WLIA 2025 Annual Conference Appleton

In 2017, representatives of Gopher State One Call (GSOC) reached out to the leadership of Emergency Preparedness Committee of the Minnesota Geospatial Advisory Council (EPC) in hopes of learning what could potentially be done to improve the use of geospatial technology in the underground utility community. From ensuing discussions over the next three years, the Underground Utilities Mapping Project Team (UUMPT) came into existence under the auspices of the EPC in early 2020. Now comprised of over 25 individuals from various sectors of the underground Facility Operator (FO) community, since mid-2021 the UUMPT has been championing development of software called "FuzionView". In October 2022, a FuzionView prototype successfully demonstrated the ability to pull together an on-the-fly, web-mapped view, of utility infrastructure within a designated dig area. This was a first in the nation achievement. In 2023, GSOC hired Minnesota geospatial research and development nonprofit SharedGeo to develop a production version of FuzionView which will be used across Minnesota and released as Open Source software. The Minnesota underground mapping project continues to evolve and move forward and will soon be released to the wider community for review. At it's core, the FuzionView software engine being developed for the project will allow for near realtime updating and sharing of data by the owners of shared data services across the State of Minnesota for the enhancement of the Gopher State One Call ticketing system as well as any other 811 ticket management operator. FuzionView is not about replacing existing ticket management systems, but instead augmenting them with additional geospatial information access by the ticket requester. Join this session to get a behind the scenes view of the FuzionView software being developed and the elements that make it tick. We'll do a deep dive into the technical aspects and describe the needs of the project, how we got to where we are, and the solutions that have been developed.

In the rapidly evolving world of data analytics, the integration of GIS with business intelligence tools like Power BI offers unprecedented opportunities for GIS professionals. The combination of Power BI’s powerful visualization and interaction capabilities with spatial insights through GIS data will open doors to more robust data analysis. This presentation will explore topics such as using GIS feature services as a Power BI data source for real-time dynamic visualizations, utilizing GIS and Power BI with Microsoft Power Automate for increased workflow efficiency, Power BI reports as an alternative for ArcGIS Dashboards, and the limitations of Power BI as a geospatial tool. I will discuss my process of trial and error, present case studies, and leave time to hear some of your experiences with Power BI and GIS!

At Terracon, efficient management of our ArcGIS organization is key to supporting diverse projects. Using Safe Software’s FME platform, we automate tasks like account maintenance, usage monitoring, and reporting to optimize resource management and platform health.

This presentation highlights practical FME workflows, including integration with ArcGIS REST API, user data processing, and dashboard generation. Attendees will see how automation simplifies ArcGIS organization management, ensuring a scalable and efficient ArcGIS platform.

Join us to discover how Terracon leverages FME to sustain a well-maintained, efficient, and scalable ArcGIS platform.

Maintaining a publicly available database of hazardous substances or other environmental pollution reported to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is one of the required functions of the DNR’s Remediation and Redevelopment (RR) program. The ability to map and display spatial data is key to this work. RR Sites Map is an interactive web mapping application that enables DNR staff members and the public to interact with the spatial information in this database. This presentation will showcase the RR Sites Map and the role of the data in program decision-making and will detail the considerations and process used during the recent migration of the RR Sites Map to a new mapping platform.

If you’ve ever collected data in the field using Survey123 or Field Maps and then opened it in ArcGIS Pro only to find timestamps shifted, you’re not alone. In this session, we’ll explore the challenges of working with date/time fields in ArcGIS Online Hosted Feature Layers and the implications for reporting in ArcGIS Pro.
We’ll share our experience tackling the challenges of UTC time in hosted feature layers, how it impacted our workflows, and the steps we took to address these issues. The session will conclude with an audience discussion, providing an opportunity to exchange ideas and strategies for managing date/time fields in GIS.