Q u a r t e r l y N e w s l e t t e r o f t h e T e n n e s s e e G e o g r a p h i c I n f o r m a t i o n C o u n c i l , I n c .

TNGIC Today T o p r o m o t e e t h i c a l , p r o f e s s i o n a l a n d t e c h n i c a l e x c e l l e n c e w i t h i n t h e

T e n n e s s e e G e o g r a p h i c C o m m u n i t y

Letter from the President

Greetings TNGIC Community!

Happy Summer. I hope you are staying cool in the tremen-

dous Tennessee heat. I cannot believe my time as TNGIC

President has come and gone. It flew by in the blink of an

eye. I’m proud of what we accomplished and look forward

to all of the great things that lie ahead under Dave’s lead-

ership.

During my time as President, I tried to convey a consistent

message about getting involved in TNGIC. We’re offering

more and more Experience GIS courses. These are 100% developed, organized and taught

by TNGIC members. Please ask how you can get involved. I’m also a huge advocate for be-

ing active in your local school systems. Young students need to be exposed to mapping and

geospatial technology. It’s one of the most powerful ways we can build the future of

TNGIC. Now is the time to start thinking about ways to get involved when school resumes in

a few months.

I want to thank you for the amazing opportunity to serve as TNGIC President. I love this or-

ganization and strongly believe in our mission. If you are interested in serving on the TNGIC

board of directors, or becoming involved on a committee, please contact any of the current

board members. Becoming active in TNGIC is an amazing experience that is well worth your

time. I’ll leave you with my favorite saying that I always try to live by “All you can take with

you is that which you've given away.” Thanks again!

Marc -Marc Pearson, TNGIC Past-President

Points of Interest

TNGIC Conference 2016, p. 2-17

TNGIC Member Spotlight, P. 21-22

Calendar of Events, P. 23

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2016 Vol. 4

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2016 TNGIC Conference Recap

The 2016 TNGIC Conference returned to the Chattanooga Convention Center after

a 9 year hiatus. Chattanooga is a destination with an outstanding convention cen-

ter and hotels, great restaurants, and attractions like the Tennessee Aquarium and

Chattanooga Lookouts baseball.

By the conference logo above you can see that UAS was the theme of this year’s

gathering. Though UAS was featured, we had a variety of great content for all.

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We offered a comprehensive agenda of presentations for all fields in GIS. Our list includ-

ed presentations such as managing the Shelby County traffic signal infrastructure with

GIS, using ESRI Story Maps for public outreach and Atlantic’s LiDAR Hydro Derivative Pro-

ject to name a few. With our wide array of topics it is certain attendees walked away with

a few “gems” to take home from their experience.

Several pre-conference trainings were offered and well attended including TNGIC’s Experi-

ence GIS in Tennessee I and II courses, a half day course on the GISCI Certification Pro-

gram (GISP), and a half day workshop on Extracting Value from LiDAR Data.

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Our opening day keynote was Woolpert senior vice president Jeff Lovin. Jeff brought good

words about LiDAR, UAS and the investment Woolpert has made into those markets.

State GIS director Dennis Pederson brought us all up to speed on state GIS coordination

and the progress of LiDAR data development in Tennessee.

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We had another great group of vendors in our exhibit hall this year. Thanks to all vendors

for sharing their time and information about their products with our attendees!

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The Map Gallery is a staple of the TNGIC conference and this years’ entries did not disap-

point. Thank you to all that contributed and congratulations to our winners!

Map Gallery Awards

Best Student Project

1st place – Nyssa Hunt - Land Cover Trends in Hyla gratiosa Presence at Watershed Scale

in Tennessee

2nd place – Becky Place – Cookeville Crime Analysis

Best Analysis

1st Place – Chuck Sutherland - Predictive Modeling of Cave Entrances Utilizing Hyperspec-

tral Imagery and Digital Elevation Models

2nd Place – Charlie Mix – A Watershed Moment

Best Cartographic Design

1st Place – Will Fontanez – Knox County Wall map

2nd Place – Shawn Anderson – Mind Your Own Annex! A History of Annexation in Tipton

County, TN Since 1998

Best Online Map/Story Map

1st Place – Rob Ealy – Mount Julliet: Our History of Growth and Development

2nd Place – Andrew Mindermann – Tennessee Valley Water Trails

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The Map Gallery is a staple of the TNGIC conference and this years’ entries did not disap-

point. Thank you to all that contributed and congratulations to our winners!

Will Fontanez

1st Place

Best Cartographic Design

Nyssa Hunt

1st Place

Best Student Project

Shawn Anderson

2nd Place—Best Cartographic Design

Rob Ealy

1st Place

Best Story Map

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Andrew Mindermann

2nd Place—Best Story Map

Becky Place

2nd Place—Best Student Project

Austin Ramsey

4H Map Contest Winner

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The TNGIC Board of Directors is the governing body of TNGIC and is elected by the gen-

eral membership at the annual conference. Newly elected Board of Directors will serve

a term of 3 years. We elected 4 new board members during the conference in Chatta-

nooga. Congratulations to our new Board members and thank you for your willingness

to serve!

Kevin Bingham, GISP

GIS Manager - Town of Collierville Kevin Bingham is the GIS manager for the Town of Collierville and

has been in this role for the past six years. He graduated with a B.S.

in Geography from the University of Memphis in 1997. He worked in

local government at Collierville from 2000 through 2003, in the pri-

vate sector as a consultant at EnSafe, Inc. from 2003 through 2009,

and in the federal government at the Army Corps of Engineers from

2009 through 2010. In 2010 he left the Army Corps of Engineers to

become the GIS Manager for Collierville.

Throughout the past several years Collierville GIS staff has worked diligently to leverage advanc-

es in spatial technology to better serve our staff and citizens. This includes the implementation

of web mapping technology, GPS data collection, mobile (tablet, phone) data collection and

maintenance, application development, and integration with other Town business systems.

These changes led to Collierville being awarded ESRI’s Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) award

in 2015.

Kevin has been an active participant in TNGIC for approximately 15 years. He has served as the

vendor coordinator for the state-wide conference and given several presentations at the state-

wide conference and the West TN regional forum. He has also been active in the Memphis Area

Geographic Information Council (MAGIC) user group, serving as a Board member for several

terms and actively participating in and helping organize the annual MAGIC conference.

Kevin lives in Lakeland with his wife, Anna, and their three boys. When not serving the citizens

of Collierville, Kevin is active with his church family, enjoys working in the vegetable garden, and

loves spending time with his family hunting, fishing, and playing in the dirt at their family farm in

Hardeman County.

Newly Elected TNGIC Board of Directors

TNGIC Board of Directors Nominees continued on page 7

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Tim Buchanan, GISP

GIS coordinator, TN Department of Environment & Conser-

vation Tim Buchanan is the GIS coordinator for the Tennessee Department of Envi-

ronment & Conservation (TDEC) and is responsible for the development, im-

plementation, and administration of TDEC's agency-wide GIS. He is also re-

sponsible for developing Maps and applications that are integrated with

TDEC's core business functions.

Tim began his GIS and TNGIC experience almost 20 years ago as the Sr.

Software Developer at Southern Digital Services tasked with "putting our

maps on the Web". In 2005, he moved to TN State Government as a GIS

Analyst in OIR-GIS Services, where he played a major role on the TNMap Project team which was

tasked with designing, building, and maintaining Tennessee's first enterprise-wide GIS .

Tim earned his B.B.A. in Information Systems from MTSU and began his professional IT career in

1990 as a mainframe programmer. His "geek & nerd" classifications were bestowed for his efforts

in the early 1980s for writing computer programs just for fun AND also being in the band for 8

years. He later received an upgrade to "uber-nerd" in 2008 but... no honorarium check.

Tim has been active in TNGIC for many years as a presenter, conference volunteer, training assis-

tant, and GIS advocate. He is also a certified GIS Professional (GISP).

Kurt Butefish

Tennessee Geographic Alliance, Inc.

Kurt Butefish is an active member of the TNGIC Board and an active

member of the TNGIC Education Committee. Kurt has undergraduate

and master’s degrees in Geography from the University of Tennessee

and worked at Intergraph Corp. in Huntsville, AL for 14 years before

taking his current position as Executive Director of the Tennessee

Geographic Alliance (TGA), a position he has held for over 15

years. The TGA is a not-for-profit housed in the Geography Depart-

ment at the University of Tennessee that is funded in part by the Na-

tional Geographic Education Foundation. The mission of the Alliance is to advance geographic lit-

eracy across the state. Since 2012, a major focus of the TGA has been to bring awareness to

stakeholders about the importance of robust Geography content in Tennessee’s K-12 curricu-

lum. In 2013, much of Geography content was removed from Tennessee’s Social Studies curricu-

lum and Kurt is working diligently with stakeholders (TNGIC, Cumberland URISA, State Department

of Education, State Board of Education, and State Legislature) to reverse this situation. Another

focus of the organization is to train teachers of all disciplines in the effective use of geospatial

technologies in their classrooms.

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Suzanne White, GISP

State of Tennessee, Strategic Technology Solutions,

GIS Services Suzanne has over 26 years of GIS experience and currently works for

the State of Tennessee, Strategic Technology Solutions, GIS Ser-

vices. Previous employers have included Amec Earth and Environ-

mental, Inc., the State of South Carolina, and The Center for the Pro-

tection, Utilization, and Management of Water Resources at Tennes-

see Technological University. During her career, Suzanne has been

a project manager, GIS manager, developer, instructor, and a GIS

analyst. She earned her BS degree and a MS degree both from Ten-

nessee Technological University. She was also an ESRI Authorized Instructor for six years.

For the past 17 years, Suzanne has enjoyed being a TNGIC member and served as the TNGIC Presi-

dent in 2008 and 2013. She has served TNGIC in various other roles including two terms as a

board member, TNGIC conference coordinator, and education sub-committee chair. Suzanne has

been actively involved in facilitating the TNGIC training “Experience GIS in Tennessee” courses.

She is also a recipient of the TNGIC GIS Champion Award. Since 2000, she has coordinated the

Middle Tennessee Regional TNGIC meeting.

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TNGIC president Marc Pearson

presents the 2015/2016 GIS

Champion award to Bill Avant.

Conference coordinator Kristen John-

sey received a standing ovation for

her work presenting this years con-

ference and was also presented a

plaque of appreciation from TNGIC

president Marc Pearson.

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Jason Duke receives the inaugural TNGIC Lifetime Achievement Award which was renamed

the Jason Duke Award by outgoing president Marc Pearson. Jason received the award for over

20 years of continuous service to TNGIC as a multiple term board member and officer.

Jason photographed with some of his current and former GIS students that attended this

years conference.

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Our second day keynote, Susan Marlow from Stantec, took us into the

future with an update on how the world’s transportation industry is

undergoing major changes. The connected / autonomous vehicle is

said to be the biggest transformation since the interstate highways

were built. Susan outlined a vision for the future and discussed how

these changes (i.e. sending your kids to school in a self-driving car)

are closer than we think! I believe there was a flying car reference

and some discussion about the Jetsons!

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The 2016 TNGIC Board of Directors

From left to right: Kurt Snider, Marc Pearson (past president), Judy Manners, Kurt Butefish (secretary),

Kim Denney, Tim Buchanan, Suzanne White, Dave McMillen (president), Jason Duke (treasurer), Kev-

in Bingham, Bill Avant (vice-president). Not present: Rick Stieg

Dave McMillen

takes the reins as

TNGIC president

and outlines goals

for his term.

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Networking opportunities were highlighted with our Wednesday night social at the Water-

house Pavilion at Miller Plaza, just a few blocks south of the convention center. The

evening featured great food and music provided by Mountain Cove.

Kim Denney of Atlantic has established the cornhole tournament at the social as a must

participate event.

Sam Moffat has run the pre-conference golf scramble fundraiser for several years and

did another outstanding job organizing this year’s event. The tournament was held at the

picturesque Signal Mountain Golf and Country Club. Along with a challenging layout,

players experienced fantastic views.

Photo credit: Bamber Photography—www.bamberphotography.net

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EXPERIENCE GIS IN TE NNESSEE

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Experience GIS in Tennessee

Introduction and Intermediate Editions

Ready to take your skills to the next level?

Check the TNGIC website for the next offering near you!

Intro

Geodatabase fundamentals

Geoprocessing essentials

Intro to Cartographic Design

Intermediate

Geodatabase Design and Creation

Spatial Data Processing— The next step Spatial Analysis—Working with imagery ArcGIS Online—The fundamentals

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2016 TNGIC GOLD SPON SORS

2016 TNGIC Gold Sponsors

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TNGIS J U NE 2016

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Be sure to check out the

Tennessee GIS Clearinghouse!

Now serving LiDAR datasets for select areas!

www.tngis.org

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TNGIC MEMBER SPOTLIG HT

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Barbara Marlin Barbara Marlin, GIS Manager Rutherford County Office of Information Technology

Barbara is originally from Clinton, Tennessee but has been living in Murfreesboro since

1988. Her journey to Murfreesboro was driven by her love for music as she accepted a

Music Scholarship at Middle Tennessee State University. From 1991 to 2000, Barbara

landed an opportunity to become a member of a band in Nashville playing the clarinet

and piano. Although her love of music never ceased, Barbara recognized that she did

not want to pursue a forever career in the Music Industry; therefore, she shifted her fo-

cus by obtaining her Bachelors of Science in Geoscience.

The Stage to the Office of Information Technology

Barbara was still beating away the paparazzi when she became a Dispatcher for Ruther-

ford County Animal Services in 1996. After 4 years as a Dispatcher, Barbara was offered

a position in Rutherford County’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) as Microsoft

Trainer. Two years passes and a decision was made to install an SVE server. Due to Bar-

bara’s direct experience and knowledge of mapping applications from her Dispatcher

days as well as her understanding of the OIT’s database, Rutherford County asked that

she manage the beginning of what would become one of the advanced and in-depth plat-

forms in the southeast. Barbara, without hesitation, accepted the challenge of managing

the SVE server and next steps of the OIT. Little did she know, a seed was planted that

would eventually lead to her current position as GIS Manager of Rutherford County OIT.

What is GIS? The Rest is History.

“My boss, Brian Robertson (Director of OIT) approached me one day and asked if I would

be interested in GIS…I thought to myself, what is GIS and what am I about to get myself

into…”

From Microsoft Trainer to Mapper to GIS Manager, Barbara found her niche. Mr. Robert-

son, Barbara and a team of nearly 20 technology professionals strive hard to support the

County IT department in one of the nation’s fastest growing counties. As stated on the

OIT website, their responsibilities and services include GIS, a government access cable

channel, an enterprise network, support of over 1,000 devices in 30+ departments, and

database / programming for 30+ databases.

Continued on Page 21

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TNGIC MEMBER SPOTLIG HT

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Utilizing GIS to Make Better Decisions

Barbara and her team think outside of the box. “Our office has come a long way. We try

to stay on top of the technology advancements and are always looking for ways in which

we can utilize GIS in order to make better decisions for the County as well as the commu-

nity as a whole. All of this, of course, would not be possible without the continued sup-

portive leadership from the County Commission and Mayor. Collectively, we ask our-

selves, are we making better decisions with the tools we employ, the data we capture,

the analysis we perform and public products/applications we release? To us, the answer

should always be yes. If not, than we are not doing our jobs.”

Motivation Station

When TNGIC asked about awards or specific achievements received over the years, Bar-

bara replied, “Our team is not driven so much by awards or recognition, it is more about

our accomplishments such as a recent project we were asked to be a part of for our first

responders.” Barbara received a call from an EMS contact asking if they could support

them in a request case specifically related to a need for funding in order to install a new

ambulance station or perhaps at least add another unit to an existing station. Without

hesitation, Barbara and her team accepted the challenge and went to work. The Ruther-

ford County OIT GIS team performed analysis of all 911 calls from last year, categorized

the calls by response times, locations of calls, etc. These calls were all based in Ruther-

ford County’s three busiest zones. By providing accurate and detailed analytics rooted

by GIS, Barbara and her team equipped these first responders with the data needed in

order to receive the Commission’s approval to fund the EMS initiative.

Barbara stated, “Helping EMS gain approval for this request is the type of accomplish-

ment that motivates us.”

Barbara attended her first TNGIC Conference in 2002. Served on the Board of Directors

from 2004 to 2007.

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS J U NE 2016

Calendar of GIS Events

Experience GIS in Tennessee

October 6, 2016—Jackson, TN

East TNGIC GIS Forum

October 6-7, 2016—University of Tennessee Plant

Biotech building

West TNGIC GIS Forum

October 26, 2016—Jackson, TN

TNGIC Middle Tennessee Forum

November 28-29, 2016—Montgomery Bell State

Park

MAGIC

November 16-17— Memphis, TN

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TNGIC.ORG

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When was the last time you were on TNGIC.org?

JOBS

REGIONAL

FORUMS

MEMBERSHIP

INFO TIPS

&

TRICKS

NEW

25

ET Map Info Users Group

Contact Reid Gryder at 865-482-7919 for

quarterly meetings in the Knoxville/Oak Ridge

area. Also at GryderRk@aol.com

Geo-spatial Information Network of East

Tennessee (geoNET)

Regional GIS users group serving the 16-county

region of the East Tennessee Development

District (ETDD) centered around Knoxville.

Non-software specific group that meets

bi-monthly. Contact Blake Sartin at

blake.sartin@tys.org or contact him at

865-342-3027.

OpenStreetMap Chattanooga Group

A group that is improving the OSM Map in Chat-

tanooga. Learn about GIS, Open Source GIS,

GPS, and maps....and OpenStreetMap. Con-

tact Randal Hale at

rjhale@northrivergeographic.com

TN State & Federal GIS Users Group

The group meets twice each year with one meet-

ing in Cookeville and the other in the Nashville

area. The focus is on statewide GIS issues re-

quiring multiple partners at a State and Federal

level. Contact Jason Duke at 931-525-4986 or

at jason_duke@fws.gov for more information.

Cumberland Chapter of URISA

Contact: Louie Greenwell, Treasurer

Serving Kentucky and Tennessee's GIS Com-

munity, The Cumberland Chapter of URISA is a

collaborative community of GIS professionals

with a local focus and an international per-

spective. Our mission is to encourage the ad-

vancement of geospatial knowledge through

education, professional development, ethical

practice and advocacy. This chapter formed in

2013 has annual meetings and local work-

shops.

West Tennessee GIS User Group

Contact Shawn Anderson at 901-476-0234 or at

sanderson@tiptonco.com. The group meets annually

usually in Jackson to discuss GIS events and activities

in West TN.

Middle Tennessee GIS Users Group

Contact Suzanne White, email Suzanne.white@tn.gov

or telephone 615-253-4799 for meeting dates. The

group has been meeting annually in the fall for many

years to discuss GIS events and activities in Middle

TN

North East Tennessee GIS Users Group

(NETGIS)

Regional GIS users group with membership open to

any person having interest in North East Tennessee

and surrounding areas. Contact David Light at

dlight@eastman.com or call him at 423-229-2189.

Clarksville—Montgomery County (CMC) GIS Users

Group

Contact Mike Wilson, GIS Manager at 931-221-7500

or wilsonm@apsu.edu for information.

Website: gisweb.apsu.edu

Memphis Area Geographic Information Council

(MAGIC)

MAGIC was established in 2003 with the purpose to

stimulate and encourage the advancement of GIS in

the Mid-South Region. Contact Justin Abart at

magicmemphis@gmail.com for more information.

Crossville GIS Users Group

Regional GIS Users group located in Crossville, TN.

Contact Rob Harrison at (931) 484-5535 or at

reharrison@charter.net for more information.

USER GROUPS J U NE 2016

GIS User Groups in Tennessee

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Vacant, Chair

Kurt Snider, Board Liaison

JOIN TODAY J U NE 2016

TNGIC Committees Sign Up Today!!

Communication Committee Our purpose is to sustain effective communication between the TNGIC membership,

the Board of Directors and the geospatial community. We produce “TNGIC Today”, the quarterly newsletter and strive to improve the communication throughout TNGIC through:

• Newsletter • Email New Members

Membership Outreach

Membership Brochure

Education & Outreach Committee The goal of the Education & Outreach Committee is to foster educational opportunities and promote awareness of TNGIC throughout the geospatial community. These opportunities may include: Training

Virtual campus discount link

Metadata training

GISP

Academic contacts lists

Membership map / stats

Promote / support regional meetings

Student / university outreach

• Get class curriculums

• Continuing education / graduate courses

• Invite participation at conference

• Post conference scholarship announcements

• Get school links / logos for TNGIC.org

Promote GIS day

Local government / planning outreach

YOU can provide leadership and participation by helping with one of TNGIC’s com-

mittees. Four of the five committees do not require travel. Please contact the com-mittee chair if you are interesting in joining.

2 6

Tim Prather, Chair

Kurt Butefish, Board Liaison

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JOIN TODAY J U NE 2016

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TNGIC Committees Sign Up Today!!

Web & Data Committee The goal of the Web & Data Committee is to maintain a web presence for TNGIC and facilitate data sharing and distribution for the geospatial community.

Web master

Website link check

Data sharing TNGIS.org

Metadata server TNmetadata.org

Need data for TNGIS (shape, kml, geodatabase, image)

Check for updates to data served on TNGIS

County GIS contact list

Internet mapping sites

GIS jobs (website)

Conference Planning Committee The purpose of the Conference Planning Committee is to organize, plan and facilitate the TNGIC Annual GIS Conference. This committee handles all of the details and decisions that are required to make this a successful event for TNGIC members. Responsibilities include:

Conference coordination

Agenda/Program creation

Regonline for member registration

Student Volunteers/Student Scholarships

Training Classes

Map Gallery and Poster Contest

TNGIC Sponsorship

Exhibit Hall/Vendors

Food, Socials, Raffles, Hotels, etc…

Marc Pearson, Chair

David McMillen

Board Liaison

Bill Avant, Chair

Jason Duke,

Board Liaison

28

The opportunities listed by no means limit the scope of the committees, each is as unique as its members. The committees are designed to be flexible so that what you have to offer will fit in—somewhere.

Contact a Committee Chair Today!!!

JOIN TODAY J U NE 2016

2 8

TNGIC Committees Sign Up Today!!

29

The Tennessee Geographic Council was established in 1994 to improve the links between various groups working with GIS in Tennessee. At present, there are over 400 members representing a variety of organi-zations. Tennessee Geographic Information Council (TNGIC) is a non-profit group of Geographic Information System users, designers and those who influence the use of GIS in federal state and local governments as well as private sector representatives within the State of Tennessee. TNGIC holds quarterly board meetings and an annual general membership meeting. The annual meeting includes panel discussions, work-shops, vendor displays and poster displays. Another chan-nel for communication among GIS professionals across the state is the quarterly newsletter.

JOIN TODAY J U NE 2016

2 9

TNGIC, Inc.

P.O. Box 330906

Nashville, TN 37203

Write for TNGIC Today!! Email the Editor, kurt.snider@gmail.com

to submit articles or for more information.

www.tngic.org