2026 WA GIS Conference: Full Schedule

1:30pm PDT

Relationship Goals - Linking Construction Drawings to a Map

Thursday May 21, 2026 1:30pm - 2:00pm PDT

The City of Tacoma was retiring it's legacy document management system in 2025. The old system allowed users the ability to associate a list of related streets through an older Access database and SQL server backend. The solution worked, but it required several steps without any kind of data integrity checking.

After project stakeholders asked if there was a way to incorporate a map into the process, the wheels began turning and started with a humble site but blossomed into a full ArcGIS Experience Builder application, integrating a custom CSV generator to generate standardize lists of barcodes and work orders, a map for the user to select streets related to the documents as also an FME automation to smash them all together in a Snowflake table, accessible to the city for multiple platforms.

This presentation will begin with a demo of the finished product, then going on a tour behind the scenes to see how all the pieces work together.

Speakers

Steve Schunzel, GISP

Enterprise GIS Technical Lead, City of Tacoma

Steve is the Enterprise GIS Technical Lead for the City of Tacoma. He has been in the GIS field for over 30 years, the last 10+ years in various roles with Tacoma. During his career, he has worked with most disciplines associated with local government including cadastral/survey... Read More →

Thursday May 21, 2026 1:30pm - 2:00pm PDT
409

Asset Management, As-Built

2:00pm PDT

Taking GIS into the Well: Building a Replicable Condition Assessment Framework with Survey123

Thursday May 21, 2026 2:00pm - 2:30pm PDT

409

When Kitsap County needed to move from reactive maintenance to data-driven capital planning for its wastewater pump stations, the County was seeking not only a data collection process, but a repeatable framework that could be managed by staff and expanded across the entire system.
This presentation details how ArcGIS Survey123, ArcGIS Online, and ArcGIS Pro were used to develop and deploy a comprehensive condition assessment program across four pump stations spanning five decades of infrastructure. The project followed a structured progression: establishing asset management goals through workshops with County staff, building a hierarchical asset inventory from design drawings and institutional knowledge, developing a Survey123 form architecture with related tables for condition scoring and photo documentation, piloting the framework at the first station, refining it based on field experience, then deploying across the remaining three stations with County staff taking increasing ownership.
The Survey123 form design centered on using questions tailored to different asset classes. Questions are framed with discrete text descriptions easy for inspectors to understand. Responses convert from descriptive text to quantitative scores, enabling consistent, repeatable assessments even from different inspectors. The resulting condition scores directly support capital planning and prioritization with traceable justifications explaining values.
The presentation highlights real challenges encountered during implementation: managing limited existing records, balancing survey form flexibility with the specificity inspectors need in the field, reconciling data across multiple survey exports, and calibrating useful life values against industry standards. Attendees will see how the final deliverables, including visualizations and interactive dashboards, directly support renewal and replacement prioritization. Attendees will leave with a replicable framework they can adapt for their own utilities or organizations using standard Esri tools.

Speakers

Max Sugarman

Senior GIS Analyst, Hazen and Sawyer

Max Sugarman is a Senior GIS Analyst at Hazen and Sawyer, a national engineering firm specializing in water and wastewater infrastructure. Based in Seattle, he focuses on helping water and wastewater utilities translate geospatial data into practical tools for asset management, capital... Read More →

Thursday May 21, 2026 2:00pm - 2:30pm PDT
409

Asset Management, Survey123

2:30pm PDT

Bringing Branch Editing to PostGIS/QGIS

Thursday May 21, 2026 2:30pm - 2:45pm PDT

409

This short talk demonstrates a proof-of-concept, alpha-quality project designed to introduce versioned, branched editing capabilities to the PostgreSQL, PostGIS, and QGIS technology stack. It establishes a workflow directly analogous to standard version control software used in software development. The process begins by designating a feature layer as the trunk or main layer. While operating on their branch, users perform updates, inserts, and deletions. Concurrently, other team members may modify the trunk or their own independent branches. Once editing concludes, the user reconciles their branch against the trunk to identify and resolve conflicting edits. Finally, the approved branch edits are merged into the trunk, establishing a new authoritative version. If you are interested in FOSS GIS software, have a skill and the desire to contribute, please attend for more information.

Speakers

Roma Hicks

Hobbyist Developer, Senior Application Analyst, City of Issaquah

Roma Hicks is a senior application analyst for the City of Issaquah focused on public works, ESRI Utility Network, asset management, and project management but moonlights as a hobbyist software developer for over 15 years with an interest in free and open-source software (FOSS). Using... Read More →

Thursday May 21, 2026 2:30pm - 2:45pm PDT
409

Asset Management, Branch Editing

2:45pm PDT

Tree Canopy and Land Cover: Tacoma's GIS Approach

Thursday May 21, 2026 2:45pm - 3:00pm PDT

409

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.

Speakers

Shawn Leonard

IT Analyst, City of Tacoma

Shawn Leonard is an IT Analyst with the City of Tacoma’s Environmental Services department, where he supports the GIS needs of stormwater, wastewater, and solid waste utilities. Over the past year and a half, he has worked at the intersection of data, infrastructure, and environmental... Read More →

Thursday May 21, 2026 2:45pm - 3:00pm PDT
409

Asset Management, Land Cover

2026 WA GIS Conference

Success you have shared X tickets.

2026 WA GIS Conference

1:30pm PDT

Steve Schunzel, GISP

2:00pm PDT

Max Sugarman

2:30pm PDT

Roma Hicks

2:45pm PDT

Shawn Leonard

Get help with the event