Data, data, data.  There’s so much data out there that now it’s not necessarily trying to find the data, but rather what to do it with once you’ve obtained it.  In the past, whether it’s drug seizures, car crashes, or school shootings, analysts within the Illinois State Police have had to toil with large and complex datasets to dive deeper into the data.  Now with Insights for ArcGIS non-GIS users can harness the power of GIS in a timely, effective, and visually appealing manner. 

Giving analysts the power to analyze data within minutes has changed the way large and complex datasets are viewed.  No longer does the data need to go through the technical process of being formatted, geocoded, symbolized, and then combined with graphs created in Excel and other programs.  Now our analysts can drop a spreadsheet into Insights and create maps, graphs, and charts within minutes.  And the best part is, they aren’t static.  The interconnectivity of everything that’s created within the workbooks, allow us to dig deeper into the data.  For example, we can use Insights to better understand a nationwide school shooting database.  If we want to select a time frame during a day and see exactly where shootings occurred during those times and what types of guns were used, we can do that.  As you click around the cards that are created within Insights, you’ll see the graphs and maps change to reflect what’s connected to what you’ve clicked on.  In law enforcement, time is critical, and Insights takes away the longer processes that have been in place in the past when dealing with GIS.  It is also much easier and intuitive with a drag and drop interface. 

One of the big questions we first had with Insights however was, how can we share out the cards that we create?  The good news is that there are multiple ways of sharing data, including embedding the cards that you create in Story Maps or Dashboards.  One of the other great features is that everything you do within Insights is recorded and saved as a model, so you can upload an updated dataset without having to go through the card creation process that you went through originally.  This also allows others within your organization to use the models you’ve created, and enter their own datasets. 

​We’ve just scratched the surface with Insights, but we’re excited to see the potential uses for it.  We’re also excited to put GIS into the hands of non-GIS users and let them see how GIS can benefit them.  Whether its Insights, Operations Dashboards, or Survey123, it’s crucial that public safety personnel stay up to date with new geospatial technologies to better protect the citizens they serve.

Nicholas Gray
Disaster Intelligence Officer
Illinois State Police

Just a few months ago, when this blog began, the Outreach Committee simply updated the submission guidelines from GIS Notes. In the following weeks and months, many meeting conversations surrounded the requirements of these guidelines.  
 
As a result of these conversations we have decided to simplify the submission guidelines for the GeoTalk Blog based on two reasons; 
1. A Blog is not simply a digital version of a publication. The original title “web-log” was intended to be an online diary of sorts. The format is normally casual and conversational. Longer articles are better suited to professional peer-reviewed journals.  We knew that some blog articles will be used for ILGISA communication, not just GIS project reports.
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2. We want article submissions! Long guidelines inhibit submissions. This may be the most controversial reason. It is very difficult to get all of our wonderful members to write about their jobs. I understand, it seems…. arrogant. The Outreach Committee would rather see 10 ‘boastful articles’ about successful GIS projects rather than just a committee report from the Finance Chairman (sorry Jason).  Besides, our membership is gracious and humble. I hardly see that becoming a problem. 

Either of those reasons alone is enough for us to change our guidelines. Together they compel this committee chairman to make the change. And So, I submit to you the simplified GeoTalk Submission Guidelines:
 

• Author Name & Contact
• Blog Post Title
• Text -  ½ page to 2 pages max
• Inserts: Pictures, Maps, Links, Screencaptures OK
• Citations/Acknowledgements (if needed)

That’s it. Zip & Ship! Rend & Send! Set it & Forget it!

​Of Course, upon submission, all content will be editorially reviewed by the ILGISA Outreach Committee prior to publication on the Blog. We will try our best to lay out the article as best we can. 
 
At the Annual Conference next month, I will be imploring all the speakers to write ‘a short article’ about their topics of discussion. Look for me, I will have a gift for anyone who agrees to submit. 

-Micah Williamson
​(Outreach Committee Chairman)

​ILGISA is subsidizing daycare at a rate of $25 per conference attendee per day. There are 5 slots available on a first come first serve basis. Rates vary with the age of the child. To enroll, email contact@ilgisa.org

Visitation:
Parents can visit at any time. The daycare is located near the conference hotel, accessible by hotel shuttle or a short drive.
 
To enroll, email contact@ilgisa.org. Last day to enroll is September 21st. 

Thomas O’Malley
Membership Committee Chair

​if the table above is not formatted correctly, here is a PDF of the same article. 

As I sit here typing this blog post I have a thousand things running through my mind.  I am sure most GIS professionals can relate.  How are we going to update this data layer? When can we roll out this new app? How can we use GIS to solve a problem in our community?  How in the world am I going to keep pace with all of these software updates? One thing is for sure, GIS is changing faster now than ever before. 

Hello! I’m Thomas O’Malley, your Membership Committee Chair. Did you know that there is a whole group of volunteers dedicated to improving the ILGISA member experience? Well there is, and we’ve been hard at work this year making sure that everyone that participates in ILGISA gets the most out of their experience. It’s a big job, but thankfully we don’t live in a vacuum, and we can take cues from other successful organizations and conferences.

One such improvement is the addition of a conference Code of Conduct. We value our members and want them to feel welcome and respected. This simple code reflects the values we’ve always held, and institutes a system for reporting and handling infractions. We think we have a great community, and we aim to keep it that way!

Have you noticed the banner ads at the top of the page? Those are ILGISA Gold Sponsors! This year we were able to improve our sponsor packages, making them even more appealing. Better sponsor packages means more sponsors, and more sponsors means more services provided to our valued members! Going forward we want to connect sponsors directly with those services. Last year we had the Wi-Fi sponsor, this year we’re offering a Conference Schedule App Sponsorship. We are fortunate to have generous sponsors that help us add value to ILGISA membership, and we don’t want to see any of that goodwill going to landfills, so we’re doing away with the Padfolio and Registration Bag sponsorships and focusing on more green options.
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I’m excited to see what can be accomplished in the years to come.

-Thomas O'Malley
(Edited by mwilliamson)

Several nights this Spring a team from the Adler Planetarium launched balloons into the night sky.  Altho not specifically in celebration, cheers resounded as the balloon reached altitude and hundreds of images of the nighttime landscape below were captured.  Each flight contributed immediately useful information that was then applied to the next flight, culminating in a seriously successful flight the night of April 29th over Kankakee and the surrounding area. 
 
 
Designed to measure the nature and intensity of artificial light spilling upwards into the night sky, these flights are part of the on-going NITESat project, part of the larger twelve-year old Far Horizons Program.  Ken Walczak, project manager, and Geza Gyuk head up the team, which includes an ever-changing, enthusiastic group of interns and volunteers.

 These first flights allowed the team to fine-tune their cameras’ aperture size, length of exposure, and frequency of image capture.  Three cameras capture slightly differing views of the landscape.  One points directly downward, truly a nadir view, while the other cameras flank this central lens, collecting images at an oblique angle of about 20 degrees.  A series of subsequent flights are scheduled in this ongoing project.
 

 After capturing the imagery, the individual images are sorted to select the best shots in the sequence – there is much intended redundancy.  Remember the balloon is propelled by our variable winds, moving at irregular speeds while performing slow pirouettes as it travels across the night sky.  Not every image will be of usable quality.  The selected images are “stitched” together to form a mosaic of the landscape over which the balloon flew.  Images must then be registered to the actual ground.  While the cameras geotag the images when captured, the precision of this step is not sufficient to really lockdown the nighttime balloon imagery over another set of imagery captured during the day -  the aerials typically seen on Internet mapping sites.  Those road intersections and building corners are kinda hard to make out in night-captured imagery. ​

Governance Committee
NOTE: This is the combination of what once was the Nominations, Honors, & Bylaws Committee
This committee shall review the policies and procedures for the standing committees, requests for changes in the bylaws, candidates for nomination as directors and President-Elect to the Board of Directors, and recommendations for ILGISA awards. These duties address reviewing governance structure and identifying board development. This committee shall report their recommendations to the Board of Directors.
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Nicole Gattuso (Chair) ​

As I ventured into the year being into President-Elect of ILGISA, I looked forward to observing the organization with a different purpose and an all-encompassing goal.  My omnipresence would ensure that going into the year of my Presidency I would have a thorough understanding of all things ILGISA.  Shortly after I began my tenure as President-Elect, I received a call that swiftly evolved my role into the President of ILGISA.  While the passage was unconventional, the support of the ILGISA Board and CM Services provided a fluid transition.  But most importantly, the reason for this transition was that our President, Justin Nettleton, had the opportunity to continue his career in San Diego, CA.  We thank Justin for his hard work and dedication to ILGISA and wish him and his family the brightest of futures.
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ILGISA has a busy year ahead, with Regional Meetings in full swing, several ad-hoc committee’s and initiatives that support the growth of GIS within the state, and the annual ILGISA conference this fall.   That change of an officer role set in motion a series of others.  Chad Sperry was appointed as the President-Elect by the board for the remainder of the calendar year.  Filling Chad’s position of Treasurer is Jason Verachtert.  That fulfillment left a ILGISA Board Member position vacant and was unanimously filled by the board with Seth Stark, the GIS Administrator for the City of Decatur, Illinois.  We are very pleased that Seth has accepted the role and are very excited for his contributions to come.   Many changes have occurred in these past months, nonetheless ILGISA’s focus and goal to advance GIS in the state of Illinois remains intact.

GIS Notes has been a staple of ILGISA since the summer of 2000, sometimes as an annual publication, sometimes biannually. If you know your ILGISA history, you will note that that was five years (or six depending on who you talk to) after the inception of the association. In fact, GIS Notes itself was a combination of two publications: the ILGISA Newsletter and Dr Dahlberg's Illinois Mapnotes - some of which are available on Google Books. In 1999, the Board surveyed the membership concerning publications and realized that there continued to remain a strong desire to focus on Case Studies and Training Articles for this new publication. ILGISA hired a managing editor for GIS Notes and intended that they would turn out at least three volumes a year! This never happened; but for the last 17 years, GIS professionals in Illinois have had a place to publish and discuss their mapping projects. 

This same focus will now continue on in the form of the ILGISA blog. Having evolved into the most relevant form of disseminating information, this blog will allow for easy linking to online applications and better resource collaboration.  We will continue to promote Illinois GIS projects in and around the state with particular emphasis on case studies from our membership and training articles. All of the same committee reports and messages from the president that you have come to love will still be published. We, as the outreach committee, intend to publish articles once a month at first, then more often as articles begin to backlog. The image on the right is a snip from the first GIS Notes and the result of the ILGISA Board's membership survey noted above. ​

I want to personally thank all of the GIS Notes editors from the last 17 years. And I will leave you with the same final paragraph from the original GIS Notes, co-edited by Don Luman and Larry Gunderson (with a slight modification at the beginning): ​​

-Micah Williamson Outreach Committee Chairman, on behalf of the entire committee