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GIS Cooperative Meeting
City of Tucson - Information Technology
Friday November 9, 2001
10:00 - 11:30 AM

Present: Donald Ijams, Cheryl Van De Beuken, Blanca Espino, Mary Szczepanski, Dave Hochede, Christine O'Connor, Jessie Sanders, Chuck Beauchamp, Paige Hamner, Linda Lopez, and Larry Cassen

ESRI Southwest Users Group (SWUG) Conference - Tucson - October 22 - 26, 2001

Blanca Espino, who works with the City of Tucson Development Services Department and is active in the SWUG organization, gave a brief overview of the conference. She had the opportunity to attend some very informative workshops and presentations. Christine asked if this conference is primarily for beginning and/or intermediate GIS users. Don stated that it is potentially valuable for both. There are a variety of issues discussed in these workshops and formal sessions that may be of interest to us. There is a lot of education on some interesting issues, one can learn new techniques, gain different perspective on ideas, and better understand issues that you may encounter in the future. The conference is held regionally. The people who do the research are the ones who actually present it to attendees.

Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) - Long Beach, Ca - October 20 - 24, 2001

Don Ijams attended URISA Annual Training Conference in Long Beach. Among other things, he obtained two very informative papers on cost/benefit assessment of GIS and has made the papers available on the Cooperative's Intranet.

Don came home with a CD containing all the papers presented. A copy of the listing of papers presented is available on the intranet. Please let him know if you would like a copy.

CityScan/Master Address Database Project Update - David Hochede

Dave gave a Powerpoint presentation showing some of the area profile functions of CityScan. He and Don will be presenting the CityScan application to senior management at the City Manager's meeting on November 21st. The application will be put up on the City's intranet in early December 2001, and at that time, Dave and Don will be requesting any and all input on design and function. Dave has been working with Cheryl in Business License (Revenue Division), in looking at location addresses and how they are working within the CityScan framework.

The CityScan development team is working closely with Revenue in devising a process for cleaning addresses in the BLMS system. Together, they are attempting to use an automated process to separate and clean address parts now in the system.

A Wizard has been created to help describe particular areas (such as neighborhoods) in the City. For example, by using the profile feature, you can create a custom map and summary data table by selecting what type of data you would like and the particular neighborhood, ward, census tract of focus.

The CityScan development team has begun working with Tucson Police as the second City department (the first was Finance/Revenue) to be tapped for data to be used in CityScan. The GIS Cooperative vision for CityScan has included a consideration of all City departments and offices for possible data linkages to the seamless front end provided by CityScan.

Don will be meeting with Kay Marks, who is the Addressing Official for Pima County, and who approves all street names in the County and resolves addressing conflicts. He will be attempting to set up a process for resolving addressing questions raised by GIS Cooperative sponsored projects. As the official address file for Pima County (adcounty, its subset adparcel and the derivative City master address database) gets more and more use, questions will more frequently arise and a data flow and resolution process becomes even more important.

GIS Training

GIS Concepts Course: The second round is scheduled for Monday, November 19, 2001 from 8:15 AM - 1145 AM. It will be held at the Tucson Fire Prevention Center 797 E Ajo Way. So far 38 people have signed up and they anticipate a setting for 45-50 people. Don will give a 45-minute Powerpoint presentation on very basic GIS understanding and local resources, which will be followed by a revised presentation from Steve Whitney on more indepth GIS concepts.

ArcIMS: The GIS Cooperative is sponsoring the attendance of five members at a three day training course on ArcIMS. This course will focus on the infrastructure product from ESRI that allows serving GIS on the Web. The course will be held at City I.T. on December 11-13, 2001.

Current Events and Accomplishments

Geography Awareness Week is November 11-17, 2001. This annual event, sponsored by ESRI and the National Geographic Society, is an effort to provide geographic education to the public. Included is GIS Day, on November 14, 2001, when everyone is invited to learn more about geographic information systems.

Economic conditions have forced this year's budget process to focus on reduced spending during this fiscal year, and for upcoming budgets. Current purchases and budget plans are now being screened for what can be cut and on deciding what is critical for the next several years.

Larry Cassen discussed how their Solid Waste Department is using the GIS to see who is or is not paying proper fees and/or who is eligible for discounted rates. Some customers are paying residential rates when they should be paying business rates.

Other Business

Prior to the next GIS meeting scheduled for December 14th, 2001, there will be a discussion on Homeland Security and Risks from Easy Information Access involving Liz Wallendorf of City IT and Sgt. James Schneden of TPD Emergency Response Section, from 9AM - 10AM, here at IT. Some of the discussion will be based on CityScan and risks associated with the role it might play in making City information more available. Todd Sander will be making a recommendation to the City Manager as to the nature of any risks and possible mitigation strategies.

Tucson Electric Power guests may be here for the next meeting, scheduled for December 14, 2001.