Storymap Contest!  We will have a Professional and Student category just like the printed poster/map contest.  You must submit your Storymap before the day of the conference.  Remember to make your map public so everyone can view them.  These will be voted on by a panel of GIS Professionals that have not submitted a Storymap.

Enter Your Storymap Here

Click here for the conference information page

Please join us for our January Program at Monroe County Emergency Operations Center. Trisha VanBuren, from EagleView, will discuss the timeline of 2018 Hurricane events and how EagleView acted quickly to plan their Disaster Relief efforts. Lunch will follow presentation.

When: Tuesday, January 8th, 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM

Where: Monroe County Emergency Operations Center – 1190 Scottsville Rd, Rochester, NY 14624

Cost: $5 (Pay at the door)

Lunch: Pizza

Registration: https://tinyurl.com/2019GISSIGJanuaryProgram

Please join us for our September Program at Woodside Lodge in Black Creek Park.

Jan van Aardt, professor in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology, will present “Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for Precision Agriculture – an RIT Perspective” Lunch will follow the presentation.

When:  Tuesday, September 18th, 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM

Where:  Black Creek Park – Woodside Lodge (turn left at stop sign if entering off Union St) – 3835 Union Street, North Chili

Cost: $5 (Pay at the door)

Lunch: TBD

Registration: https://tinyurl.com/GISSIG2018SeptProgram

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for precision agriculture – an RIT perspective 

Jan van Aardt, Carl Salvaggio, Ethan Hughes, Mike McClelland, Donald McKeown, & Tim Bauch – Rochester Institute of Technology (Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science) with supporting material from Sarah Jane Pethybridge, Julie R. Kikkert, & Alan Lakso – Cornell University

Relatively recent advances in unmanned aerial systems (UAS), or drone technology, as well as miniaturization of complex remote sensing systems, have enabled new approaches to precision agriculture. Specifically, imaging spectroscopy (hyperspectral) and light detection and ranging (lidar) can be used for agricultural disease detection, structural quantification, moisture stress assessment, and nutrient mapping. This talk will focus on RIT and collaborator (Cornell University, Nature Conservancy) efforts to develop robust analytical approaches to a range of precision agriculture challenges. We will highlight efforts to develop risk models for proactive management of white mold (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) in snap beans, evaluate sustainable harvesting practices in southeastern USA deciduous forests, and present updates on vineyard moisture stress assessment. The specific study areas are located at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station (Geneva, NY), southwestern Virginia, and Fox Run Vineyards (Penn Yan, NY). A DJI Matrice-600 UAS, boasting a high spatial resolution color camera, a Headwall Photonics imaging spectrometer (272 bands; 400-1000 nm), and a Velodyne VLP-16 lidar system, are used for this research. Initial findings from these various projects will be presented, while focusing on i) the need for proper calibration-to-reflectance of the imaging data, ii) identification of operational wavelength solutions from spectrally oversampled hyperspectral imagery, and iii) the benefit of fusing 3D lidar data with high fidelity spectral imagery. An example of the DJI Matrice-600 multi-modal platform also will be showcased, project-permitting.

About the speaker:

Jan van Aardt is a professor in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York. He obtained a B.Sc. Forestry degree (“how to grow and cut down trees”) from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa in 1996. He completed M.S. and Ph.D. Forestry degrees, focused on remote sensing (imaging spectroscopy and light detection and ranging), at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia in 2000 and 2004, respectively. This was followed by post-doctoral work at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, and a stint as research group leader at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa. Imaging spectroscopy and structural (lidar) sensing of natural resources form the core of his efforts, which vary between vegetation structural and system state (physiology) assessment. The interaction of photons with leaves is what really gets him going…He has received funding from NSF, NASA, Google, and USDA, among others, and has published >60 peer-reviewed papers and >80 conference contributions.

Please join us for our June Program at Sunnyside Lodge in Black Creek Park. A picnic lunch will be served following the presentation. 

When:  Wednesday, June 27th, 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM

Where: Black Creek Park – Sunnyside Lodge

              3835 Union Street

              North Chili, NY 14514 

Cost:    $5 (Pay at door)

Lunch: BBQ

Registration: https://tinyurl.com/GISSIG2018JuneProgram

Orienteering – Jennifer VanHouter Monroe County

Orienteering started as a military exercise and has grown into an international sport recognized by the Olympic Committee. Learning orienteering skills turns abstract ideas into a real life skill. This presentation will highlight the history, equipment, and methodology of orienteering. Weather permitting there will be a demonstration of basic compass and map skills.

Please join us for our December Program in the Kate Gleason Auditorium at the Central Library (in the new building on the east side of South Ave). Justin Cole will present “PLeveraging Survey123 to Power Reporting in Microsoft Word.” Lunch will be served following the presentation.

When: Wednesday, Feburary 14th 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM (New Date)

Where: Kate Gleason Auditorium at the Central Library

115 South Ave

Rochester, NY 14604

The Kate Gleason Auditorium is in the new building on the east side of South Ave. The location is accessible by bus, foot and bicycle. Car parking is available at the South Ave Garage, which is connected to the library. Parking costs $2.00 for the first two hours.

Cost: $5 (Pay at door)

Registration: https://tinyurl.com/2018GISSIGFebruaryProgram

Leveraging Survey123 to Power Reporting in Microsoft Word – Justin D. Cole, GISP

Paper forms have been a staple of inspections for many years. They are cumbersome and slow to both fill out and redo for final copies. WebGIS gives the ability to fill out these forms quickly, once, saving time. This presentation shows a method using utilizing Survey123 and Microsoft Word to convert existing forms and workflows. All tools and procedures are available for any ArcGIS subscription user and can work with any version of Word. I will be using the NYSDOT MS-4 Inspection form as an example.