2026 WA GIS Conference

Many municipalities regularly collect land cover data using aerial imagery to support land use planning, track tree canopy, and inform city leadership. Building these workflows requires balancing accuracy, efficiency, and long-term maintainability, which becomes increasingly challenging as datasets grow and organizational needs evolve.

This presentation walks through how the City of Tacoma’s Environmental Services department developed a land cover workflow using ArcGIS Pro to process and analyze aerial data. Using real project examples, it will highlight the step-by-step approach used to generate land cover and tree canopy statistics, along with the challenges encountered around efficiency, consistency, and long-term maintainability.

Building on this foundation, the presentation will also explore opportunities to improve and automate the workflow using FME. It will outline where automation could reduce manual effort, improve documentation, and make the process more repeatable across teams.

Attendees will gain practical insight into building effective GIS workflows in ArcGIS Pro, identifying bottlenecks in manual processes, and taking the first steps toward automation with tools like FME.