GIS in Action 2026 has ended

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GIS in Action 2026

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 Cascadia Map Gallery Open Cafe

8:30am PDT

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

10:00am PDT

Break (Refreshments Provided) 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 ColumbiaSu Jin Lee • Jordan Nowell • Zia Hill Sparks • Samantha Davenport A brief history of topographic mapping AtriumElaine Guidero GPN-PNW Emerging Professionals Mentorship Program AuditoriumJohn Thai • Lorena Nascimento • Roxanne Garcia • Daniel Carter • Vyla Grindberg • Joe Hayes • Lindsey Karr • Joe Bard • Kyle Curtis • Kate Pope • Eliza Yurkov • Kyrian Nnadi • Jake Lovell • Catherine Green • Leah Bollin • Zack Kasson ArcGIS Pro and Python: Potentially Helpful Bits and Bobs Classrooms 1-4David Howes

10:39am PDT

Lightning Talks Round 1 - The Great Burn ColumbiaDaniel Welch

10:48am PDT

Lightning Talks Round 1 - Orthometric Correction of Ground Control Points ColumbiaRyan Lennon

10:57am PDT

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

11:00am PDT

Building a Resilient Imagery Program AtriumSavannah Heckman • Josh Weilert

11:15am PDT

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

11:24am PDT

Lightning Talks Round 3 - Data equity in transportation safety ColumbiaNat Moss • Kate Gregory

11:30am PDT

Linux for GIS Professionals Classrooms 1-4Rachel Gugler GIS for Wildfire Response at the Oregon Department of Forestry AtriumErik Larsen

11:33am PDT

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

11:42am PDT

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

11:51am PDT

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

12:00pm PDT

Lunch Buffet (Provided) Cascadia

1:30pm PDT

When Lidar Gets Weird: Adaptive Strategies for Systematic Noise and Classification Challenges for Topographic and Bathymetric Lidar AtriumKate Emmel Tactile Cartography with 3D Terrain Modeling Classrooms 1-4Chance Morrison This Time the AI Builds Everything AuditoriumChristopher Moravec

1:38pm PDT

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

1:48pm PDT

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

1:57pm PDT

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

2:00pm PDT

Data Integration for Jetty Structure Mapping AtriumDanuta Greblowska A GIS Workflow for 3D Printing Topgraphic Models Classrooms 1-4Noah Flick Lessons Learned in The Special Operations Community - Inspiring GIS & Indoor Mapping AuditoriumJosh Longenecker

2:06pm PDT

Lightning Talks Round 5 - Historic Counties of Oregon ColumbiaNicholas Cramer

2:15pm PDT

Lightning Talks Round 6 - Hoop Dreams: Mapping American Streetball ColumbiaJoshua Weill

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. ColumbiaErin Zipper

2:30pm PDT

The Importance of Topographic-Bathymetric Lidar: From Collection to GIS-Driven Deliverables AtriumChristina Gray Stepping Out of The Shadows: Utilizing Invariant Color Spaces to Build a Shadow Mask in ArcGIS Pro Classrooms 1-4Kate Pope Simplifying GIS Workflows with Arcade AuditoriumNicholas Cramer

2:33pm PDT

Lightning Talks Round 6 - Remote Sensing Based Digital Inventory and Management System for Urban Forestry ColumbiaRuby Clark • Nathan Kossnar

2:42pm PDT

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

2:51pm PDT

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

3:00pm PDT

Break (Refreshments Provided) TBA

3:30pm PDT

Lightning Talks Round 7 - For a Good Time Call: Bathroom Graffiti & Private Space ColumbiaJoshua Weill Legacy Data, Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Mess. Classrooms 1-4Jordan Hamann OpenET: Open Source Satellite-Based Evapotranspiration Data for Improved Water Management AtriumGarshaw Amidi-Abraham Cutting Through the Noise: Reliable Geohazard Alerts From Messy Sensor Data AuditoriumBraden Kislin

3:39pm PDT

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

3:48pm PDT

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

4:00pm PDT

Reappraisal Pilot Project: Multnomah County Leverages ArcGIS Survey123 to Inspect Residential Properties AuditoriumJerry Oelerich Identifying Patterns of Residential Summer Landscape Irrigation Via Remote Sensing Classrooms 1-4Daniel Welch Geospatial Data-Driven Strategies to Improve Freshwater Ecosystems in the West  AtriumAmanda Temple

4:04pm PDT

Technologies of Containment and Bordering: Community Resistance Against the NWDC ColumbiaKati Sosa

4:30pm PDT

Oregon Multi-Modal Case Study: Hillsboro ColumbiaJosh Ahmann • Ryan Peterson PNW Surface Stability Monitoring via Time - Series InSar AuditoriumBrett Dierker Working with Local 3D data in the ArcGIS Native SDKs Classrooms 1-4Ian Maher Integrating PFAS Data in GIS AtriumChristopher Ratcliff Iverson

5:30pm PDT

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

8:00am PDT

Remote Sensing to Restore a Degraded Jurisdictional Wetland in Urban Washington County AtriumEmma Colburn • Carly Holzschuh Survey123, Cityworks, FME – oh my! Classrooms 1-4Caroline Ayala Celestial Infrastructure: The History, Science, and Future of Global Satellite Positioning AuditoriumNoah Flick Vendor Booths Open Cascadia Map Gallery Open Cafe

8:30am PDT

Snowplows, traffic cameras, and an unfixable Esri bug - A tale of resilience Classrooms 1-4Lauren McKinney-Wise Fire Data Transparency with ArcGIS Dashboards, Experience Builder, and ArcGIS Hub AtriumTabitha Fraser

9:00am PDT

Lessons Learned and the Benefits of a Cloud based GIS AtriumBrock Saylor From Access and ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro Python toolbox: A Parks Analytics Modernization Story Classrooms 1-4Aurora Bayless-Edwards Geospatial Professional Network - PNW Board Meeting (Tentative) Columbia How a Plan to Learn AI Became a Companion for ArcGIS Pro AuditoriumTim Rawson

9:30am PDT

Mapping the Future of Gresham’s Parks Classrooms 1-4Brandon McCullough Mobile Clinic Collaborative AtriumJohn Ruffing • Heather Fara • Verian Wedeking

10:00am PDT

Break (Refreshments Provided) TBA

10:30am PDT

(Virtual) Accessibility best practices in GIS and mapping AuditoriumJessica Mccall ArcGIS Instant Apps: Engage your community Classrooms 1-4Sarah McDonald Metro Data Resource Center (DRC) Updates: New RLIS Layers, App Enhancements, and Upcoming Work AtriumMadeline Steele

11:00am PDT

Accessibility Updates AuditoriumLauren McKinney-Wise • Emma Brenneman • Hallie Liu Rogers Mapping Forgotten Routes: From Historical Texts to Interactive GIS Storytelling Classrooms 1-4Emily Westoby Animating Urban Growth: Storytelling with RLIS Housing Data in ArcGIS Pro AtriumAl Mowbray

11:30am PDT

Accessibilty Q & A AuditoriumChance Morrison • Lauren McKinney-Wise • Franz Arend • Emma Brenneman • Hallie Liu Rogers • Jon McDowell • Neil Green-Clancy ODOT Multimodal Inventory - Year 2 Updates AtriumJosh Ahmann • Theresa Conley • Ryan Peterson Designing Maps for the Next Generation: A Retrospective on the Third Edition of the Student Atlas of Oregon Classrooms 1-4Aaron Menconi • Rachel Rudick • Owen Scholes.

12:00pm PDT

Lunch Buffet (Provided) Cascadia

1:30pm PDT

Indoor GIS: Step by Step Guide to Implementation and Sustainment Classrooms 1-4Brock Saylor Responsive Mapping to a Food Access Crisis AtriumKyle Curtis • Rebbeca Robinson Geospatial data storytelling to promote street art (Panel) AuditoriumTiffany Conklin • Libby Martin • Lorena Nascimento • Elana Eisenberg • Grace Galvin • Cherise Frehner

2:00pm PDT

Bringing SCADA to the Map: Using GIS to Integrate Sensor Data for Wastewater Operations Classrooms 1-4Carrie Schmidt Geospatial Live: Real-Time GIS for Operational Intelligence AtriumChristopher Ratcliff Iverson • Devin Doring

2:30pm PDT

(in)visible Oregon Classrooms 1-4Joseph Bard Analyzing Risk with GIS at WSRB AtriumGuillaume Turcotte

3:00pm PDT

Break (Refreshments Provided) TBA

3:30pm PDT

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