived from sUAS Images
Geoffrey Duh, Portland State University
Change detection performed on digital surface models (DSMs) from different time periods can reveal landscape structural changes caused by, for example, urban development or natural disasters. This presentation introduces a change detection tool that automatically identifies terrain surface changes using DSMs generated from images collected by commonly available small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS). Although UAS-based photogrammetry can generate high-resolution DSMs, the positional accuracy of the onboard GPS and the distortion introduced in the generation of DSMs by the Structure from Motion (SfM) method make aligning the DSMs for change detection impossible without manual image registration or georeferencing with ground control points (GCPs). The automatic surface change detection tool streamlines the geoprocessing tools available in ESRI ArcGIS Desktop to align and detect changes on the 3D surfaces created in Agisoft Metashape without using any GCP. The presentation also describes a case study using the sUAS images collected in October 2017 and early 2019 for detecting surface changes due to urban expansion in a suburban area in Beaverton, Oregon. The desktop computer tool could augment the utility of sUAS in emergency response applications.

Identifying Impervious Surfaces within Open Spaces in the "100-year Flood Plains" in Oregon State
Jonathan Tissandier and Will Nolan, University of Washington
This project identifies impervious surfaces in the "100-year flood plains" in Oregon State using a process developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Esri's ArcGIS Pro. NOAA's Office of Coastal Management (OCM) has developed a GIS workflow to facilitate Open Space Preservation (OSP) credit calculations. Under the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Community Rating System (CRS) Activity 420, communities are given credit for activities that reduce development in flood plains, potentially lowering rates for National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policy holders in that community. Activity 420 OSP is one of the most credit rich CRS activities. This workflow consists of subtracting impervious surface areas from potential open space areas. In the past, National, satellite-derived impervious surface data were coarse. Our team will now derive more accurate areas from newly acquired one-foot imagery for Oregon using image processing within ArcGIS Pro. The image processing involves extracting color bands to distinguish features, segmenting the imagery and classifying by broad land-use types, and reclassification into either pervious or impervious surfaces. Not only do these methods contribute to specific flood-risk management activities such as the CRS, but they also serve as a foundation for other flood-risk identification and mitigation projects in other critical areas in Oregon state.

Leftscapes: A Quantitative Analysis of Electoral Trends and Partisan Geographies
Matthew Gregg, Portland State University
The west coast – in popular imagination as well as every four years on electoral college maps – appears to be a stalwartly blue jewel in the Democratic party’s crown. But no region is a monolith. This presentation focuses on examining the diverse electorate of the west coast and attempts to analyze how they vote, why they vote and what their votes achieve for themselves and their communities. Quantitative methods such as Ordinary Least Squares linear regressions were leveraged, along with observational and comparative analysis, to help answer these questions, revealing both the embrace and the rejection of expected party line outcomes.

The invasion ecology of ivy in Portland's Forest Park
Eric Butler, Portland State University
I am presenting results from a study on the invasive plant ivy (Hedera spp.) in a large Pacific Northwest urban forest, looking at sources of invasion vulnerability and resistance on the plot and landscape scales and how these relate to the overall health of an important ecosystem under urban stress. The factors I analyze include canopy cover, soil condition, interiority, understory shrub abundance, and fragmentation by roads and trails, as well as the spatial patterns of ivy distribution in the park. My findings will likely have important implications for how ecosystem managers think about and manage ivy in urban landscapes.

Biketown at PSU
Lauren McKinney, Portland State University
Bike share has become an integral part of transportation in Portland, Oregon. Sponsored by Nike and Motivate, the iconic orange bikes are now being used in core areas of the city. This project, in collaboration with PSU’s Living Lab and transportation department, looked at ‘PSU related trips’ (trips that started or ended within the PSU boundary). This information was used to determine patterns of use through density mapping and route simulation (generated through the creation of a network with ESRI ArcGIS’ Network Analyst tools). The product shows origin/destination hot spots, possible routes, and streets that were simulated to receive the most use (through routing). This information can be used to advocate for new projects and hub locations in the future.

LiDAR Predictive Modeling of Kalapuya Mound Sites in Oregon
Tia Cody, Portland State University
This presentation details the development and testing of a LiDAR predictive model to identify precontact mound sites in the Calapooia Watershed in the Willamette Valley, Oregon. Mound sites are low-lying, generally ovoid, earthen features, which are considered culturally sensitive locations. Various sources and limited archaeological investigation suggest that some are burial sites. Little is known, however, about why and how people created these mound sites, how old they are, and how common mound sites are across northwest Oregon. Investigating and protecting these mound sites is a priority, however the watershed covers 234,000 acres and is 94% privately owned, making traditional archaeological survey impractical. These issues informed my primary question: where are these mounds located on the landscape? To address this problem, I used LiDAR data and aerial photography to develop a model that identifies probable mound locations in the watershed. This model takes advantage of the unique analytical capabilities of GIS as well as the malleability of LiDAR data. Development of the model revolved around the initial filtering of the LiDAR dataset so as to remove “noise” or non-mound features. From here the LiDAR dataset could be inverted and digitally flooded to identify “sinks” (e.g. inverted mounds). After the model was created, I tested the model by carrying out a pedestrian survey in the project area to assess the rate at which my model successfully identified mound sites.

Growing Old: Urban Design and an Ageing Population
Erin Leithead, University of Washington Tacoma
The city University Place, WA has invested in walkability and economic development over the past twenty years. What does a network analysis of their growing city center look like for seniors who constitute a large percentage of the surrounding residential area? Research includes interpolation of demographic age groups, network analysis of walkability between residential areas and sites of interest in the city core, and potential new access routes to improve pedestrian traffic around the city.

Traversing the Lents Neighborhood
Beth Lamb and Lindsay Palmquist, Portland State University
This project was partnered with the Green Lents staff. Green Lents is a non-profit, community focused organization in the Lents neighborhood. They work with community members in the Lents neighborhood to establish and develop projects related to safety and community resources.

Our project focused specifically on accessibility for pedestrians on foot and in wheelchairs in the Lents Neighborhood, both during the day and at night. Our first goal for this project was to quantify the experience of, and barriers to, mobility in the Lents neighborhood as a wheelchair user as compared to a pedestrian on foot. Our second goal was to find the safest, most well-lit walking routes in and around Lents during hours of darkness in order to reduce the safety risks to pedestrians on foot and in wheelchairs. This part of our project focused on street lights, where they exist, where they are needed, and which routes through the neighborhood utilize these lights as much as possible.

A guiding focus of this project was that of the Green Ring, a major Green Lents project that proposes "a loop of neighborhood streets and greenways" that connects popular Lents destinations. Currently, this loop needs transportation upgrades. Routes generated for this project looked at the traversability to and from these destinations in and around the Green Ring.

Link to presentation: 
http://pdxedu.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=e1b0b9416faa4a0190bde9f1e2eac610

SCRAM and GIS: Building smarter, safer communities
Matt Vaillant, Latitude Geographics
Smart communities connect people, government, data, and technology to drive insight and improve the well-being of their citizens. The Security Camera Resource and Mapping (SCRAM) initiative that’s gaining traction across the US is an excellent example of a smart community program.
Through this initiative, citizens are able to share the locations of security cameras at their homes and businesses with law enforcement to help these agencies better combat crime. The program brings citizens together with their government to make their communities smarter and safer through the sharing of information and the power of location intelligence.
In this presentation, we’ll highlight an innovative Geocortex solution that leverages Esri's ArcGIS technology to make it easy for jurisdictions to implement a SCRAM program and keep their communities safe.

TriMet’s Next Generation Trip Planner: a leading-edge, multimodal, open source tool for mobility management
Madeline Steele, TriMet
This spring, after two years of innovative, collaborative development work made possible by a grant from the Federal Transit Administration, TriMet will release its Next Generation Trip Planner to the public. This project built off two pre-existing open source tools: OpenTripPlanner (OTP) and the Pelias geocoder. A key enhancement to OTP is integration of shared-used mobility modes, such as Lyft, Uber, BIKETOWN, and car2go, with transit in individual trips. These mixed-mode trips help solve the “last mile problem” by improving people’s ability to travel door-to-door. Further, these multimodal trips are faster than transit alone in many cases, and they are cheaper than taking a Lyft or Uber alone. A deep link in the itinerary results can send the trip information (origin & destination) to the Lyft or Uber application for quick booking. Other major improvements to OTP include a modern, mobile-friendly new user interface, on-the-fly adjustments to trips based on real-time transit vehicle locations, and safer, more comfortable pedestrian routing. Pelias has been enhanced as well; it now supports searches for transit points of interest and intersections, allows for custom boosting of data types, and is much easier to set up and host. The project also included enhancements to OpenStreetMap data and the RLIS Master Address File. The final result is a comprehensive Trip Planner and a robust geocoder that are powered by open data and can be replicated throughout the world.

Cycling Specific Navigation: The Data and Beyond
Christopher Moravec, Dymaptic
In a world where routing is built for cars, can a navigation app show us which roads are most well suited for cycling?
In Portland, there is quality bike infrastructure of many types: dedicated, protected, and shared bike lanes, greenways, and more. Routing apps often treat all bike lanes as equal, when those of us that cycle know they’re not. Cities and municipalities track the location of these lanes as they do other roads, but they don't track which ones are safer or cyclist preferred.
While it's possible to extract some of this information from existing sources, these sources carry their own biases. We believe we can leverage these data sources to create a cycling map that reduces anxiety and makes cycling as a primary mode of transportation more accessible.
Modern routing apps fall far short of helping make cycling more inclusive to users of different comfort levels, but the technology exists. Given a bike-dedicated routing application we could easily extract helpful information from more experienced cyclists, such as where they deviate from the suggested route. We could also help new cyclists get around more comfortably by avoiding hills, prioritizing certain paths, and generally helping them leverage the bike infrastructure in a better way.
Dymaptic is integrating voice recognition and traditional routing to cultivate a useful, user-friendly navigational solution. We're combining the most recent advances in A.I. to build a navigation app for the future, today. Join us.

Presentation: https://dymaptic.com/dy-presentations/cycling-nav-gis-in-action-2019.html