ST. LOUIS – Seiler Instrument & Mfg. Co., Inc. has acquired the assets of Precision Midwest to provide Trimble Geospatial products and solutions for the state of Iowa, all of Northern Illinois, and the northwest counties of Lake and Porter, Indiana. The asset purchase of Precision Midwest located in Plainfield, Illinois, will add to the existing Midwest presence of Seiler Geospatial as a leader in Survey, GPS, Robotics, LiDAR, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), and software solutions. 
 
Seiler Instrument’s corporate office headquarters is in St. Louis and has geospatial offices to serve its clients in Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. 
 
Executive vice president Tom Seiler said, “We will soon have a new office located in Northern Illinois. We are grateful for the opportunity to continue growing the Seiler Geospatial team in Northern Illinois and Iowa leveraging our deep Trimble survey and mapping/GIS domain knowledge. Providing excellence in solutions and services is what our customers and organizations deserve and expect. Our goal is to be more than just a vendor; our goal is to be our customers most trusted and valued partner in helping grow their business.”
 
“I believe in being a trusted ally to our clients and providing them the best equipment and services to maximize their efficiency and productivity. I am excited to carry on this level of commitment and service to our clients as part of the Seiler Geospatial team,” said Todd Sleezer, strategic accounts manager, geospatial sales, Seiler Geospatial.
 
Seiler Instrument is an Authorized Trimble Distribution reseller of hardware and software since 1988, and a 30-year partner for Autodesk as a Gold Partner Reseller. Seiler operates a nationally recognized service and repair facility in Saint Louis, Missouri, and has four other service repair centers across the Midwest along with a new service repair center in Northern Illinois coming soon.

About Seiler Instrument
Seiler Instrument & Mfg. Co., Inc. is a fourth-generation, family-owned business established in 1945. Our family firm is dedicated to excellence in optical instrument design, manufacturing and service. Seiler Instrument is comprised of manufacturing, geospatial, design solutions, medical, and planetarium divisions. The Seiler Geospatial team is an authorized distribution partner for Trimble Geospatial and Spectra Precision, which provides solutions for surveyors, engineering, GIS/Mapping, construction, service companies, governments, utilities, and transportation authorities. Seiler Design Solutions is an Autodesk Gold Partner and also a UAV Drone distributor for DJI, Quantum, and Microdrones under Seiler GeoDrones®.  Please contact us at:  www.seilergeo.com to learn more.

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For more information:
Seiler Instrument & Mfg. Co., Inc.
3433 Tree Court Ind. Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63122
 
Mark Jeffrey
Email:  mjeffrey@seilerinst.com
Mobile:  1-314-330-2315

[Credit: Seiler Instrument]

The Town of Normal launched an online Open Data Portal on its website, making the Town’s data and information more transparent and relevant to residents through dashboards, interactive charts and maps. 
 The goal of the Open Data Portal is to make data commonly collected by the Town more reliable and accessible through searchable tools and easy-to-understand visuals. Currently, the portal provides links to:
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• Budget- and finance-related data, including the Community Investment Plan, Budget, Transaction Log, Payroll, Cash Receipts and Fixed Assets.
• Building Permits and Business Licenses
• Normal Police Department Daily Log
• Various GIS data and maps (e.g., My Public Services, Zoning and Historic Districts)

 
“The Town of Normal collects an enormous amount of data which hasn’t always been easy to access,” says City Manager Pamela Reece. “We want people to understand the work the Town is doing, and this user-friendly portal creates an easy way to share data and information.”

 Some data has been accessible for a while, but access has been scattered across different parts of the Town’s website. The Open Data Portal pulls these resources together into an easy-to-use, online resource. The portal uses interactive dashboards to present the most-requested data sets in user-friendly formats such as: Monthly Financial Reports, Permits Issued and a Daily Log for police activity. 

 “We’ve created searchable databases for the most commonly requested information,” explains Vasudha Gadhiraju, director of Innovations & Technology (I&T). “We will continue adding information to the portal. We want to ensure data shared is helpfully formatted (i.e., machine-readable) so students, researchers and interested members of the community can easily review it to gain additional insights.”

 The Town plans to add additional data sets to the Open Data Portal soon, including Council Action Reports and additional Crime Data.

 The portal provides users with an easier way to search and digest information. The launch of this online resource is one example of how the Town of Normal is working to incorporate Smart City thinking into all aspects of its operations, a goal identified in the Town’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan. 

 “This effort is yet another example of a smart city project which uses the power of data and technology to create more transparency and efficiency,” adds Gadhiraju. 

Bloomington-Normal Innovation Alliance 
 The Bloomington-Normal Innovation Alliance, a framework of collaboration to drive efficiency and innovation in the community, will benefit from the more easily accessible data provided through the Town of Normal Open Data Portal. 

 “The Town of Normal is a proud member of the Alliance,” adds Reece. “This initiative aims to connect community data to research and educational projects. Currently, a lot of staff time is spent responding to requests for information. Making data searchable and easier to access through self-service options like the portal helps others more easily find the data they seek, ultimately saving taxpayer money.”

 About the Bloomington-Normal Innovation Alliance: The Alliance’s mission is to empower the Bloomington-Normal region to embrace innovation, bolstering local economies with smart development and policies rooted in connectivity, mobility, equity and sustainability. This effort is a collaboration among Heartland Community College, Illinois Wesleyan and Illinois State Universities, McLean County, the City of Bloomington, the Town of Normal, the Economic Development Council and the McLean County Chamber of Commerce.

[Credit: Town of Normal]

Webinar This Thursday (7/1):2020 Census Disclosure Avoidance System Update

Learn more about the selected settings and parameters for the 2020 Census Disclosure Avoidance System for the 2020 Census Redistricting (P.L. 94-171) Data Summary Files.

• Date: July 1
• Time: 2:00 p.m. ET
• Dial In:  1-888-391-6586
• Passcode: 4214422#
• Webex Event Number (if needed): 199 591 6950
• Link: Log In Details 

Event Password: #Census1 (If required, this password is only for users who join from a WebEx application or mobile app.) Event materials will be posted here within a few days after the webinar.

Click here to join. 

The registration deadline for the Cities' COVID Mitigation and Mapping (C2M2) Virtual Symposium is days away. Don't delay: Register now for this free, public symposium that illuminates what spatial data and participatory mapping reveal about the global consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for human lives and livelihoods.

​Hosted through Harvard University's Center for Geographic Analysis, in partnership with the American Association of Geographers, the symposium is led by the Cities' COVID Mitigation and Mapping (C2M2), a program of the Office of the Geographer and Global Issues at the U.S. Department of State, through its MapGive open mapping initiative.

International experts will share their insight from working at the forefront of monitoring the pandemic, sharing their data on local economies and social impacts of the conditions imposed by the pandemic. Through panel discussions, lightning talks, and keynote speeches by global experts, this free, virtual symposium will reveal what spatial data and mapping can tell us about the pandemic, seen through a variety of lenses, with a hands-on workshop on the last day.

Click here to register! 

From our friends at the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC).

NSGIC State Representatives and members of state GIS coordinating councils are invited to the May 4 Council of Councils Forum, to be held virtually from 1 to 4 pm ET. 

Register here or email Amy Holmes (amy.holmes@nsgic.org) for help with registration. Please note that members of state GIS coordinating councils - if not NSGIC members - may participate in this special virtual event at a rate of $20 per person. Email Amy with those guest names and she will assist with registration and invoicing.

Through several panels and interactive discussions, participants will hear the stories of several state councils as we explore various council models, purposes, and impacts. Next week’s discussion will continue on as we work to document the ‘anatomy of a council’ to articulate the essential components of a flourishing state GIS coordinating council. 

Please note you must be a current NSGIC member as well as a state GIO, NSGIC state representative, and/or state GIS council representative to register to attend or invite non-members of your State GIS Coordinating Council.

For those in local government working with Census data the following article may be of interest. It refers to the issue of Differential Privacy.  

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

“Differential privacy is a system for publicly sharing information about a dataset by describing the patterns of groups within the dataset while withholding information about individuals in the dataset. The idea behind differential privacy is that if the effect of making an arbitrary single substitution in the database is small enough, the query result cannot be used to infer much about any single individual, and therefore provides privacy.”

Census has been working on this issue for the past several years in advance of the release of the 2020 Census.  Not everyone is happy with or in agreement with the decisions surrounding this issue. 16 states, including Utah, back Alabama's challenge to Census privacy tool:

https://www.ksl.com/article/50145599/16-states-including-utah-back-alabamas-challenge-to-census-privacy-tool

If you rely on Census data for demographic analysis we would recommend keeping up on this issue.

The U.S. Census Bureau recently announced the release of a new interactive apportionment map.  Here is an excerpt from their blog announcement: 

The U.S. Census Bureau launched a new online map ahead of the 2020 Census apportionment results release. The "Historical Apportionment Data Map" currently displays apportionment results for each census from 1910 to 2010. 2020 Census apportionment results will be added to the map as they become available.

The interactive map includes the following types of data for each census from 1910 to 2010:

• Number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Changes to each state's number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Population per representative for each state.
• Resident population of each state.
• Percentage change in resident population for each state.
• Population density of each state.

 
The interactive map also features:

• Downloadable tables showing the source data.
• Technical documentation.
• Optimization for mobile use

 
Click here to read the full article
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The ILGISA NG911 Committee was recently featured in an Esri Blog article! Thank you to all the volunteers who have spent countless hours on this project over the last few years!

​When someone in distress calls 911, the dispatcher and first responder must know where the caller is and how to reach them. The problem is, these questions can be far from clear. Cell phones don’t always convey an accurate location and street addresses don’t always match the map.

“A fire department deputy chief told me they regularly get calls from fire crews they send into a neighborhood where all the streets at one intersection have the same name,” said Peter Schoenfield, GIS analyst, Lake County, Illinois. “The dispatcher might say ‘Turn left on Lake Shore Drive,’ but they’re all Lake Shore Drive.”

That scenario is typical of how addresses can become barriers to accurate wayfinding. In the US, local authorities maintain addresses and update shared maps using a geographic information system (GIS). Data is then shared with 911 call centers, known as public-safety answering points (PSAPs).

Click here to read the full article. 

Save the Date: Tuesday, April 27th

Call for Content Now Open - Submit your proposal today!
 
The Illinois GIS Association Program Committee is now accepting presentation proposals for the 2021 Virtual Regional Meeting. Content is welcomed from all GIS professionals and students.
 
Example topics include:
* Latest trends and projects using ArcGIS applications (ArcGIS Pro, ArcMap, Server, ArcGIS Online, Web AppBuilder, Survey 123, Collector etc.)
* New GIS data sources
* Mobile GIS tools and projects
* GIS in Local Government
* GIS for Emergency Response & Transportation
* GIS for Utilities & Asset Management
* GIS for public health
* GIS integrations (Microsoft, CAD etc.)
* GIS coding (Python, Sequel etc.)
* Cartography
* Precision Agriculture
* LiDAR
* Open Source software (PostGIS, TileMill, QGIS, CartoDB)
* Using Unmanned Aerial Systems
* Open Data and Data Visualizations
 
Please note that ILGISA is open to many other presentation topics. This list should only be used as a guide.
 
Presentation types:
* 5 minute lightning talk
* 15 minute presentation
* 30 minute presentation
 
Guidelines:
* All presenters must pay registration fees for the meeting.
* Presentations should be informative and educational - not sales oriented.
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