GIS in Action 2026

Effective management of utility asset data, including routine inspections and maintenance, is essential for the City of Salem. To address this need, the City utilizes Cityworks as its asset management platform. Specifically for Stormwater management, compliance with the City’s MS4 permit mandates that Stormwater field staff conduct inspections and clean a designated number of catch basins annually. This process, originally facilitated through Survey123, has been successfully migrated to Cityworks to enhance accuracy in tracking and reporting.
By integrating Survey123 webhooks, SafeFME software, and the Cityworks API, we have streamlined the workflow from initial data collection in Survey123 to final inspections and the creation of necessary work orders in Cityworks. Additionally, any changes identified in the field are promptly reflected in the GIS data, ensuring that our asset information remains current and reliable.
In this presentation, we will detail the entire process, emphasizing the role of FME and the Cityworks API documentation in achieving a seamless integration. Join us to explore how these tools enhance our asset management capabilities and support the City’s commitment to effective Stormwater management.

In 1957, physicists at Johns Hopkins listened to Sputnik’s radio beacon and unintentionally laid the groundwork for satellite navigation. What followed was one of the most ambitious engineering efforts in modern history: a constellation of satellites, atomic clocks, control stations, and launch campaigns that has evolved for more than four decades.This presentation traces the development of satellite positioning from its Cold War origins through the construction of GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou, examining how each constellation was architected, launched, and sustained in orbit, how military systems evolved into global civilian infrastructure, and how the underlying geometry, atomic timekeeping, and signal architecture combine to deliver the positions we depend on daily. It then explores the augmentation systems built on that foundation, including RTK, PPK, WAAS, and PPP, the technologies that push raw GNSS accuracy from meters to centimeters. Each is defined by its own tradeoffs, infrastructure requirements, and ideal applications.
Looking ahead, the session turns to what comes next: GPS III’s new civil signals, LEO-based augmentation that could upend the base station model, and the spoofing and jamming vulnerabilities of a system the modern world cannot function without. Together, these developments reveal GNSS not as a finished technology, but as an evolving global utility.
By understanding the history and architecture behind GNSS, geospatial professionals gain clearer insight into both the power and the limitations of the coordinates they collect, and a better sense of how positioning itself is being redesigned for the decades ahead.

Replacing the Get Home Safe Winter Weather Center map application from StoryMap Classic to a new Esri app format sound like a simple process. Or does it??

Listen to the thrilling tale of how my efforts to migrate this app (all the while making it more accessible) were thwarted right and left (bugs, errors, issues - oh my!). Don't worry though, using my GIS community, my wits, and a little bit of luck, I emerged triumphant and now have an app that works!

We will share our practical lessons learned from migrating and operating enterprise GIS in the cloud, specifically AWS and Azure based implementations. Topics include right sized architectures; performance tuning (caching, tiling, storage tiers); secure identity, roles, and governance; data pipelines that connect CAD/BIM, IoT, and analytics; and automation for updates and deployments. Attendees will learn migration patterns to pursue and avoid and a lightweight operating model for cost control, reliability, and collaboration. Throughout this presentation we will focus on three key topics, 1. Cost Benefits, 2. Security Benefits, and 3. Maintenance Benefits.

What happens when a software developer who works with GIS decides to learn about AI agents -- not through courses or certifications, but by simply trying to build something?
What started as a straightforward goal to learn about AI became something unexpected that is actively being used across the company to help our GIS developers. AI helped create the lesson plans, walking me through unfamiliar concepts like RAG, agents, and MCPs, then became a collaborator during development -- and eventually a user of what we built together, operating ArcGIS Pro the way any analyst would.
Attendees will come away with a better understanding of what these AI terms actually mean, why they matter for GIS professionals and developers, and how conversational AI can become a genuine learning and collaborative partner rather than just a search engine or code resource. No prior AI experience or specific language required. Expect false starts, course corrections, and the unexpected ways that learning by building takes you further than you planned -- and we'll let AI take a test drive with ArcGIS Pro to show the audience what it can do.

This presentation highlights a mobile health van application that uses ArcGIS workflows to visualize service locations, overlay public health indicators, and better align care delivery with community need. From a business perspective, it supports more efficient resource deployment, cross-agency coordination, and data-driven decisions that improve community health outcomes/goals.

This presentation introduces foundational concepts of digital accessibility in GIS and mapping and how it supports inclusive access to critical geospatial information. Attendees will learn practical best practices for creating accessible GIS and mapping content, including guidance on color use in maps, alternative text, heading structure, focus order, plain language writing, and alternative options. The presentation concludes with an overview of Esri’s accessibility resources, including websites, training, and documentation, to support continued learning and accessible content creation.

ArcGIS Instant Apps provide a fast, intuitive way to create focused, intuitive web applications that connect people with meaningful geographic information. In this session, we will explore several Instant Apps designed to support community engagement and storytelling, including Attachment Viewer, Reporter, Sidebar, and Atlas. Through live demonstrations, attendees will see how these apps can be configured to share multimedia content, collect public feedback, and provide spatial context.
We will also go over key capabilities that enhance user interaction and accessibility—such as the language switcher for multilingual audiences, attribute filtering and feature search for streamlined data exploration, and configuration options that support inclusive and accessible design. Attendees will leave with practical guidance on selecting and customizing the right Instant App for their needs, helping them build engaging, user-friendly experiences that empower their communities.

I’ll share a roundup of recent work from Metro’s Data Resource Center (DRC), which continues to enhance the region’s shared GIS infrastructure through new open datasets and improved public tools that support planning, analysis, and decision‑making across the region. Highlights include newly released RLIS (Regional Land Information System) layers—such as refreshed contours and a subset of nationally published jobs and commuting data—along with enhancements to MetroMap and updates to the Safe Routes to School Walkshed App. I’ll also offer a sneak preview of new features in the Social Vulnerability Explorer. Finally, I’ll touch on what’s coming next, including digital accessibility work, 2024 lidar derivatives, and other data and application improvements planned for the year ahead.

This presentation showcases an animated visualization created in ArcGIS Pro using Metro’s RLIS Housing data. Designed for the Urban Growth Report (and shown in a previous GIS in Action presentation), the animation helps communicate patterns of urban expansion and housing development over time. This presentation will walk through the steps of how this animation was created directly from GIS data in ArcGIS Pro, and some lessons learned along the way.

Indoor GIS is rapidly becoming foundational for space management, safety, operations, and user experience across campuses, hospitals, airports, and state and local government facilities. Yet many organizations struggle to move from pilot maps to an operational, trusted system that stays current. This presentation focuses on a practical, step-by-step approach to implementing and sustaining an Indoor GIS program. From defining business outcomes and governance to deploying data models, workflows, and integrations that keep indoor information accurate over time. We will focus on how to establish an authoritative indoor data foundation (floor plans, spaces, assets, routes, points of interest), select and standardize schemas, and integration with business systems such as enterprise asset management (EAM) and integrated workplace management systems (IWMS).

 Public transit is an essential service, but one that is perennially under threat. Like many public institutions, these systems have been faced with a series of major challenges over the past twenty years, including a great recession, major changes in travel patterns, and outright hostility from some corners of the political spectrum. This keynote will discuss the central role of GIS and cartography practitioners in analyzing, explaining, visualizing and communicating the complex spatial, temporal and political process that is public transit, drawing from experience in bus network transformation projects in major US cities that grapple with the messy yet rewarding work of improving vulnerable public services in a time of great uncertainty.