An update on what's going on around here

Happy Spring!
I know, I know… it’s been Spring for almost a week now, but we’ve been really busy!

We have a lot going on;

• we’re working with the City of Portland’s Public School Administration to develop a GIS platform in order to extend location intelligence across business lines, with the initial focus on mapping out safe walking and biking routes to each of their 64 elementary and middle schools,
• we’re helping the Idaho Department of Transportation evaluate the best software for their specific needs,
• we just kicked off a two-year project with Seattle City Light to provide Strategic planning and ongoing support services in order to fully integrate location intelligence capabilities into the workflows, analysis, and reporting needs of this major electrical utility serving Seattle,
• we’re in the process of configuring our Performance Atlas web application to meet the needs of Etisalat, one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies; when we’re finished, we will have provided the Etisalat team with a hosted solution that will increase their location intelligence related to performance across sales, marketing and facility planning business lines,
• we’ve almost wrapped up a project to provide Pike Energy with location intelligence capabilities integrating centrally-managed data, web-tools for project planning and management, and mobile data collection in disconnected scenarios,
• we just wrapped up a project with Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife to assess the best way to bring the popular hunting and shooting ranges map to mobile devices,
• we also just wrapped up a project where we configured a web application to provide a client with a hosted solution providing web access to college campus, floor-by-floor, viewing and updating of facility conditions and assets,
• and of course, we continue to provide hosting services to many happy clients!

Just because we have a lot going on doesn’t mean that we’re too busy to talk to you. If you are in need of some GIS consulting, or need a web application for your GIS data, or need a home for your GIS data – or just want to talk – please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re here!

A visit to Mercy Corps

A couple of months back, we wrote about the new web application that we developed in partnership with Mercy Corps. Mercy Corps alleviates suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities. Please visit their website for more information.
We configured a Performance Atlas for Mercy Corps that allows for:

• Review, monitoring, and assessment of key performance indicators,
• Field mission planning support,
• Integration and assessment of field-collected data, and,
• Collaborative, visual communication among remote project partners and stakeholders.

Last week, Bryce Gartrell, our founder and driving force, paid a visit to the beautiful Mercy Corps Headquarters, here in Portland, Oregon. He was invited to come and introduce the application during a brown-bag session. Most of the participants in the session were employees of Mercy Corps who had not yet seen the application which was developed for one of the many worldwide missions that Mercy Corps manages every year (they operate in over 40 nations!). There are many people within the organization that were not aware of the work that we had done.

The session was a fun opportunity to share our work. Bryce spent some time showing off the application and its tools, and then turned to some question-and-answer time. One question that came up was one we hear frequently:

“What is the difference between this and Google Earth?”

While both are interactive maps that allow a user to zoom in and out, measure distances, and, to a limited extent, with Google, add their own data. The difference lies in the customization. With the application that we customized for Mercy Corps, we were able to:

• add higher-resolution, cloudless base maps than the satellite imagery available on Google Earth.
• By adding a Javascript “widget” to our application, we were also able to add a storytelling component to the map, which, when combined with the visual locational data, makes for a powerful story.
• Finally, our application – with a bit more customization – is capable of analytical processes; something that can come in handy to a worldwide organization such as Mercy Corps.

While our application certainly has more initial costs associated with it than Google Earth does, we feel strongly that it can payoff in the long-run through a more efficient and effective delivery of services, less staff time to enter and maintain data (which equates to more time spent doing the work they feel passionate about; helping people), and improved communication with donors.

We are privileged to be working with Mercy Corps and look forward to future projects!

Providing Seattle City Light with GIS Support

We recently kicked off a two-year project, during which time, we will be providing Seattle City Light - the electric utility in Seattle – with ongoing GIS support. We have teamed up with our friends at FLO Analytics in order to provide SCL with the best possible service.
The first phase of the project will involve a needs assessment where our team will meet with stakeholders in order to determine their needs and capabilities. The needs assessment will help guide a strategic plan that SCL will use to move forward with their planning for future needs and budgets.

I addition to the needs assessment and strategic plan, we will be proving SCL with “boots on the ground” GIS analysts to provide immediate practical assistance. The goal, at the end of the project, will be to provide the folks at SCL with the proper plan and know-how to move forward successfully on their own.

Please contact us if you’d like to find out more about how we can help your organization realize it’s full potential.