FALL 2014
ESRI - MU G
. PENNSYLVANIA GETS GEOSPATIAL ADVISORY BOARD
GIS HUMOR
Why does west
longitude need to
be cheered up?
Because its always
negative!
MUG-TIVITIES
Esri-MUG 2014 Annual
Conference to be held
December 1-4 2014 at
the Baltimore Hilton
Elections for Esri-MUG
2015 Officers will be held
during the Annual Confer-
ence. Remember to vote!
Esri-MUG is planning an
Education focused meet-
ing for February, details
forthcoming!
N EWSL ET TER
By Andrew R. Kuder
Some good news for those nation, and efficiency of geo- Upon reviewing the legisla-
geospatial users and advo- spatial policy and technology tion, it appears the main
cates in Pennsylvania who issues among federal, state, goal of creating the geospa-
have been trying to establish and local government agen- tial board is consistency.
a geospatial advisory board - cies, academic institutions, This consistency begins with
Senate Bill 771 creates a and the private sector (SB creating statewide data
State Geospatial Coordinat- 771). standards and reviewing
ing Board. The bill was sent possible ways to incorporate
to Governor Tom Corbetts The advisory board will con- geospatial technology to
office on October 16, 2014 sist of 27 members, both disseminate information to
for his signature; on October voting and non-voting, and citizens and increase effi-
22, 2014, Corbett signed include public sector, private ciency in government.
the bill into law, making it sector, academic, and non-
Act 178 of 2014. profit representatives. Vot- The advisory board will also
ing members include a monitor national trends in
Prior to the bills passage, broad range of state govern- geospatial technology to
Pennsylvania was one of ment appointees, represent- identify potential areas of
only three states without a atives from county and mu- interest for further research.
geospatial advisory council. nicipal levels of government, This broad array of geospa-
This legislation, once signed, and non-profit, professional tial technology advocates
will provide advice and rec- organizations such as the PA participating on the advisory
ommendations to the Gover- Mapping and Geographic board will likely be beneficial
nor and the citizens of the Information Consortium in further expanding the use
Commonwealth on geospa- (PAMAGIC) and the PA Socie- of GIS technology through-
tial issues and provide uni- ty of Land Surveyors. out the Commonwealth.
form data standards, coordi-
For additional information, including a full list of voting and non-voting members,
as well as administrative descriptions and responsibilities, review the full bill here:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2013&sInd=0&body=S&type=B&bn=0771
Without geography, youre nowhere.
Jimmy Buffett, Singer
 ESRI-MUG NEWSLETTER
PRESIDENTS CORNER
The upcoming Mid-Atlantic
User Conference (MUC)
promises something for
just about every GIS practi-
tioner. Workshops, ses-
sions, interest group meet-
ings, and speakers will fill
four days of early Decem-
ber in Baltimore. We will
hear from Allen Carroll,
Esris Storytelling Program
Manager, and we will also
have a special lunchtime
session on GIS certifica-
tion.
Several pre-conference
workshops are planned for
Monday afternoon, provid-
ing a deep-dive into topics
such as the new WebApp
Builder and ArcGIS Online.
I hope you will be able to
attend this information-
packed week.
There is a new start and
end to the MUC this year.
The Conference sessions
will be bookended by a
pair of Special Interest
Group (SIG) meetings. The
Water/Wastewater SIG will
kick things off Monday
morning. All of you work-
ing in this vital discipline
are invited to attend this
SIG meeting at no charge.
There will be lots of good
information on the Esri
offerings for water and
http://www.esri.com/events/mid-atlantic to register today!!
wastewater as well as
some user stories. Im
looking forward to hearing
from some of my col-
leagues at WSSC on Mon-
day.
The Educators SIG will
start at 2:00 on Thursday,
and is free of charge to
those in the education
community. The MUG
Board has been discussing
education-specific initia-
tives for much of this year,
and we hope to use this as
momentum for a special
February meeting. We will
be providing more details
on this meeting during and
after the MUC.
User paper sessions and
technical workshops fill
the schedule on Tuesday,
Wednesday, and Thursday.
The user presentations
cover a wide range of dis-
ciplines and topics, and
you should be able to find
several sessions that will
directly apply to your use
of GIS.
In addition, Esri has ex-
panded the number of
technical workshops dur-
ing the Conference, provid-
ing everyone an opportuni-
ty to learn about the latest
technologies and offer-
Page 2
ings. The user sessions the parking fees in the city,
will give you the Why and you can drive to BWI or
What of important and Hunt Valley, park your car,
innovative projects in our and take light rail to your
region, and the workshops hotel and the conference. I
will provide the How to came in from Hunt Valley
enable you to advance last year, and will be tak-
your own projects. Thurs- ing MARC to BWI and then
day will wrap things up light rail again this year.
with a special Peer-to-Peer
session, followed by the The Conference will be a
Educators SIG meeting. great time to learn, net-
work, and socialize among
Some of you may be ask- old and new friends. If you
ing Why Baltimore for the havent been to the MUC
MUC? The MUG attempts yet, please plan on trying it
to move our other meet- out; you wont be disap-
ings around the Mid- pointed.
Atlantic region, to provide
some local convenience at If youve attended before,
least some of the time. there are some new things
to try out. Carve out as
For the MUC, Baltimore much time as you can in
presents a great conver- the first week of December
gence of facilities and ac- for a special blend of train-
cessibility. The Down- ing and professional ad-
town / Inner Harbor area vancement.
provides several suitable
venues to choose from
each year. Baltimore has
rail options from Amtrak,
MARC, and light rail,
providing direct access to
most of the metro areas.
Interstates 95, 70, and
83, and the highways they
connect to, spread out
throughout the MUG cover-
age area.
Chris Markel, GISP
Esri-MUG President
If you dont want to pay
 FALL 2014
ESRI UC 2014 PERSPECTIVE
Brendan Wesdock, MCP., GISP
GeoDecisions President
This past July, I was fortu-
nate enough to spend an-
other week in beautiful
downtown San Diego, Cali-
fornia, with thousands of
other GeoGeeks. Yeah,
we all love this stuff, and
even the most stuffy busi-
GIS DAY IS NOVEMBER 19!!
GIS Day provides an inter-
national forum for users of
geographic information
systems (GIS) technology
to demonstrate real-world
applications that are mak-
ing a difference in our so-
ciety.
The first formal GIS Day
took place in 1999. Esri
ness executive cant seem
to get past the overwhelm-
ing feeling of being sur-
rounded by almost 15,000
of your closest GeoF-
riends.
We always look forward to
rubbing elbows with Esris
finest, innovative compa-
nies, and brilliant individu-
als who all live, breathe,
and eat Geospatial.
But why do we expend the
effort and cost? The Esri
UC is best described in a
few simple words - net-
work, share, meet, speak,
and learn. Our diverse
team travels to San Diego
president and co-founder
Jack Dangermond credits
Ralph Nader with being
the person who inspired
the creation of GIS Day.
He considered GIS Day a
good initiative for people
to learn about geography
and the uses of GIS. He
wanted GIS Day to be a
grassroots effort and open
every year to share, dis- During the Summit, Esri
cover, provide technical
information and meet with
partners and clients.
We also attend special
interest group meetings in
our respective business
areas and participate in changed the landscape of
industry summits. Every
year that I attend I try to
focus on a different indus-
try sector that our firm
serves.
This year I had the oppor-
tunity to attend the Esri
Business Summit, which
took place on the Satur-
day and Sunday before
the Esri UC kicked off.
to everyone to participate.
GIS Day is celebrated the
Wednesday of National
Geography Awareness
Week (which is itself cele-
brated the third full week
of November). Hundreds
of GIS Day events are
planned this year across
the globe on nearly every
continent. Many agencies
and organizations through-
out the Esri-MUG area
observe GIS Day by host-
ing local events that high-
Find out more! http://www.gisday.com/
Page 3
and its partners discuss
ways that location analyt-
ics has affected their busi-
ness. Speakers from nu-
merous industries discuss
their success with location
analytics and how GIS has
what and how they do
business.
All in all, the Esri UC is well
worth my time and energy.
Next year, come join more
than 15,000 of your clos-
est GeoGeek friends in
discovering, sharing, and
innovating.
light GIS and their efforts
in utilizing GIS.
Two such events are orga-
nized by the Delaware GIS
Day Committee in Dover,
Delaware, and Penn State
University, in University
Park, Pennsylvania.
See the article on Page 5
for more details on the
local events mentioned
above as well as a listing
of events registered on
gisday.com.
 ESRI-MUG NEWSLETTER
LOCAL ESRI-MUG AREA GIS DAY SPOTLIGHT
The Delaware GIS Day
Committee (http://
mygeoworld.org/news-and
-events/de-gis-day) will
host 300 5th grade stu-
dents registered for a GIS
field trip event at the Air
Mobility Command (AMC)
Museum in Dover on No-
vember 19, 2014. These
students, from five differ-
ent schools, throughout
the state, will get to expe-
rience GIS in a variety of
activities.
Groups of students will be
escorted by GIS Profes-
sionals acting as tour
guides to different sta-
Students inside the Earth
Balloon at DEs GIS Day
tions, each providing a
different GIS experience.
Some of the stations in-
clude: a hands-on GIS lab
exercise illustrating how
Magellan crossed the At-
lantic Ocean; entering into
the world itself, a 20-foot
diameter Earth Balloon to
learn something special
about each continent; get-
ting soil savvy with Dela-
ware soils; a GIS Scaven-
ger Hunt; Map Jeopardy;
Watersheds and GIS; how
Sussex Paramedics (DE)
use GIS, and; tracing dif-
ferent layers over aerial
photography.
The AMC museum is also
included offering instruc-
tion on flight simulation
which uses digital map-
ping to teach new pilots, a
trip up the control tower,
as well as a tour of the
museum.
The DE GIS Day couldn't
hold this event without
their sponsors: Air Mobility
Command Museum, Arte-
sian Water, Delasoft, KCI
Technologies, Inc., Dela-
ware Electric Cooperative,
University of Delaware,
Department of Geography,
GeoDecisions, JMT Tech-
nology Group, and Tide-
water Utilities, Inc.
The Penn State University
Libraries and the Depart-
ment of Geography are co-
sponsoring a GIS Day
event to raise awareness
of geospatial information,
the many possibilities and
opportunities of geograph-
ic information systems
(GIS) and activities related
to GIS at University Park.
The days activities will be
held in Pattee and Paterno
Libraries (at Penn States
Campus) and include:
-- Information Fair, 1 to 4
p.m., in the Mann Assem-
bly Room, 103 Paterno
Library, with demonstra-
tions of real-world applica-
tions of GIS that make a
difference in society.
-- Poster Display, 1 to 5
p.m., Franklin Atrium, first
floor Pattee Library, a
showcase of GIS research
activities at Penn State.
-- GIS Networking Recep-
tion, 4 to 5 p.m., Social
Page 4
Sciences Library, 208 Pat-
erno Library, with refresh-
ments and an opportunity
to meet and greet each
other. This is an opportuni-
ty to meet and greet the
GIS services team for the
Data Learning Center.
Groups represented at
this years event will in-
clude Pennsylvania Spatial
Data Access (PASDA), Ge-
ographic Information Anal-
ysis (GIA), Core of the So-
cial Science Research
Institute (SSRI), geodesign
graduate degree pro-
grams, Office of the Physi-
cal Plant (OPP) and groups
from the Department of
Geography, such as the
Gould Center, GIS Coali-
tion and the Online Geo-
spatial Program.
The program is free and
open to the public, and
students, staff and faculty
are urged to attend to
learn about GIS and its
many applications.
 FALL 2014
LOCAL ESRI-MUG AREA GIS DAY SPOTLIGHT
Attendees at the Rutgers University 2013 GIS Day!
Rutgers University is
pleased to be celebrating
their fourth annual GIS
Awareness Day 2014 at
their New Brunswick, NJ
campus! The event will
feature lightning talks,
ESRI-MUG AREA GIS DAY EVENTS
The following is a list of
additional GIS Day events
that are currently regis-
tered on GISDay.com. For
additional information,
please contact the individ-
ual organization or agency
sponsoring the event.
County of Burlington, NJ
Mount Laurel, NJ
Philadelphia Gas Works
Philadelphia, PA
Lancaster County
Manheim, PA
Harrisburg Area Communi-
ty College
Harrisburg, PA
posters, networking oppor-
tunities...and refresh-
ments!
Learn how maps, GPS and
satellite imagery are used
for things like: moose acci-
Bucknell University
Lewisburg, PA
Clarion University
Clarion, PA
Seneca Resources
Pittsburgh, PA
California University of PA
California, PA
Harbor Creek Junior HS
Erie, PA
Allegheny National Forest
Warren, PA
City of Dover,
Dover, DE
Coppin State University
Baltimore, MD
(CONT.)
dents in Alaska, NJ hydrol-
ogy, Jamaica Bay ecosys-
tem services, ecological
planning and more!
Speakers will represent a
variety of regional organi-
zations including: NJ DEP,
USGS, USDA, Rutgers Uni-
versity and private compa-
nies focusing on geospa-
tial analysis.
The event will be held
from 5-7 pm at Rutgers
University, IMCS building,
Alampi Room (71 Dudley
Morgan State University
Baltimore, MD
Maryland Department of
the Environment
Baltimore, MD
University of Maryland,
Baltimore County - Shady
Grove
Rockville, MD
City of Falls Church
Falls Church, VA
Greenbriar West Elemen-
tary School
Fairfax, VA
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA
Prince William (VA) County
Woodbridge, VA
Page 5
Road, New Brunswick, NJ)
Free parking will be availa-
ble in lots: 97, 98A and
98B. Everyone is wel-
come to attend!
The event is organized by
RU Intermediate Environ-
mental Geomatics stu-
dents.
For additional information:
h t t p s : / /
www.facebook.com/
events/1489273881353
563/
Wise County Virginia
Wise, VA
Granby High School
Norfolk, VA
Chesapeake Public
Schools
Chesapeake, VA
Virginia DOT
Richmond, VA
Reynolds Community Col-
lege
Richmond, VA
West Virginia Water Devel-
opment Authority
Charleston, WV
West Virginia DOT
Charleston, WV
 ESRI-MUG NEWSLETTER
ESRI AND GISCI TEAM TO GET CONNECTE
One of the priorities identi-
fied in President Obama's
ConnectED Initiative is the
support of teachers to
advance digital learning.
With Esri's recently an-
nounced commitment to
donate ArcGIS Online ac-
counts to every public and
private K12 school in the
United States, GIS profes-
sionals are needed to help
local teachers learn the
foundational science.
Esri has joined forces with
For more information on the Esri ConnnectED program, see http://connected.esri.com/
For more information on the GIS Certification Institute, see: http://www.gisci.org/
CONFERENCE HELP NEEDED!
With a full schedule of
workshops and technical
sessions for the upcoming
Esri Mid-Atlantic Users
Conference in Baltimore,
Maryland, the Esri-MUG is
the GIS Certification Insti-
tute (GISCI) to recruit Cer-
tified GIS Professionals
(GISPs) to serve as Ge-
oMentors, who will work
with local schools to help
them set up and learn to
use their ArcGIS Online
accounts.
oMentors. Through this
GISCI is the leading certifi-
cation body for the GIS
profession. Over 5,500
GISPs have demonstrated
the requisite education,
experience, contributions
looking for volunteers to
be moderators.
Moderators responsibili-
ties include helping set up
for their respective tech-
nical sessions, introducing
the presenters, monitoring
and keeping the session
on schedule, and facilitat-
ing the question and an-
swers portions of the ses-
sion.
If you would like to volun-
teer as a session modera-
tor, please contact Kathie
McDougall at:
kmcdougall@esri.com
D
to the profession, and
commitment to competent
and ethical practice since
the certification institute
was founded in 2004.
GISCI is urging current and
aspiring GISPs to volun-
teer as ConnectED Ge-
Esri established the Ge-
volunteer project, they will
earn points toward initial
GISP certification or re-
newal. GISP GeoMentors
will be required to help set
up ArcGIS Online accounts
ESRI-MUG OFFICER ELECTIONS
During the Annual Confer-
ence in Baltimore this De-
cember, elections will be
held for the four officer
positions of the Esri-MUG.
All current officers have
declared their intentions
to run for their individual
position for the 2015
term.
If you are interested in
running for one of the of-
ficer positions, please con-
tact Sue Hoegb erg
(SHoegberg@dewberry.co
m) to submit your name to
the ballot.
Page 6
at local schools and tutor
teachers on ArcGIS Online
use and administration.
Esri will provide training
and other educational
resources to prepare Ge-
oMentors for their work
with local schools.
oMentor program in col-
laboration with the Nation-
al Geographic Society in
2009. For more infor-
m a t i o n , v i s i t
www.geomentor.org.
The existing officers are:
President:
Chris Markel, GISP
Vice-President:
Thomas J. Schweitzer, PE,
GISP, CFM
Secretary:
Sue Hoegberg, CFM
Treasurer:
Mario Field
 ESRI-MUG NEWSLETTER
BUCKNELL GIS SUPPORTS INTENSIVE COURSEWORK IN NEW ORLEANS
Perched on a crumbling
coastline, shaped by four
centuries of dramatic re-
versals of fortune, New
Orleans might be the most
complex city in the United
States. Can its culture
and challenges be cap-
tured in a three-week
course?
Three Bucknell University-
faculty members decided
to try. They teamed to cre-
ate the first domestic
"Bucknell In" course an lum requirement at Buck-
interdisciplinary summer
class in which students
examined New Orleans
ESRI-MUG GOLF OUTING RIGHT ON PAR
The Esri-MUG 2014 Golf
Outing was held on August
21, 2014 at Compass
Pointe Golf Course in Pas-
adena, Maryland. The
weather cooperated with
sunny skies, and not too
hot temperatures. We had
through the lenses of jazz,
history and civil engineer-
ing, and with GIS.
Private funding from the
Andrew W. Mellon Founda-
tion helped support faculty
work on GIS for the
course. The teaching
team also received an
Integrated Perspectives
(IP) grant for development
of the class, which will be
offered regularly as an IP
selection. A core curricu-
of the main goals of the IP
nell, IP classes are team-
taught, interdisciplinary
courses that help students
17 players attend the
event, pairing off into 5
teams. Dewberry, Stantec,
and Atkins supported the
event with donations, get-
ting a sign with their logo
at several of the tee box-
es.
learn to connect different
intellectual methods and
ways of learning.
GIS is a natural tool for IP
courses, faculty noted.
"First, it helped the stu-
dents organize their
thoughts and notes in a
spatial way. It also al-
lowed them to uncover
events and cause and
effect through the differ-
ent lenses through which
we taught, and that's one
requirement". "It's a very
effective way to show in-
terdisciplinary connec-
By Thomas J. Schweitzer, PE, GISP, CFM
Prizes were given for the
mens and womens Long-
est Drive and two Closest
To The Pin on two select
par 3s.
Eric Erlendson had the
mens Longest Drive with
Nancy Takeichi with the
City of Bowie capturing the
womens Longest Drive.
Bret Schrey with Stantec
grabbed one of the
Closest To The Pin
awards, Brendan Ford
with Fairfax County zeroed
in on the second award.
The winning team shot a
Page 7
By Susanna K. Jackson, PMP
tions." The topics of stu-
dents' final GIS-based pro-
jects ranged from the his-
tory of New Orleans cui-
sine to the culture of voo-
doo. View maps, blogs,
student projects and other
resources from Bucknell in
New Orleans.:
h t t p : / / g i s -
web.bucknell.edu/
ITECShowcas e/
64, 8 under par. The
team consisted of Bren-
dan Ford, Eric Erlendson,
Tom Chittenden, and
Charles Gerlach, all cur-
rent or former Fairfax
County employees. The
outing also netted $340 to
support the MUG student
scholarship fund.
We hope to continue the
tradition next year with a
larger turnout. Nancy
Takeichi noted that she
would like to see some
more women come out
next year.
2014 ESRI-MUG OFFICERS NEWSLETTER STAFF

The Esri-MUG 2014 Officers are Feel free to email the newsletter staff with article sug-
eager to hear from you! gestions, general comments and feedback!

Contact via their email below. Michael J. Hanna

Middlesex Water Company
President: mhanna@middlesexwater.com
Chris Markel, GISP, Washington Suburban Sanitary
Commission Consultant Susanna K. Jackson, PMP
chrismarkel@gmail.com Bucknell University
susannakjackson@gmail.com
Vice-President:
Tom Schweitzer, PE, GISP, CFM, Atkins Global Andrew R. Kuder
Thomas.Schweitzer@atkinsglobal.com AK Environmental, LLC
AKuder@ak-env.com
Secretary:
Sue Hoegberg, CFM, Dewberry
SHoegberg@dewberry.com
We are on the web!

Treasurer: www.esrimug.org
Mario Field, City of Washington, DC
mario.field@dc.gov

Find Esri-MUG on LinkedIn and Twitter!

ABOUT ESRI MUG

The Esri Mid-Atlantic Us-
er Group (Esri-MUG) is a
multi-disciplinary organi-
zation with a member-
ship base of users apply-
ing Geographic Infor-
mation System (GIS)
technology and applica-
tions in both private and
public areas. Esri-MUG
is committed to assisting
members within its
121,000 square mile
geographical extent
(Pennsylvania, Delaware,
New Jersey, Maryland,
District of Columbia, Vir-
ginia, and West Virginia)
to identify and educate
users regarding GIS
trends, Esri product de-
velopment, local/
regional applications,
and events of interest.
We are receptive to part-
nerships with other or-
ganizations (both GIS as
well as IS oriented) at
the formal and grass-
roots level in our effort to
convey the uses and
benefits of GIS. We hold
one (1) annual confer-
ence for all users, as well
as local meetings each
year in partnership with
Esri, our sponsoring or-
ganization.
These meetings, as well
as our web site, serve to
bring together our mem-
bers in an interactive
environment to see
demonstrations of Esri
product developments
and demonstrate local
applications of GIS tech-
nology.
Our goal is to foster col-
laboration among all
user entities and monitor
industry trends to assure
that our knowledge base
is as current and practi-
cal as possible. We wel-
come all interested
members with a focus
towards those using, or
planning to use, Esri
products as part of their
overall information sys-
tem design and applica-
tion.
Board of Directors meet-
ings are held via confer-
ence call the second
Thursday of each month.
Please join us and get
involved. Contact Sue
Hoegberg at 703-849-
0419.