2026 WA GIS Conference: Full Schedule

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1:30pm PDT

Identifying Wildfire Risk Using Geospatial Technology

Wednesday May 20, 2026 1:30pm - 2:00pm PDT

As heat, drought, and fuel accumulation converge, wildfires are intensifying across the Western United States. At the same time, expanding human development into wildland areas is placing infrastructure and lives at greater risk. Geospatial science has a critical role to play, but doing so effectively requires accurate, appropriately-scaled data.
While excellent datasets exist for broad landscape wildfire modeling, and many agencies conduct on-the-ground infrastructure risk assessments, a meaningful gap remains at the intermediate scale. To address this need, information presented here utilizes airborne Lidar and aerial mapping to derive high-resolution landscape data for wildfire risk mitigation at the wildland-urban interface (WUI).
This presentation describes how these technologies are applied to a northern California community to extract terrain, features, and vegetation datasets relevant to wildfire risk analysis. The results provide a detailed characterization of landscape conditions threatening defensible space around structures, evacuation routes, and utility corridors. Ultimately, this work equips agencies and decision-makers with actionable information to mitigate wildfire risk and strengthen community-level planning.

Speakers

Molly Jackson

GIS Manager, GeoTerra, Inc.

I live in Maple Valley, WA and work from home. I came to GIS via geological sciences and love to explore how maps and data can illustrate our natural world. Outside of work my family, hiking, reading, and gardening keep me happy and busy.

Wednesday May 20, 2026 1:30pm - 2:00pm PDT
409

Remote Sensing, Risk

2:00pm PDT

Drone to map, Now What? – KC Wastewater Drone Program to Support Sustainable Infrastructure

Wednesday May 20, 2026 2:00pm - 2:30pm PDT

409

The King County Wastewater Treatment GIS Drone Program utilizes drones to collect high-resolution aerial imagery. This imagery is processed to generate detailed 3D models, which are then integrated with the wastewater treatment's capital project layer to spatially align field conditions with planned infrastructure work. The combined data is converted into Esri 3D Scene Layers, enabling optimized 3D rendering within the ArcGIS platform.
The 3D Scene Layers are loaded into a Scene Viewer and embedded within an ArcGIS Experience Builder application, hosted on the King County Esri Portal (ArcGIS Enterprise). This provides project managers and engineers with a centralized, interactive tool to monitor and visualize capital project progress in real time.
GIS/Drone Specialists from WTD will present an end-to-end workflow illustrating how public utilities can harness drone technology and GIS to improve infrastructure visibility, streamline project oversight, and enable data-driven decision-making.

Speakers

Joseph Geigel, GISP

GIS Specialist, King County Wastewater Treatment Division

Joe Géigel is a GIS Specialist with the King County Wastewater Treatment Division, where he has worked since 2023. He earned his GISP certification that same year. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Geography from the University of Puerto Rico (2016) and a Master’s degree in GIS for... Read More →

Peter Keum

Drone Program Lead/GIS Analyst, King County

Peter Keum, M.S., GISP, King County Wastewater Treatment Drone Program Lead/GIS Analyst:. Peter is a Drone Program Lead and GIS Analyst for the King County Wastewater Treatment Division, where he merges his passion for maps with advanced drone technology. With over 28 years of GIS... Read More →

Jason Celeste

GIS Specialist, King County Wastewater Treatment Division

Jason Celeste is a GIS Specialist with King County Wastewater Treatment Division, bringing over 20 years of experience in geospatial technology and analysis to wastewater infrastructure management. Jason holds a BA in Geography/GIS from the University of Buffalo.

Throughout his career, Jason has provided geospatial support to government clientele including USGS, US Air Force, FEMA, as well as many Tribal government agencies to support transportation asset management. This body of work includes field data collection, spatial analysis, web ap... Read More →

Wednesday May 20, 2026 2:00pm - 2:30pm PDT
409

Remote Sensing, Drone

3:00pm PDT

Land Cover for Environmental Applications

Wednesday May 20, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm PDT

409

High resolution land cover datasets have become essential for a variety of environmental assessment and monitoring applications. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has been creating High Resolution Land Cover (HRLC) data to supplement the change detection dataset since 2010 – with an original purpose of evaluating riparian habitat conditions. WDFW's High Resolution Land Cover dataset spans 2011 to 2023 with statewide availability for 2017. This presentation will explore the details of what makes this data product unique and provide a general status update on availability. We will give an overview of how the dataset is created, how to access it through the Riparian Data Engine tool or as a standalone product, and some example use cases. With several land cover datasets available in Washington, we will explore one way to select which data product to use for a given project, including considerations for Eastern vs. Western Washington and vector vs. raster products.

Speakers

Kevin Fuchs

GIS & Imagery Analyst, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife

Kevin Fuchs is a GIS and Imagery Analyst at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, where he helps produce High Resolution Land Cover (HRLC) and High Resolution Change Detection (HRCD) data while supporting riparian analyses and figuring out how to process huge datasets. Kevin... Read More →

Wednesday May 20, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm PDT
409

Remote Sensing, Land Cover

3:30pm PDT

High Resolution C-CAP Land Cover Data for Puget Sound

Wednesday May 20, 2026 3:30pm - 4:00pm PDT

409

For over three decades, NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management has produced consistent, accurate land cover and change information through its Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP), available through the Digital Coast. C-CAP land cover data have been essential for comprehensive regional management, assessment, and planning. In recent years, NOAA has moved toward higher-resolution (1-meter) products, bringing the national C-CAP framework to the local level. By providing significantly more detail (900 times that of the past 30-meter products), these new 20-class products support site-specific applications, including water quality assessment, flood inundation modeling, and stormwater management. In Washington specifically, improved riparian habitat modeling, 6-PPD runoff source identification, and improved urban heat island modeling will help prepare the state’s rich ecosystems and built areas for a changing climate. This presentation highlights newly released high resolution land cover data for 10 Puget Sound counties, covering the history of the C-CAP program, the coverage, classifications, and accuracy of the recently released data, and some potential use cases.

Speakers

Bret Folger

West Coast Regional Geospatial Coordinator, Lynker/NOAA Office for Coastal Management

Bret facilitates and extends regional outreach, communication, collaboration, and technical assistance to partners in all aspects of geospatial data for coastal management. He informs the development of NOAA Digital Coast data and tools that meet the region's unique needs through... Read More →

Wednesday May 20, 2026 3:30pm - 4:00pm PDT
409

Remote Sensing, Land Cover

4:00pm PDT

Cover Crop Mapping in Skagit County: A Multi-Sensor Remote Sensing Approach

Wednesday May 20, 2026 4:00pm - 4:30pm PDT

409

Sustainable farming practices can limit the impacts of climate change on crop production while maintaining soil and water health for local communities. Cover cropping involves the planting of vegetation on agricultural fields during the non-growing season and provides multiple agronomic benefits including reduced soil erosion and nutrient runoff, lower water pollution risks, and improved soil structure and nutrient cycling. As future climate projections for the Pacific Northwest indicate increasing frequency of heavy rainfall and flooding events, adoption of these practices is becoming increasingly critical for regional agricultural resilience.
The Skagit Conservation District provides education, funding, and technical support for sustainable farming practices including cover cropping. To support cover crop outreach and education within the Skagit community, this study leverages multi-source remote sensing data to map and visualize winter cover crop practices across Skagit County agricultural fields from the 1980s to present. Historical Landsat Collection 2 Level-2 imagery, courtesy of the NASA/USGS Landsat program, provides a long-term time series, while Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data acquired via the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem and the Alaska Satellite Facility DAAC extend the analysis with higher spatial resolution from 2017 onward.
Using agricultural field boundaries from the Washington State Department of Agriculture 2024 crop layer, winter vegetation conditions are assessed across seasonal agricultural fields during the November–February window using three complementary indices: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Tillage Index (NDTI), and Sentinel-1 SAR VH/VV backscatter ratio, the latter providing cloud-independent coverage during periods of persistent overcast conditions characteristic of Skagit County winters. Known cover crop fields from Skagit Conservation District farmer partnerships serve as validation data.
Analysis is ongoing. Upon completion, results will be published as an ArcGIS StoryMap and interactive Web App to support conservation outreach and communicate the long-term trajectory of cover crop adoption across Skagit County.

Speakers

Emma Tomaszewski

GIS Specialist, Skagit Conservation District

Emma Tomaszewski is a GIS Specialist at the Skagit Conservation District, where she supports conservation outreach and education through mapping and geospatial analysis. She holds a Master's degree in Ecology and brings over a decade of experience applying spatial analysis and data... Read More →

Wednesday May 20, 2026 4:00pm - 4:30pm PDT
409

Remote Sensing, Land Cover