Managing GIS in BLM Oregon/Washington

Terry HobbsGIS CoordinatorOregon State Office

OrientationHistoryHow we’re organizedService First GISConverting from contract to government staffGIS Centralization

BLM Office

History

NW Forest Plan, 1993Joint BLM/FS management plan for western Oregon

Large contract staff hired3 shifts/24 hours

Service First GIS, 2006Conversion from mixed government/contract staff to all government in 2008

How we’re organized

In the Branch of IRMAdvantage for IT supportDisadvantage for budget scrutiny

10 Districts with GIS Coordinators1,006 users region-wide

206 concurrent users59 GIS Specialists

Service First GIS

2006 joint Director assigned over FS Data Resources Management and BLM GIS/RSTasked to identify areas where we could better integrate GIS Selected geospatial training, mobile GIS and remote sensing as the first areas to focus on

Service First GIS Training

Similar training needs in both agenciesNo dedicated coordinator for training in either agencyBig demand

Service First GIS TrainingEstablished a GIS Training Coordinator position (FS)

Big kudos to Chris Strobl for developing program!Incorporated the 2 existing BLM instructorsPresented 50 classes in 2008

GPS for Natural Resource ApplicationsIntermediate ArcGISMS AccessUsing ArcPad 7Introduction to ArGIS 9.2Geodatabase Demo

524 students attended

Service First GIS TrainingDistributed training using LiveMeetingAverage cost per student = $159Organize “demo” sessions with both live events and recorded sessionsClass materials available on-lineFormed a S1st Geospatial Training subcommitteeDeveloped a joint website with ArcMap interface

http://fsweb-sfpnw.r6.fs.fed.us/gis/

Service First Mobile GIS

Huge demand in both agencies for resource grade GPSNo standardization in either agencyNo coordinator position in BLM OR/WAFS R6 lost their coordinator

Service First Mobile GISEstablished 2 positions (BLM)Organized a cadre of users from both agenciesStandardized GPS software for both agenciesStandardizing GPS hardwareDeveloped integrated installation documentation for:

ArcPad license users, Pathfinder Office and GSP AnalystDeveloped a standard ArcPad toolbarProvide ArcPad training

9 classes offered65 students attended

Develop custom interfaces

Service First Remote Sensing

Similar needs in each agencyLimited but specialized expertiseRegional analysis

Service First Remote Sensing

Project supportData acquisition coordinationLiDAR hydro pilot

Develop methods for stream channel delineation

Swap expertise

Service First Remote Sensing

Not as formalized as Training and Mobile GISMuch smaller user baseOpen communication and collaborationDoesn’t need to be as formal because is working as it is

Service First GIS ChallengesCannot connect networksData standards are differentStaff organization

FS all field GIS work for DRM at the Regional OfficeBLM field GIS work for District Managers

On different versions of ArcGISDOILearn and AgLearn do not interfaceTransferring funding between agencies

BLM Contract Conversion

Began contracting GIS/IT support with the NW Forest Plan in 1993

Contract support continued for the next 15 years

In 2008 decision was made to eliminate current GIS/IT support contract with Northrup GrummanA new TO was establishedActively began the process in March 2008

Lessons learned from contract conversion

Had 7 months to hire 68 positions (21 GIS)Only 6 mos into it

Overall cost savings $2.7 million (incl IT, GIS, Apps dev, Web)Good responsive HR staff essentialUsed PD amendments extensivelyUsed Selective Factors liberallyTake advantage of all hiring authorities

Interns, veteran authorities, etc.

GIS Centralization

Decision made in 2005 to centralize GIS processing and data at the State OfficeConducted the Western Oregon Plan Revision on Citrix as a pilotHave implemented certain business processes on CitrixJust beginning to bring entire Districts in

GIS Before CentralizationHouse the official copy of corp state-wide data at the State Office in PortlandAll corp data replicated to District serversEdits performed at field office then uploaded back to corp data in PortlandTransactional SDE only on datasets with established standardsTransactional SDE performed centrally on Citrix farm in PortlandDistricts organize local data as they see fit

GIS After Centralization

All users on Citrix farm in PortlandNo more replicating corp data to District serversCorp datasets will be transactional, versioned editing will be centralizedDistricts will still have dedicated space to organize their local data as they see fit

Architecture

Citrix farm at State Office in Portland25 servers, 64 bit processorsNetApps storage

• 7.5 Tb of data, • Estimate an additional 5Tb at districts

Standard plotters at all sites

Oracle databaseCommon directory structure designed by field GIS coordinators

GIS CentralizationLessons Learned

Cultural changeFear of loss of controlPerception that it will be slowerGIS intertwined in daily business processes

Need to centralize applications other than GISData organized differently at each office

Data cleanup and organization the biggest task

“How-to” documentation very importantNetwork is the weakest linkTakes more time than you think

GIS CentralizationAdvantages

Common data structure (Oregon Data Framework)

Standard data organizationEasier to identify redundant dataLess time spent on data managementMore reliability in data currency

Common tools that work for every user64 bit processingEveryone gets software upgrades at the same timeCentralized editingReduced need for IT support at Field OfficesFaster/easier data calls

Questions?