2026 WA GIS Conference: Full Schedule

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10:30am PDT

Teaching GIS After April 24, 2026: A University Perspective on Title II WGAC 2.1 Accessibility Standards

Wednesday May 20, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am PDT

This presentation is co-authored by four Eastern Washington University faculty, Brian Buchanan, Robert Sauders, Lauren Stachowiak, and the speaker. In this presentation, we share our experiences with efforts to comply with current federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations in a university setting. The university offers a range of GIS-related courses within the curriculum and a stand-alone GIS certificate, reaching both in-person and online audiences. Much course content is digital, including online lecture, virtual labs, and more. In addition, we host a variety of public-facing GIS products via ESRI apps such as Story Maps and Experience Builder. Federal WGAC 2.1 Accessibility Standards impact both curriculum delivery and our mapping products. A work in progress, we offer insight into our approaches -- and some dead ends -- tackling adaptations for GIS curriculum and end products in the university setting. You’ll hear about our struggles to improve map readability (color contrast, font legibility), navigation, keyboard control, focus order, and more while meeting student and client needs. We conclude with thoughts about the broader negotiations underway as both the university and GIS communities try to figure out how the new regulations should be interpreted in a GIS context.

Speakers

Stacy Warren

Professor, Eastern Washington University

Stacy Warren is a professor of Geosciences at Eastern Washington University. She teaches a range of GIS classes at EWU, supervises student work, and adds to her gallery of GIS creations as time allows including maps for the Ice Age Floods Institute, the Palos Verdes Library District... Read More →

Wednesday May 20, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am PDT
407-408

Accessibility, Teaching

11:00am PDT

GIS Digital Accessibility at the City of Seattle

Wednesday May 20, 2026 11:00am - 12:00pm PDT

407-408

The GIS team in Seattle IT has partnered with a citywide digital accessibility effort to advance digital access and inclusion for people with disabilities.

This presentation describes the organizational and technical strategies and tools that the City of Seattle has launched to support departmental communications teams and technical owners of GIS applications. A brief description of the City’s centralized approach to the Department of Justice ruling on digital accessibility offers context for the technical resources that Seattle IT is providing to City department owners of GIS content, to inventory, assess, remediate, and track progress towards compliance with the WCAG 2.1 AA standard.

The Seattle IT GIS team works closely with the Citywide Digital Accessibility Compliance (CDAC) project to establish methods for managing inventories of items, methods and tools for assessing accessibility compliance, and resources for remediation. In addition, the team developed time-saving guides that note the level of maturity of commonly used GIS vendor products, which helps direct attention to areas where GIS content creators can have an impact on accessibility.

A citywide emphasis has been established to ensure that any new content is built to be digitally accessible. Recommendations, best practices, documentation and tools are delivered to staff in many modes, from newsletter tips about built-in tools for making slide decks more accessible, to content-rich SharePoint sites with guidance for GIS content creators.

Strategies (keep it simple!), resources, outreach, self-help channels, training, and cohorts are important pieces of the formula to help content creators learn digital accessibility skills and gain confidence.

Speakers

Zinta Smidchens

Manager, GIS CADD Programs and Initiatives, City of Seattle IT GIS

Working in private and public sectors, large and small organizations, the field and the office has offered so many opportunities to see geography’s role in solving problems.

After earning a B.Sc. from the University of Toronto, Zinta Smidchens began at the Indiana Geological Survey, mapping Lake Michigan’s post-glacial shoreline history and much older deposits exposed on the rock faces in Indiana’s limestone quarries. On the west coast, Zinta joined... Read More →

Catherine Wendland

GIS Analyst, City of Seattle

As a GIS Analyst for the City of Seattle, Catherine Wendland is on a mission to elevate how GIS serves both City staff and the public. She specializes in training, guidance, and refining centralized GIS standards, ensuring Seattle’s hundreds of GIS users are equipped to navigate... Read More →

Suzy Brunzell

WebGIS Program Manager, City of Seattle

Suzy Brunzell serves as the City of Seattle WebGIS Program Manager. Her professional goals involve maintaining a highly functional Web GIS environment where users can operate effectively with confidence in the data and content available to them. At work, nothing makes Suzy happier... Read More →

Wednesday May 20, 2026 11:00am - 12:00pm PDT
407-408

Accessibility, Seattle

1:30pm PDT

GIS Career: How to Map it?

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

407-408

This panel discussion brings together experienced GIS professionals and hiring managers to explore practical strategies for launching and advancing a career in Geographic Information Systems. Designed for recent graduates and early-career GIS analysts, the session will address the evolving landscape of the geospatial industry, including in-demand technical skills, emerging tools and technologies, and the growing intersection of GIS with fields such as data science, urban planning, environmental management, and public utilities. Panelists will offer firsthand perspectives on navigating the job market, building a compelling professional portfolio, and understanding what hiring managers are actively seeking in today's competitive geospatial workforce.

Speakers

Shaun O'Neil

GIS Supervisor, King County Wastewater Treatment – WTD

Shaun O’Neil supervises the GIS group for the King County Wastewater Treatment Division. In his 28 years at King County, Shaun has supported planning and asset management issues with a particular focus on sewer conveyance assets, Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI), and climate... Read More →

David Kreinheder

GIS Data Architect & Interim GIS Manager, King County IT GIS Center

David is an architect at King County and is the interim leader of the King County GIS Center. David focuses on data modernization and cloud migration for King County. His work on King County's AI-GIS SEPA response system earned the 2025 ESIG Award from the Geospatial Professional... Read More →

Nat Henry

Director of Henry Spatial Analysis, Henry Spatial Analysis

Nat's work focuses on applied spatial statistics and spatial software development to address health, mobility, and urban sustainability issues for primarily nonprofit clients. He maintains Close, a nationwide multimodal travel time database; and OpenPOIs, a unified open dataset for... Read More →

Catherine Crook

Director of Spatial Analytics, Quanta Services

Catherine is a Director of Spatial Analytics at Quanta Services with over 20 years of experience in GIS across the government and commercial sectors. My work focuses on geospatial analytics for telecom and infrastructure planning, including the development of the QuantiFi market analysis... Read More →

Katie Heim

Enterprise Data and Technology Manager, City of Arlington

Katie’s responsibilities cover the City’s GIS and asset management programs, which inventory and track maintenance on all Public Works assets, including utilities and transportation. In addition, her group provides a variety of services to all City departments, including data... Read More →

Wednesday May 20, 2026 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
407-408

Career & Leadership, Career

3:00pm PDT

GIS vs. IT—or GIS with IT? Defining the Future of Enterprise GIS

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

407-408

As GIS evolves into a core enterprise capability, its alignment with IT is critical to organizational success. This panel brings together leaders from government and the private sector to explore how high-performing GIS programs are structured, governed, and sustained. Panelists will examine the tension between supporting line-of-business needs and advancing enterprise platforms, and how emerging technologies are reshaping that balance. Attendees will gain practical insights on positioning GIS strategically, strengthening GIS–IT partnerships, and making the organizational and technology decisions that enable long-term success.

Speakers

Fernando Llamas Jr

Administrative Services Director, City of Burien

Fernando Llamas Jr. is the Administrative Services Director for the City of Burien, Washington, where he leads four divisions: City Clerk, Communications, Human Resources, and Information Systems. He has served the City since 2007, rising through every level of its technology and... Read More →

Tamara Davis

Chief Technology Officer, King County

As CTO at King County, I’ve spent my career serving the county across multiple agencies, leading teams through complex application migrations, building enterprise GIS capabilities, and keeping mission-critical infrastructure running while modernizing it at the same time. I care... Read More →

Zinta Smidchens

Manager, GIS CADD Programs and Initiatives, City of Seattle IT GIS

Sabra Schneider

Chief Information Officer, City of Bellevue

Sabra Schneider, named one of the top 25 Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers in 2024 from Government Technology Magazine, currently serves as the Chief Information Officer for the City of Bellevue, Washington. Bellevue consistently ranks in the top five digital cities in the country.
... Read More →

Jill Oliver

Geospatial Science Leader, Anchor QEA

Jill Oliver is the Geospatial Science Lead at Anchor QEA an environmental and engineering consulting firm. She has over 25 years of experience specializing in GIS and GIS systems architecture from Esri’s ArcIMS platform to ArcGIS Enterprise and designed what Anchor QEA works with... Read More →

Wednesday May 20, 2026 3:00pm - 4:00pm PDT
407-408

Career & Leadership, Leadership

4:10pm PDT

OSM Efforts to Support Safe Routes to School

Wednesday May 20, 2026 4:10pm - 4:25pm PDT

407-408

Safe Routes to School is a nationwide program that supports families in helping children travel to school safely and actively—whether by walking, biking, or rolling. Within OpenStreetMap, we’re exploring how mapping can play a meaningful role in that effort.
This presentation will highlight ways contributors can map pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure around local schools, including key features that improve safety and accessibility. It will also introduce tools and approaches aimed at making this data more useful for parents and communities.

Speakers

Clifford Snow

Volunteer Contributor to OpenStreetMap, OpenStreetMap US

I am a volunteer contributor to OpenStreetMap and a member of the OSM US Pedestrian Working Group and Governance Committee. I also serve on the OpenStreetMap Foundation’s Data Working Group, where I help address mapping issues worldwide.

Wednesday May 20, 2026 4:10pm - 4:25pm PDT
407-408

Explorations in GIS, Open Data