GIS in Action 2026: Full Schedule

Welcome to the 2026 GIS in Action Annual Conference hosted by the Oregon & SW Washington Chapter of the Geospatial Professional Network & Cascadia ASPRS.

8:00am PDT

Vendor Booths Open

Wednesday April 29, 2026 8:00am - 8:30pm PDT

Cascadia

Wednesday April 29, 2026 8:00am - 8:30pm PDT
Cascadia

8:00am PDT

Map Gallery Open

Wednesday April 29, 2026 8:00am - 8:30pm PDT

Cafe

Wednesday April 29, 2026 8:00am - 8:30pm PDT
Cafe

Cartography

8:30am PDT

Opening Plenary and Keynote - Creating Capacity in Times of Change: Understanding the Brain and Moving Forward

Wednesday April 29, 2026 8:30am - 10:00am PDT

Cascadia

Why does change feel so hard? Change is constant, and yet it’s one of the greatest challenges for individuals and organizations. Dr. Jessica Lorenz examines how the brain responds to uncertainty, why resistance is a biological reaction, and how we can build the capacity needed to move forward with clarity, care, and intention. Informed by neuroscience, change management, and trauma informed...
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Speakers

Dr. Jessica Lorenz

Wednesday April 29, 2026 8:30am - 10:00am PDT
Cascadia

Technology Showcase

10:00am PDT

Break (Refreshments Provided)

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:00am - 10:30am PDT

TBA

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:00am - 10:30am PDT
TBA

10:30am PDT

Lightning Talks Round 1 - Multi-Season UAV and LiDAR Assessment of Landscape and Vegetation Dynamics Following Dam Removal in the Klamath River Basin

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:30am - 10:38am PDT

Columbia

The removal of the J.C. Boyle Dam in 2024 marked a transformative moment in the ecological restoration of the Klamath River Basin. This study presents a multi-sensor UAV-based assessment of post-dam removal landscape dynamics using high-resolution RGB, multispectral, and LiDAR datasets acquired in July and November 2024. A comprehensive land cover classification was conducted to evaluate...
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Speakers

Su Jin Lee

Jordan Nowell

Zia Hill Sparks

Samantha Davenport

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:30am - 10:38am PDT
Columbia

Photogrammetry Imagery and Lidar Advancements

10:30am PDT

A brief history of topographic mapping

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am PDT

Atrium

The first USGS topographic maps in 1884 started as hand-engraved copper plates, and in the early 1900s, relief was hand-shaded. By the 1960s, maps were scribed on mylar sheets, labels were applied letter by letter, and technicians field-verified map features. Since 2009, maps are made using GIS software with remotely sensed data, produced on a predefined grid, and updated every three years. The...
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Speakers

Elaine Guidero

National Map Liaison, U.S. Geological Survey

Elaine started at USGS as an applied researcher in multi-scale cartography. She is now the National Map Liaison to Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas.

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am PDT
Atrium

Collaboration and Governance

10:30am PDT

GPN-PNW Emerging Professionals Mentorship Program

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:30am - 12:00pm PDT

Auditorium

GPN-PNW Emerging Professionals invites you to a panel discussion with mentors and mentees from our 2024-2025 Mentorship Program cohort. During this session you will hear from current participants about their experiences or projects they are currently working on during this year’s mentorship program. A foundational goal of the Emerging Professionals Mentorship Program is to provide real-world...
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Speakers

John Thai

Lorena Nascimento

Roxanne Garcia

Daniel Carter

GIS Technician, City of Salem

City of Salem water distribution GIS Technican and emerging professionals mentor.

Vyla Grindberg

Joe Hayes

Lindsey Karr

Joe Bard

Kyle Curtis

Kate Pope

Eliza Yurkov

Kyrian Nnadi

Jake Lovell

GIS Specialist, Metro

Jake Lovell works in the Metro Data Resource Center, supporting transportation planners with GIS data and analysis support.

Catherine Green

Leah Bollin

Zack Kasson

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:30am - 12:00pm PDT
Auditorium

Students and Emerging Professionals

10:30am PDT

ArcGIS Pro and Python: Potentially Helpful Bits and Bobs

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:30am - 11:30pm PDT

Classrooms 1-4

The purpose of this collaboration session is to provide helpful guidance for anyone using ArcGIS Pro and Python together or separately. The basis for the material presented and demonstrated is everyday experience, particularly with respect to an annual project for which procedures have evolved over many years. A list of related and unrelated topics will be reviewed and audience members will be...
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Speakers

David Howes

David Howes, LLC

David Howes is a geospatial information scientist and the sole owner at David Howes, LLC (dhowes.com) in Seattle, WA, specializing in the development of GIS tools, processes, and supporting infrastructure for a variety of clients from small operations to multinational corporations. With over 30 years of academic and private sector experience in both the United Kingdom and the United... Read More →

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:30am - 11:30pm PDT
Classrooms 1-4

Technology Showcase

10:39am PDT

Lightning Talks Round 1 - The Great Burn

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:39am - 10:47am PDT

Columbia

Climate change and decades of wildfire suppression have combined to trigger a transformation of Oregon landscapes via an era of wildfireevents of extraordinary areal extent and severity. Oregonians now confront the heartbreaking reality of what has and will be lost. Thisinfographic highlights the increase in the extent and severity of wildfire in the last thirty years relative to the preceding...
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Speakers

Daniel Welch

GIS Certificate Program, Portland Community College Geospatial Program

Daniel Welch is underway on a second career in GIS after a successful career as a product owner of electronic group-polling systems for opinion and media-evaluation research with Dialsmith, Inc. Upon completing the PCC GIS certificate program this June, Dan looks forward to bringing... Read More →

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:39am - 10:47am PDT
Columbia

10:48am PDT

Lightning Talks Round 1 - Orthometric Correction of Ground Control Points

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:48am - 10:56am PDT

Columbia

Ground control points (GCPs) are highly useful in UAS photogrammetry and Lidar collection for a variety of infrastructure mapping applications. It is important that GCPs reflect the true elevation at the point location where they are registered. One common problem with registering a GCP is that there is distortion in the observed elevation related to the geoid separation height. An application was...
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Speakers

Ryan Lennon

President, Lennon Geospatial Data Services, Inc.

I am a geographic information system developer with over 7 years of experience building scalable, data-driven solutions that integrate remote sensing and advanced spatial analysis. My work spans GIS application development, ETL pipeline design, and geospatial workflow optimization... Read More →

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:48am - 10:56am PDT
Columbia

Photogrammetry Imagery and Lidar Advancements

10:57am PDT

Lightning Talks Round 2 - Greater Cooling Sensitivity of Evapotranspiration in Water-Limited Urban Environments: Evidence from Portland, Oregon

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:57am - 11:05am PDT

Columbia

Urban areas often experience higher surface temperatures due to impervious surfaces and limited vegetation. Evapotranspiration (ET) cools surfaces by transferring water from land and vegetation to the atmosphere. Understanding ET–climate interactions is important for designing green infrastructure that mitigates urban heat. This study investigates long-term relationships between ET and key...
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Speakers

Tarannum Khandoker

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:57am - 11:05am PDT
Columbia

Students and Emerging Professionals

11:00am PDT

Building a Resilient Imagery Program

Wednesday April 29, 2026 11:00am - 11:30am PDT

Atrium

Imagery is no longer just a snapshot in time. It is becoming an essential infrastructure for how organizations plan, operate, and make decisions. Building a Resilient Imagery Program explores how organizations can move beyond one-time image capture toward a planned, repeatable, and shared imagery program that supports standardized workflows, and broader organizational use. This session will...
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Speakers

Savannah Heckman

Josh Weilert

Wednesday April 29, 2026 11:00am - 11:30am PDT
Atrium

Photogrammetry Imagery and Lidar Advancements

11:15am PDT

Lightning Talks Round 2 - Investigating Affordable Homeownership Program Impacts on Homeowner Equity: A GIS-Based Real Estate Index Approach

Wednesday April 29, 2026 11:15am - 11:32am PDT

Columbia

This study investigates how long-term homeownership affordability tools built into affordable homeownership program structures impact participating homeowners’ opportunity to build wealth. This study uses county-level tax lot data and GIS analysis to answer questions about the impacts of affordable homeownership programs, such as shared equity programs, on the potential equity that homeowners in...
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Speakers

Kari Shippen

Wednesday April 29, 2026 11:15am - 11:32am PDT
Columbia

Students and Emerging Professionals

11:24am PDT

Lightning Talks Round 3 - Data equity in transportation safety

Wednesday April 29, 2026 11:24am - 11:32am PDT

Columbia

The "Data Equity in Transportation Safety" Story Map on Metro’s Safe Streets for All hub provides readers with a data equity context for regional crash information and dashboards. Using crash data, narrative elements, and accessible visualizations, it highlights both what we know - and what we lack - about how people with different mobility and access needs move through transportation systems....
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Speakers

Nat Moss

Kate Gregory

Wednesday April 29, 2026 11:24am - 11:32am PDT
Columbia

Collaboration and Governance

11:30am PDT

Linux for GIS Professionals

Wednesday April 29, 2026 11:30am - 12:00pm PDT

Classrooms 1-4

Is your computer struggling under increasingly heavy operating systems? Have you heard of Linux, but aren't sure where to start? Worried about losing access to your programs? Join me for a brief introduction to the Linux ecosystem as a fellow new Linux user. I'll cover basic terminology, introduce distros and desktops, plus how I set up geospatial tools such as QGIS, Google Earth Pro, GDAL, and...
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Speakers

Rachel Gugler

Mission Sensor Operator, Bridger Aerospace

Wednesday April 29, 2026 11:30am - 12:00pm PDT
Classrooms 1-4

Technology Showcase

11:30am PDT

GIS for Wildfire Response at the Oregon Department of Forestry

Wednesday April 29, 2026 11:30am - 12:00pm PDT

Atrium

The Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) is integral to Oregon’s complete and coordinated wildfire response system. Effective incident response relies on timely, accurate, and standardized geospatial information to support tactical and public safety decisions in complex, high pressure environments. This presentation examines how GIS technologies are integrated within the incident command...
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Speakers

Erik Larsen

Protection Division GIS Coordinator, Oregon Department of Forestry

As the GIS Coordinator with the Fire Protection Division of the Oregon Department of Forestry, my work focuses on implementing geospatial solutions for wildfire response and detection systems while supporting the Department’s efforts to promote healthy, fire-resilient forests through... Read More →

Wednesday April 29, 2026 11:30am - 12:00pm PDT
Atrium

The Greater Good: Service Efficiencies Utilizing GIS

11:33am PDT

Lightning Talks Round 3 - Designing Accessible Static Maps: WCAG Compliance at Metro

Wednesday April 29, 2026 11:33am - 11:41am PDT

Columbia

Static PDF maps are a foundational communication tool at Metro, but they often present accessibility barriers if not intentionally designed for WCAG 2.1 AA compliance. This session provides a practical, production-focused approach to creating accessible static maps that work for all users that we will be applying to our Counter Map products available through our front desk at the Data Resource...
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Speakers

Franz Arend

Wednesday April 29, 2026 11:33am - 11:41am PDT
Columbia

Collaboration and Governance

11:42am PDT

Lightning Talks Round 3 - Beyond the Slogan: Testing 15 Minute Neighborhoods in Seattle

Wednesday April 29, 2026 11:42am - 11:50am PDT

Columbia

My project evaluates whether the idea of a “15 minute neighborhood” is meaningful and achievable in Seattle. As an international student from China, I have experienced how life feels when daily needs like grocery stores, clinics, schools, and parks are within a short walk. In Seattle, the contrast is clear: cars dominate, and distance is measured in drive time instead of walk time. I want to...
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Speakers

Weixuan Teng

Wednesday April 29, 2026 11:42am - 11:50am PDT
Columbia

Students and Emerging Professionals

11:51am PDT

Lightning Talks Round 4 - Modeling Streams & Drainage from High-Resolution Elevation Data

Wednesday April 29, 2026 11:51am - 11:59pm PDT

Columbia

The aim of Elevation-Derived Hydrography (EDH) via the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) is to satisfy the pressing need for better integration between high resolution elevation data and hydrography data. This data has a myriad of applications from infrastructure asset management to conservation, supporting many varieties of analytical and cartographic applications.

Speakers

Bob Chappell

Wednesday April 29, 2026 11:51am - 11:59pm PDT
Columbia

Photogrammetry Imagery and Lidar Advancements

12:00pm PDT

Lunch Buffet (Provided)

Wednesday April 29, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm PDT

Cascadia

Wednesday April 29, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm PDT
Cascadia

1:30pm PDT

When Lidar Gets Weird: Adaptive Strategies for Systematic Noise and Classification Challenges for Topographic and Bathymetric Lidar

Wednesday April 29, 2026 1:30pm - 2:00pm PDT

Atrium

Real-world lidar datasets rarely behave as cleanly as theory suggests. Multi-time-around artifacts, shoreline ringing, mission-level inconsistencies, and environmental effects such as steep terrain or water interfaces can introduce systematic noise that standard workflows struggle to resolve. This presentation examines common lidar artifacts encountered in coastal, tropical, and complex terrain...
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Speakers

Kate Emmel

Wednesday April 29, 2026 1:30pm - 2:00pm PDT
Atrium

Photogrammetry Imagery and Lidar Advancements

1:30pm PDT

Tactile Cartography with 3D Terrain Modeling

Wednesday April 29, 2026 1:30pm - 2:00pm PDT

Classrooms 1-4

Blind and low vision map users rely on tactile materials to orient and navigate themselves in locations they frequent. While simplification of these maps for tactile legibility with traditional production methods typically omits elevation data, the increased availability of 3D printing production allows for the incorporation of 3D terrain and symbol elements into tactile cartography. Tactile...
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Speakers

Chance Morrison

Student of Geomatics, Portland Community College

Chance Morrison is a current student of Geomatics at Portland Community College. After years of gaining experience in operations and project management roles, he returned to school to find a career utilizing GIS analysis to drive change. Having a do-it-yourself attitude, he enjoys... Read More →

Wednesday April 29, 2026 1:30pm - 2:00pm PDT
Classrooms 1-4

Students and Emerging Professionals

1:30pm PDT

This Time the AI Builds Everything

Wednesday April 29, 2026 1:30pm - 2:00pm PDT

Auditorium

Last year, I closed this very conference by letting AI generate my slides dynamically. It crashed spectacularly. We laughed, I cried. Apparently, I haven't learned yet. This year I'm back! But instead of fixing my approach, I've doubled down. I'll narrate, David Attenborough style, while Claude attempts to build a complete ArcGIS web application. I won't write a single line of code. At least,...
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Speakers

Christopher Moravec

Wednesday April 29, 2026 1:30pm - 2:00pm PDT
Auditorium

Technology Showcase

1:38pm PDT

Lightning Talks Round 4 - What would a road map of the Moon look like?

Wednesday April 29, 2026 1:38pm - 1:47pm PDT

Columbia

This lightning talk introduces the Eskey System, a conceptual map that imagines how future explorers might navigate the lunar surface. Using GIS terrain analysis and lunar elevation data, low-slope routes were modeled between potential landing zones and key destinations such as craters and maria. These routes represent the easiest travel paths for rovers or astronauts, forming a network of...
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Speakers

Heather Sauerland

Wednesday April 29, 2026 1:38pm - 1:47pm PDT
Columbia

Photogrammetry Imagery and Lidar Advancements

1:48pm PDT

Lightning Talks Round 5 - Scaling Utility UAS Inspections Through GIS-Driven Operation Efficiency

Wednesday April 29, 2026 1:48pm - 1:56pm PDT

Columbia

Electric utility monitoring programs are increasingly challenged by scale. As inspection requirements grow, operational efficiency becomes as critical as data quality. This lightning talk presents a utility monitoring project where GIS served as the operational backbone for managing and delivering a large‑scale UAS inspection program. GIS tools were used to track the inspection progress of over...
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Speakers

Heather Sauerland

Wednesday April 29, 2026 1:48pm - 1:56pm PDT
Columbia

The Greater Good: Service Efficiencies Utilizing GIS

1:57pm PDT

Lightning Talks Round 5 - Student Project: Potential Permanent Ground Deformation on Emergency Transportation Routes

Wednesday April 29, 2026 1:57pm - 2:05pm PDT

Columbia

The Pacific Northwest faces a major seismic hazard from a potential megathrust earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Such an event could cause significant infrastructure damage and limit access to emergency services throughout the Portland metropolitan area. This project uses ArcGIS Pro to analyze how earthquake-related ground deformation may affect facilities and emergency transportation...
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Speakers

John Thai

Wednesday April 29, 2026 1:57pm - 2:05pm PDT
Columbia

The Greater Good: Service Efficiencies Utilizing GIS

2:00pm PDT

Data Integration for Jetty Structure Mapping

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:00pm - 2:30pm PDT

Atrium

This presentation discusses methods for integration of tide-coordinated data sources to produce seamless surface of Jetty Structures.

Speakers

Danuta Greblowska

Geospatial Professional and Lidar Enthusiast.

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:00pm - 2:30pm PDT
Atrium

Photogrammetry Imagery and Lidar Advancements

2:00pm PDT

A GIS Workflow for 3D Printing Topgraphic Models

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:00pm - 2:30pm PDT

Classrooms 1-4

Digital elevation models are primarily interacted with through a screen, but they can become powerful physical tools for visualization, teaching, and storytelling. This presentation explores the creation of tangible 3D printed topographic maps, transforming digital elevation data into physical models that make landscapes easier to interpret and engage with. Building on a session presented at GIS...
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Speakers

Noah Flick

Geospatial Mapping Hardware Representative, Frontier Precision

Noah Flick is a geospatial professional in the Pacific Northwest whose work focuses on the systems that transform satellite signals into usable spatial data. He works with Frontier Precision at the intersection of GIS, surveying, and GNSS, with a particular focus on field instrumentation... Read More →

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:00pm - 2:30pm PDT
Classrooms 1-4

Technology Showcase

2:00pm PDT

Lessons Learned in The Special Operations Community - Inspiring GIS & Indoor Mapping

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:00pm - 2:30pm PDT

Auditorium

We will explore how reliance on traditional blueprints and floorplans has repeatedly led to degraded and inefficient responses during critical incidents, as documented in after-action reports from national tragedies such as Uvalde, Parkland, and others. Using these real-world examples, we will illustrate the core problem facing public safety agencies: the lack of an accurate, accessible, and...
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Speakers

Josh Longenecker

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:00pm - 2:30pm PDT
Auditorium

Technology Showcase

2:06pm PDT

Lightning Talks Round 5 - Historic Counties of Oregon

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:06pm - 2:14pm PDT

Columbia

This lightning talk presents a chronological map series documenting the spatial evolution of Oregon’s administrative boundaries. Starting from the original provisional districts of the 1840s to the final 36-county layout established in the early 1900s, this project visualizes the settlement and development of Oregon over time. By mapping the shifting lines and the relocation of county seats,...
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Speakers

Nicholas Cramer

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:06pm - 2:14pm PDT
Columbia

Map Gallery Entry

2:15pm PDT

Lightning Talks Round 6 - Hoop Dreams: Mapping American Streetball

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:15pm - 2:23pm PDT

Columbia

Streetball' is America's most popular urban sport. A chaotic but beautiful mesh of basketball, hip-hop culture, bravado, and passion, streetball represents the beating heart of America's outdoor sports. It requires no equipment except a bouncing ball and a hoop to put it in. And because of this, it's also a microcosm for forces much greater than sports: of race, of class, of economic disparity, of...
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Speakers

Joshua Weill

Joshua is a second-year student about to finish his GIS Certificate at Portland Community College. He specializes in interactive GIS experiences,
cartography, and content development.

By craft a content strategist and digital storyteller, Joshua is adding GIS to his content toolkit. Career goals include transportation and transit network GIS work, infrastructure development, and public-facing GIS marketing. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his family... Read More →

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:15pm - 2:23pm PDT
Columbia

Students and Emerging Professionals

2:24pm PDT

Lightning Talks Round 6 - Burning Up the Walkshed: How Land Surface Temperature in one Portland, Oregon neighborhood restricts access to transit and other services.

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:24pm - 2:32pm PDT

Columbia

This map leverages remote sensing data to analyze the relationship between land surface temperature and transit walksheds in Portland. Using Landsat-derived land surface temperature data, the project identifies significant urban heat island patterns along the East Stark Street corridor. The analysis reveals that some of East County’s most critical transit-accessible resources—including public...
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Speakers

Erin Zipper

Art Director. Cartographer. Visual Storyteller.

Erin Zipper is a designer and educator who is passionate about using visual communication to make important ideas accessible to new audiences. She attended Parsons The New School for Design and Eugene Lang College, completing a B.F.A. in Communication Design and a B.A. in Urban Studies... Read More →

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:24pm - 2:32pm PDT
Columbia

Students and Emerging Professionals

2:30pm PDT

The Importance of Topographic-Bathymetric Lidar: From Collection to GIS-Driven Deliverables

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:30pm - 3:00pm PDT

Atrium

Topographic-bathymetric lidar is a critical tool for coastal resilience, infrastructure planning, and nautical charting. Woolpert, Inc. collects topo-bathymetric lidar using Leica’s HawkEye5 system mounted on a fixed-wing aircraft, enabling efficient, high-resolution mapping of coasts, rivers, and lakes. The system simultaneously collects topographic and bathymetric data, allowing continuous...
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Speakers

Christina Gray

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:30pm - 3:00pm PDT
Atrium

Photogrammetry Imagery and Lidar Advancements

2:30pm PDT

Stepping Out of The Shadows: Utilizing Invariant Color Spaces to Build a Shadow Mask in ArcGIS Pro

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:30pm - 3:00pm PDT

Classrooms 1-4

In remotely sensed imagery, both shadows and unhealthy/dead vegetation contain low values in near-infrared band pixels. As NDVI and NDRE analyses rely heavily on NIR values, false positives for unhealthy vegetation are often the result of shadows. By converting RGB raster data to invariant color spaces and leveraging this with NIR data by way of logarithmic calculations, a processing mask can be...
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Speakers

Kate Pope

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:30pm - 3:00pm PDT
Classrooms 1-4

Students and Emerging Professionals

2:30pm PDT

Simplifying GIS Workflows with Arcade

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:30pm - 3:00pm PDT

Auditorium

As the GIS community transitions to Experience Builder, we have a unique opportunity to rethink how we present information to our users. Rather than relying on complex and static geoprocessing, one can use Esri’s Arcade language to transform data directly within the web map. This session explores how a county GIS department uses Arcade to deliver high-functioning tools while maintaining a lean,...
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Speakers

Nicholas Cramer

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:30pm - 3:00pm PDT
Auditorium

Technology Showcase

2:33pm PDT

Lightning Talks Round 6 - Remote Sensing Based Digital Inventory and Management System for Urban Forestry

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:33pm - 2:41pm PDT

Columbia

How do deep learning, Lidar, aerial imagery, and ESRI StoryMaps combine to enhance city-wide urban forestry management? This session briefly showcases the powerful role GIS recently played for urban forestry planning and tree maintenance for the City of Detroit. NV5 supported a multi-agency initiative using aerial imagery, Lidar, and machine learning to map tree canopy, provide measures of tree...
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Speakers

Ruby Clark

Associate Team Lead, NV5 Geospatial

Nathan Kossnar

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:33pm - 2:41pm PDT
Columbia

The Greater Good: Service Efficiencies Utilizing GIS

2:42pm PDT

Lightning Talks Round 7- Pishno Pi̱yakni (Our Land): Environmental Justice, Colonialism, and Indigenous Land Sovereignty of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:42pm - 2:50pm PDT

Columbia

This project aims to understand the interconnected nature of: colonialism, environmental justice, and indigenous land sovereignty as it relates to the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. This research is incredibly important in understanding and furthering the fight of Native nations for land sovereignty against colonial powers. In particular understanding the individual environmental injustices the...
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Speakers

Allison McClaughry

Professor Gunwha Oh

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:42pm - 2:50pm PDT
Columbia

Students and Emerging Professionals

2:51pm PDT

Lightning Talks Round 7 - Metro's Safe Routes to School Walkshed Application

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:51pm - 2:59pm PDT

Columbia

Oregon Metro's Safe Routes to School Walkshed Analysis application was created to provide information on transportation needs and barriers impacting K-12 students across the greater Portland region. This talk will highlight

Speakers

Jake Lovell

GIS Specialist, Metro

Jake Lovell works in the Metro Data Resource Center, supporting transportation planners with GIS data and analysis support.

Wednesday April 29, 2026 2:51pm - 2:59pm PDT
Columbia

Technology Showcase

3:00pm PDT

Break (Refreshments Provided)

Wednesday April 29, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm PDT

TBA

Wednesday April 29, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm PDT
TBA

3:30pm PDT

Lightning Talks Round 7 - For a Good Time Call: Bathroom Graffiti & Private Space

Wednesday April 29, 2026 3:30pm - 3:38pm PDT

Columbia

Graffiti is now widely accepted as street art. Bathroom graffiti may be more taboo and not always considered art, but it is a form of artistic communication only localized to a specific spatial dimension. As such, it is worthy of both GIS and cultural study. Known academically as 'latrinalia', bathroom gratffiti dates back to at least Roman times. It occurs in a rare space: one that is private...
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Speakers

Joshua Weill

Wednesday April 29, 2026 3:30pm - 3:38pm PDT
Columbia

GIS and Culture - Spatial Analysis

3:30pm PDT

Legacy Data, Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Mess.

Wednesday April 29, 2026 3:30pm - 4:00pm PDT

Classrooms 1-4

How do you build an online GIS presence from scratch? Better yet, how do you make data from 2005 talk nice to data from 2025? Navigating the transition out of the ArcMap/Desktop ecosystem into the wide world of AGOL and ArcGIS Pro is no mean feat. In conjunction with our consultant partners at Flo Analytics, come learn how (and why) RTC undertook this journey. A candid look at the process of...
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Speakers

Jordan Hamann

Associate Planner, GIS, Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council

Wednesday April 29, 2026 3:30pm - 4:00pm PDT
Classrooms 1-4

Collaboration and Governance

3:30pm PDT

OpenET: Open Source Satellite-Based Evapotranspiration Data for Improved Water Management

Wednesday April 29, 2026 3:30pm - 4:00pm PDT

Atrium

Water managers, farmers and communities across the United States are increasingly seeking better information about how water is used across the landscape. One of the most important- and historically difficult- components of water accounting is consumptive use: the water that is actually used by crops and vegetation and returned to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration (ET). OpenET is a...
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Speakers

Garshaw Amidi-Abraham

Wednesday April 29, 2026 3:30pm - 4:00pm PDT
Atrium

Collaboration and Governance

3:30pm PDT

Cutting Through the Noise: Reliable Geohazard Alerts From Messy Sensor Data

Wednesday April 29, 2026 3:30pm - 4:00pm PDT

Auditorium

Geohazard monitoring in the real world is dominated by messy data, weather interference, occlusions, sensor drift, dropouts, and site-to-site variability. Cascade Geomatics is building a robust alerting pipeline that turns imperfect sensing into reliable, georeferenced risk intelligence for rockfall, landslide, mudslide, and avalanche hazards. We begin by constructing a large, local database of...
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Speakers

Braden Kislin

Wednesday April 29, 2026 3:30pm - 4:00pm PDT
Auditorium

Executives Track

3:39pm PDT

Lightning Talks Round 8 - Spatial Patterns of Salp Blooms in the California Current: A Decade of Change

Wednesday April 29, 2026 3:39pm - 3:47pm PDT

Columbia

Salps are gelatinous grazers that can rapidly form dense blooms in ocean ecosystems, yet the environmental conditions that drive where and when these blooms occur remain poorly understood. Understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of salp blooms is increasingly important as ocean conditions shift and as blooms potentially influence commercially important fisheries. This study investigates...
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Speakers

Jo Lipps

Wednesday April 29, 2026 3:39pm - 3:47pm PDT
Columbia

Technology Showcase

3:48pm PDT

Lightning Talks Round 8 - LiDAR in Complex Natural Forest: Practical Implications for Inventory and Management

Wednesday April 29, 2026 3:48pm - 3:56pm PDT

Columbia

LiDAR-based forest inventory has advanced over the past decade, with studies reporting cm-level DBH accuracy and sub-meter height estimates. However, most of this work was done in urban forests, plantations, or younger forests with simple structure. In Pacific Northwest natural forests, undergrowth, tall trees, and closed canopy limit high-precision GNSS, making spatially explicit inventory...
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Speakers

Avishek Hamal

Wednesday April 29, 2026 3:48pm - 3:56pm PDT
Columbia

Photogrammetry Imagery and Lidar Advancements

4:00pm PDT

Reappraisal Pilot Project: Multnomah County Leverages ArcGIS Survey123 to Inspect Residential Properties

Wednesday April 29, 2026 4:00pm - 4:30pm PDT

Auditorium

Multnomah County's Division of Assessment, Recording and Taxation is re-imagining its Residential Reappraisal Program. This program, designed to support accurate property value assessments and fair taxation, involves county appraisers inspecting properties (from the sidewalk) to verify and collect data on land and improvements. To execute this work efficiently, the County selected ArcGIS...
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Speakers

Jerry Oelerich

Wednesday April 29, 2026 4:00pm - 4:30pm PDT
Auditorium

Collaboration and Governance

4:00pm PDT

Identifying Patterns of Residential Summer Landscape Irrigation Via Remote Sensing

Wednesday April 29, 2026 4:00pm - 4:30pm PDT

Classrooms 1-4

Leveraging readily available government land use and remote sensing datasets, this study uses imaging analysis techniques to evaluate landowner choices relative to their municipal water use for landscaping during the summer season. Specifically, the study uses LiDAR surface modeling and NDVI index measures to identify residential taxlot parcels where owners choose to irrigate lawn turf covering...
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Speakers

Daniel Welch

GIS Certificate Program, Portland Community College Geospatial Program

Wednesday April 29, 2026 4:00pm - 4:30pm PDT
Classrooms 1-4

Students and Emerging Professionals

4:00pm PDT

Geospatial Data-Driven Strategies to Improve Freshwater Ecosystems in the West 

Wednesday April 29, 2026 4:00pm - 4:30pm PDT

Atrium

The Freshwater Trust (TFT) is a solutions-oriented nonprofit that uses precision analytics to quantify high-priority conservation projects that achieve watershed-scale outcomes. I will highlight the water resource tools we are currently applying to solve problems across the Western U.S. and show examples of decision-support applications and the geospatial workflows we use in arid regions such as...
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Speakers

Amanda Temple

Wednesday April 29, 2026 4:00pm - 4:30pm PDT
Atrium

Technology Showcase

4:04pm PDT

Technologies of Containment and Bordering: Community Resistance Against the NWDC

Wednesday April 29, 2026 4:04pm - 4:12pm PDT

Columbia

The objective of this research is to interrogate the deployement of intensified punitive tactics in U.S. immigration processing and border security. I rely on Critical Migration Studies, Abolition Geography Studies and various geographic perspectives as analytical frameworks to advance the working claim surrounding the political weak points and U.S constitutional violations as it relates to...
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Speakers

Kati Sosa

Wednesday April 29, 2026 4:04pm - 4:12pm PDT
Columbia

Human Rights Abolitions Geographies

4:30pm PDT

Oregon Multi-Modal Case Study: Hillsboro

Wednesday April 29, 2026 4:30pm - 5:00pm PDT

Columbia

Looking at processing Hillsboro's roadways, bicycle, pedestrian, and crossing facilities using AI data from Ecopia. This data was delivered to Hillsboro in late 2025 and will be used to draft the upcoming TSP.

Speakers

Josh Ahmann

Ryan Peterson

Wednesday April 29, 2026 4:30pm - 5:00pm PDT
Columbia

Asset management Data governance Equity Technology

4:30pm PDT

PNW Surface Stability Monitoring via Time - Series InSar

Wednesday April 29, 2026 4:30pm - 5:00pm PDT

Auditorium

This project develops a time-series InSAR workflow to monitor surface stability using Sentinel-1 SAR coherence data. By compiling multi-year interferometric pairs from a consistent acquisition geometry, the approach establishes a historical baseline of expected week-to-week coherence behavior across NW Oregon and SW Washington. New observations are compared against this baseline to identify...
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Speakers

Brett Dierker

Wednesday April 29, 2026 4:30pm - 5:00pm PDT
Auditorium

Technology Showcase

4:30pm PDT

Working with Local 3D data in the ArcGIS Native SDKs

Wednesday April 29, 2026 4:30pm - 5:00pm PDT

Classrooms 1-4

As our devices become increasingly powerful, it is important to take full advantage of the hardware available. In April, Esri will release a brand new rendering architecture for the ArcGIS Native Maps SDKs to take advantage of modern rendering capabilities of the devices we use every day to bring improved performance and unlock new features. This will be available through the local scene, which...
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Speakers

Ian Maher

Wednesday April 29, 2026 4:30pm - 5:00pm PDT
Classrooms 1-4

Technology Showcase

4:30pm PDT

Integrating PFAS Data in GIS

Wednesday April 29, 2026 4:30pm - 5:00pm PDT

Atrium

For over 2.5 years, City of Salem Environmental Services has accumulated both internally and externally collected PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) samples, but these results were not integrated into GIS until recently. Our GIS team developed an internal ArcGIS Experience Builder application, built on Survey123 forms and hosted feature layers, with an automated FME workflow to standardize...
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Speakers

Christopher Ratcliff Iverson

GIS Analyst, City of Salem

I’m a GIS Analyst with the City of Salem, Oregon, with over 10 years of experience in GIS and remote sensing. I manage the Public Works CCTV database for pipeline inspections and primarily support projects involving wastewater, drones, and imagery. I focus on using programming and... Read More →

Wednesday April 29, 2026 4:30pm - 5:00pm PDT
Atrium

The Greater Good: Service Efficiencies Utilizing GIS

5:30pm PDT

Opening Night Reception (drinks, heavy hors d'oeuvres and live music)

Wednesday April 29, 2026 5:30pm - 8:30pm PDT

Cascadia

Wednesday April 29, 2026 5:30pm - 8:30pm PDT
Cascadia

8:00am PDT

Remote Sensing to Restore a Degraded Jurisdictional Wetland in Urban Washington County

Thursday April 30, 2026 8:00am - 8:30am PDT

Atrium

This presentation shares the benefits of applying recycled water to a degraded urban wetland, using remote sensing and spatial analysis to document and quantify the impacts of recycled water upon vegetation health, soil biome, and site ecology. As Washington County densifies, the volume of wastewater effluent that can be released into the Tualatin River each day remains limited by the stream...
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Speakers

Emma Colburn

Carly Holzschuh

Thursday April 30, 2026 8:00am - 8:30am PDT
Atrium

Collaboration and Governance

8:00am PDT

Survey123, Cityworks, FME – oh my!

Thursday April 30, 2026 8:00am - 8:30am PDT

Classrooms 1-4

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...
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Speakers

Caroline Ayala

GIS Analyst, City of Salem

Thursday April 30, 2026 8:00am - 8:30am PDT
Classrooms 1-4

Technology Showcase

8:00am PDT

Celestial Infrastructure: The History, Science, and Future of Global Satellite Positioning

Thursday April 30, 2026 8:00am - 9:00am PDT

Auditorium

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...
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Speakers

Noah Flick

Geospatial Mapping Hardware Representative, Frontier Precision

Thursday April 30, 2026 8:00am - 9:00am PDT
Auditorium

Technology Showcase

8:00am PDT

Vendor Booths Open

Thursday April 30, 2026 8:00am - 5:00pm PDT

Cascadia

Thursday April 30, 2026 8:00am - 5:00pm PDT
Cascadia

8:00am PDT

Map Gallery Open

Thursday April 30, 2026 8:00am - 5:00pm PDT

Cafe

Thursday April 30, 2026 8:00am - 5:00pm PDT
Cafe

Cartography

8:30am PDT

Snowplows, traffic cameras, and an unfixable Esri bug - A tale of resilience

Thursday April 30, 2026 8:30am - 9:00am PDT

Classrooms 1-4

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...
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Speakers

Lauren McKinney-Wise

Thursday April 30, 2026 8:30am - 9:00am PDT
Classrooms 1-4

Technology Showcase

8:30am PDT

Fire Data Transparency with ArcGIS Dashboards, Experience Builder, and ArcGIS Hub

Thursday April 30, 2026 8:30am - 9:00am PDT

Atrium

The City of Gresham, with assistance from Dewberry, is working on a comprehensive Fire Data Hub site to better inform the public on how our Fire Department operates and responds to incidents. The project consists of a data pipeline built with the ESRI Data Interoperability extension (FME), an Experience Builder application for exploring incident data, and an ArcGIS Hub site. We will discuss what...
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Speakers

Tabitha Fraser

Thursday April 30, 2026 8:30am - 9:00am PDT
Atrium

The Greater Good: Service Efficiencies Utilizing GIS

9:00am PDT

Lessons Learned and the Benefits of a Cloud based GIS

Thursday April 30, 2026 9:00am - 9:30am PDT

Atrium

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...
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Speakers

Brock Saylor

Client Director - Western Region, Langan

Brock is currently Langan's Digital Solution Client/Sales Director, managing Langan’s Digital Solutions/GIS team in the western United States. Brock’s client focus is centered around resorts, K-12, higher education, healthcare, data centers, and local/state government service... Read More →

Thursday April 30, 2026 9:00am - 9:30am PDT
Atrium

Technology Showcase

9:00am PDT

From Access and ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro Python toolbox: A Parks Analytics Modernization Story

Thursday April 30, 2026 9:00am - 9:30am PDT

Classrooms 1-4

In 2025, The Gartrell Group was contacted by BerryDunn, a national accounting and consulting firm. BerryDunn had a well-established and trusted analytical framework for assessing the quality, accessibility, and level of service offered by public parks. However, this methodology relied on legacy technologies, Microsoft Access and ArcMap, creating challenges related to manual project setup, fragile...
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Speakers

Aurora Bayless-Edwards

Project Manager, The Gartrell Group

Aurora Bayless-Edwards is a Project Manager at The Gartrell Group, where she leads cross‑functional teams delivering GIS strategy, cloud GIS, and spatial application solutions. With a background spanning utilities, GIS, and environmental analysis, she specializes in guiding complex technical transformations through agile delivery. Her work brid... Read More →

Thursday April 30, 2026 9:00am - 9:30am PDT
Classrooms 1-4

The Greater Good: Service Efficiencies Utilizing GIS

9:00am PDT

Geospatial Professional Network - PNW Board Meeting (Tentative)

Thursday April 30, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am PDT

Columbia

Thursday April 30, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am PDT
Columbia

Technology Showcase

9:00am PDT

How a Plan to Learn AI Became a Companion for ArcGIS Pro

Thursday April 30, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am PDT

Auditorium

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...
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Speakers

Tim Rawson

Thursday April 30, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am PDT
Auditorium

Technology Showcase

9:30am PDT

Mapping the Future of Gresham’s Parks

Thursday April 30, 2026 9:30am - 10:00am PDT

Classrooms 1-4

The City of Gresham’s GIS Department and Asset Management team partnered with the Parks Department to modernize park asset management by transitioning from limited asset visibility to a comprehensive, data-driven program. Through the development of a mobile GIS-based data collection application, staff are systematically inventorying park assets, capturing condition assessments, and integrating...
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Speakers

Brandon McCullough

Systems analyst, City of Gresham

Thursday April 30, 2026 9:30am - 10:00am PDT
Classrooms 1-4

Collaboration and Governance

9:30am PDT

Mobile Clinic Collaborative

Thursday April 30, 2026 9:30am - 10:00am PDT

Atrium

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.

Speakers

John Ruffing

Heather Fara

Verian Wedeking

Thursday April 30, 2026 9:30am - 10:00am PDT
Atrium

Technology Showcase

10:00am PDT

Break (Refreshments Provided)

Thursday April 30, 2026 10:00am - 10:30am PDT

TBA

Thursday April 30, 2026 10:00am - 10:30am PDT
TBA

10:30am PDT

(Virtual) Accessibility best practices in GIS and mapping

Thursday April 30, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am PDT

Auditorium

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...
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Speakers

Jessica Mccall

Sr Accessibility Project Manager, Esri

Jessica McCall is a Senior Accessibility Project Manager at Esri, where she has works as a member of the Esri Accessibility team in Software Product Development. She collaborates with customers, partners, and internal teams to provide resources that support accessible GIS products... Read More →

Thursday April 30, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am PDT
Auditorium

Technology Showcase

10:30am PDT

ArcGIS Instant Apps: Engage your community

Thursday April 30, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am PDT

Classrooms 1-4

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...
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Speakers

Sarah McDonald

Senior Product Engineer, Esri

Sarah McDonald is a Senior Product Engineer on the ArcGIS Instant Apps team at Esri. She has been with Esri since 2016. With strong skills in product development and project management, she collaborates closely with GIS professionals to create intuitive, impactful solutions.

... Read More →

Thursday April 30, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am PDT
Classrooms 1-4

Technology Showcase

10:30am PDT

Metro Data Resource Center (DRC) Updates: New RLIS Layers, App Enhancements, and Upcoming Work

Thursday April 30, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am PDT

Atrium

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...
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Speakers

Madeline Steele

GIS Manager, Oregon Metro

Madeline Steele is a GIS Manager in Oregon Metro’s Data Resource Center. There, she leads the team that delivers the Regional Land Information System (RLIS) in collaboration with local partners. She has 15 years of experience in the geospatial field, a Master’s in Geography from... Read More →

Thursday April 30, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am PDT
Atrium

Technology Showcase

11:00am PDT

Accessibility Updates

Thursday April 30, 2026 11:00am - 11:30am PDT

Auditorium

GIS compliance for the new DOJ rules for web accessibility

Speakers

Lauren McKinney-Wise

Emma Brenneman

GIS Technician III, City of Portland, PBOT

Emma Brenneman is a GIS Technician III with the City of Portland’s Bureau of Transportation, where she leads efforts to improve data quality, accessibility, and usability across transportation systems. Her work focuses on developing accessible web maps and applications and supporting... Read More →

Hallie Liu Rogers

Thursday April 30, 2026 11:00am - 11:30am PDT
Auditorium

Collaboration and Governance

11:00am PDT

Mapping Forgotten Routes: From Historical Texts to Interactive GIS Storytelling

Thursday April 30, 2026 11:00am - 11:30am PDT

Classrooms 1-4

Kittelson & Associates, Inc. worked with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Systems Forecasting & Trends Office to develop an ArcGIS Experience Builder site visualizing comparative statewide transportation performance measures and trends. The site houses several StoryMaps, including a highlight on FDOT’s America 250 initiative visualizing historically significant transportation...
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Speakers

Emily Westoby

Thursday April 30, 2026 11:00am - 11:30am PDT
Classrooms 1-4

Collaboration and Governance

11:00am PDT

Animating Urban Growth: Storytelling with RLIS Housing Data in ArcGIS Pro

Thursday April 30, 2026 11:00am - 11:30am PDT

Atrium

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...
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Speakers

Al Mowbray

Senior GIS Specialist, Metro

As a Senior GIS Specialist in the Data Resource Center, I serve as Metro’s UAS Coordinator and DRC Liaison to WPES. I started at Metro in 2015 doing basic map analysis and visualization for many of Metro’s various departments, including Parks, Solid Waste, and the Zoo. My current... Read More →

Thursday April 30, 2026 11:00am - 11:30am PDT
Atrium

Technology Showcase

11:30am PDT

Accessibilty Q & A

Thursday April 30, 2026 11:30am - 12:00pm PDT

Auditorium

Speakers

Chance Morrison

Student of Geomatics, Portland Community College

Lauren McKinney-Wise

Franz Arend

Emma Brenneman

GIS Technician III, City of Portland, PBOT

Hallie Liu Rogers

Jon McDowell

Neil Green-Clancy

Thursday April 30, 2026 11:30am - 12:00pm PDT
Auditorium

Collaboration and Governance

11:30am PDT

ODOT Multimodal Inventory - Year 2 Updates

Thursday April 30, 2026 11:30am - 12:00pm PDT

Atrium

This is a follow-up to my presentation last year regarding the ODOT Multimodal Inventory effort. I'll update attendees on advancements in the project.

Speakers

Josh Ahmann

Theresa Conley

Ryan Peterson

Thursday April 30, 2026 11:30am - 12:00pm PDT
Atrium

Collaboration and Governance

11:30am PDT

Designing Maps for the Next Generation: A Retrospective on the Third Edition of the Student Atlas of Oregon

Thursday April 30, 2026 11:30am - 12:00pm PDT

Classrooms 1-4

The Student Atlas of Oregon by the Center for Geography Education in Oregon has provided materials for teachers across the state to use in their classes for middle school aged students’ geographic education since 2009. In preparing updated pages for the upcoming third edition, a range of considerations arose such as the appropriate level of complexity for the audience, what kinds of datasets are...
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Speakers

Aaron Menconi

Rachel Rudick

Owen Scholes.

Thursday April 30, 2026 11:30am - 12:00pm PDT
Classrooms 1-4

Students and Emerging Professionals

12:00pm PDT

Lunch Buffet (Provided)

Thursday April 30, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm PDT

Cascadia

Thursday April 30, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm PDT
Cascadia

1:30pm PDT

Indoor GIS: Step by Step Guide to Implementation and Sustainment

Thursday April 30, 2026 1:30pm - 2:00pm PDT

Classrooms 1-4

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...
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Speakers

Brock Saylor

Client Director - Western Region, Langan

Thursday April 30, 2026 1:30pm - 2:00pm PDT
Classrooms 1-4

Technology Showcase

1:30pm PDT

Responsive Mapping to a Food Access Crisis

Thursday April 30, 2026 1:30pm - 2:00pm PDT

Atrium

In the fall of 2025—at the height of the federal government shutdown, resulting in the lack of federal funds to provide needed services in Oregon—thousands of Oregon residents faced the threat of losing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food security benefits. In response, dozens of Portland-area restaurants announced they would provide free or reduced meals to those with an...
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Speakers

Kyle Curtis

Rebbeca Robinson

Thursday April 30, 2026 1:30pm - 2:00pm PDT
Atrium

The Greater Good: Service Efficiencies Utilizing GIS

1:30pm PDT

Geospatial data storytelling to promote street art (Panel)

Thursday April 30, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm PDT

Auditorium

Explore a collection of storymaps that use Survey123 and Field Maps to gather data on street art in the Portland Metro Area, New Orleans, and Rio de Janeiro. This project brings together research from Portland Community College students, faculty, and community members focused on landscape metrics and mapping. The street art projects highlight neighborhood history, social justice, and the link...
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Speakers

Tiffany Conklin

Libby Martin

Lorena Nascimento

Elana Eisenberg

Grace Galvin

I am currently finishing my last term as a PCC student in the GIS Certificate program. As an emerging GIS professional with a background in the creative arts, I offer a unique approach to data analysis and cartography. Skilled in Esri geospatial tools, I transform complex data into... Read More →

Cherise Frehner

Thursday April 30, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm PDT
Auditorium

Students and Emerging Professionals

2:00pm PDT

Bringing SCADA to the Map: Using GIS to Integrate Sensor Data for Wastewater Operations

Thursday April 30, 2026 2:00pm - 2:30pm PDT

Classrooms 1-4

GIS provides a powerful framework for integrating spatial asset data with operational data streams such as SCADA systems, IoT sensors, and field inspection data. When combined, these systems allow utilities to move beyond static asset maps toward dynamic operational intelligence. Until recently, Clark Regional Wastewater District had no integration between GIS and SCADA or field sensors. Accessing...
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Speakers

Carrie Schmidt

Thursday April 30, 2026 2:00pm - 2:30pm PDT
Classrooms 1-4

Collaboration and Governance

2:00pm PDT

Geospatial Live: Real-Time GIS for Operational Intelligence

Thursday April 30, 2026 2:00pm - 2:30pm PDT

Atrium

The ability to “animate” a City’s GIS with real-time IoT data has long been a goal for organizations managing complex infrastructure. Transforming a static map into a living operations dashboard enables teams to make decisions based on current conditions rather than yesterday’s reports. However, many critical data feeds originate from sensitive systems such as SCADA, where security and...
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Speakers

Christopher Ratcliff Iverson

GIS Analyst, City of Salem

Devin Doring

Technical Services Program Manager, City of Salem

Thursday April 30, 2026 2:00pm - 2:30pm PDT
Atrium

Collaboration and Governance

2:30pm PDT

(in)visible Oregon

Thursday April 30, 2026 2:30pm - 3:00pm PDT

Classrooms 1-4

How do we come to know a place? Often, it is through the view from a road. Highways and familiar routes shape how we see the world, offering glimpses that gradually form our sense of what a place looks like. Traveling familiar routes over and over again can create the feeling that we know the places we pass through. Yet those views are constrained, and much of the surrounding landscape remains...
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Speakers

Joseph Bard

Thursday April 30, 2026 2:30pm - 3:00pm PDT
Classrooms 1-4

Collaboration and Governance

2:30pm PDT

Analyzing Risk with GIS at WSRB

Thursday April 30, 2026 2:30pm - 3:00pm PDT

Atrium

Washington Surveying and Rating Bureau (WSRB) is an independent, not-for-profit, public service organization serving Washington state. We help insurers and their customers by providing objective data on multiple risk factors. Our services enable insurers to evaluate risk efficiently and effectively, giving their policyholders peace of mind by making sure insurance rates are fair and...
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Speakers

Guillaume Turcotte

GIS Manager, Washington Surveying and Rating Bureau (WSRB)

Guillaume Turcotte is a GIS professional whose 18-year career has spanned multiple industries including academia, consulting, utilities, and natural resources. He joined the Washington Surveying and Rating Bureau (WSRB) in 2023 to lead its GIS team. The 5-person team is tasked with... Read More →

Thursday April 30, 2026 2:30pm - 3:00pm PDT
Atrium

The Greater Good: Service Efficiencies Utilizing GIS

3:00pm PDT

Break (Refreshments Provided)

Thursday April 30, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm PDT

TBA

Thursday April 30, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm PDT
TBA

3:30pm PDT

Closing Plenary and Keynote - Spatial Storytelling: Making the Case for an Essential (Vulnerable) Service

Thursday April 30, 2026 3:30pm - 5:00pm PDT

Auditorium

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...
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Speakers

Evan Landman

Thursday April 30, 2026 3:30pm - 5:00pm PDT
Auditorium

Technology Showcase