Friday

Breakfast in the Ballroom

Title: Utilizing GIS in the Aftermath of the Marshalltown Tornado

Description: This presentation will focus on how GIS was utilized in the aftermath of the July 19th tornado to assess damage done to residential properties in Marshalltown, Iowa.

Volunteers were able access a simple web map via their smart device to collect assessment data. This data was then fed into a dashboard for decision makers to assess and plan areas to collect additional data. Additionally, we will discuss issues we ran into along the way and facilitate a discussion on how these tools can be applied to other situations.

Attendees should leave with a clear idea of how GIS can be used during/after a natural disaster to expedite the assessment of damaged properties. How this effort can be crowd-sourced to residents and other volunteers to efficiently provide State and Federal agencies with necessary data.

Presenter: Tyler Danielson

Presenter Bio: Tyler is a GIS Specialist with Bolton & Menk, he has experience with internal and external clients and assists in database & application development, data analysis, advanced map development, and dabbles in python. He has worked on a variety of GIS projects including production mapping, emergency response analysis, cultural & natural resource mapping, orthorectification, georeferencing, and data gathering, and remote sensing. Additionally, he has been a leader in pushing the use ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online capabilities within Bolton & Menk.

Morning break in the Ballroom

Morning break in the Ballroom

Title: GIS Lightning Talks

Description: Let's hear some stories, some updates, some discussion!

We'll be talking about E911 Advisory Board updates, hear about some boundaries needs at the sate level, and show off a little Drone2Map application, among other topics.

Moderated by Matt Boeck.

Conference Wrap-up in the Ballroom

Conference review IGIC/ICIT Board Meeting

Breakfast in the Ballroom

Title: Story Telling with Data

Description: As we all know, sarcasm is difficult to convey in text. Similarly, data isn't easily conveyed across all mediums. Therefore, as data curators, it is our job to know which tool is right for the job. Cari will walk through a fictional logistics scenario in which different business units require data presented in a meaningful way, in different business intelligence tools. The scenario will be presented, and the data story will be displayed in Excel, MicroStrategy, and using ArcGIS.

After reviewing different reporting tools and their purposes, Cari will dive in and apply reporting to an ArcGIS Online Web App Dashboard.

Presenter: Cari Laage

Presenter Bio: Cari Laage hails from Casey’s General Stores where she actively engages with numerous company departments to provide a holistic-critical thinking methodology as a member of the Business Intelligence Team. As a Senior Business Analyst, Cari advocates for root cause analysis, process improvement, and tracking results for quantitative improvements.

Equipped with a BA in Entrepreneurship from the University of St. Thomas and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration (MPA) from Iowa State University, Cari developed her career through seemingly unconnected industries only to come full-circle with added perspective.

Starting in the franchised fuel/convenience retail sector, Cari wrote business plans used to acquire and grow a franchisee’s stake in the St. Paul / Minneapolis market.

Between relocating to Des Moines and graduate school, Cari dabbled in the quick service restaurant (QSR), financial, and transportation logistics industries. Upon graduation, Cari was a data analyst for the State Of Iowa where she added to her technical skills used to propel her into the role of Business Analysis.

As a “green” business analyst, Cari dipped her toes into the fertilizer industry as she developed a B2B software system compatible with multiple purchasers and sellers. As Casey’s Business Intelligence Business Analyst, Cari: brought AGILE methodology to the team; created a strong onboarding program; defines complex terms and metrics across varied departments; and, is creating an enterprise spatial data analytics program to supplement traditional data analytic methodologies.

Morning break in the Ballroom

Title: Arcade: No Quarters Required!

Description: Arcade provides an easy to use scripting language in the ArcGIS Platform. Arcade can control how features are rendered, text labels are formatted, pop ups are customized, and more. Basic concepts of the Arcade scripting syntax will be explored. Advanced customization using real world examples in desktop and web mapping environments will further illustrate how to use Arcade for everyday solutions.

Presenter: Erik Brawner & Heather Schafer

Presenter Bio: Erik Brawner and Heather Schafer are GIS Analysts with the City of Des Moines.

Conference Wrap-up in the Ballroom

Conference review IGIC/ICIT Board Meeting

Breakfast in the Ballroom

Title: Quick, Dirty, and Revealing AppSec

Description: Application Security, or AppSec, is something we may take for granted, even in our most important systems. How, for example, do you know that your 911 dispatch application is secure? After you've patched Windows, ESXi, Citrix, your switches, your routers, your firewalls, and your BIOS, you must rely on your applications to authenticate, communicate, and operate safely.

Software companies exist to turn a profit, and, if possible, as a secondary motive, provide a working product. Successful vendors learn to do both, but, as we've seen since always, security is often left behind in the rush to release a marketable program. It's understandable, almost forgivable, but it doesn't have to be the end of the story. One could argue that we have a duty to trust them but verify what the hell they are doing with our data.

In this session, I'll share some observations found in the past few years looking under the hood of software we've used for things like finances, payroll, real estate, law enforcement records, 911 dispatch, and other purposes. I'll demonstrate some basic, mostly unintelligent, and often effective ways to start prying-back the curtain to find the gnarly stuff that powers our most important information systems.

Presenter: Anthony Kava

Presenter Bio: Anthony "Karver" Kava is a hacker who fights crime and eats trail mix. He calls himself a Tactical Computer Geek as a mind-meld of his day job title of Digital Forensics / Technology Administrator and his moonlight gig as a Special Deputy, both in the Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office. He enjoys Digital Forensics, InfoSec, Community Outreach, and long walks in the Dark Web. Assigned to the Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force since 2009, worked County IT 2003 - 2017, has some certs, lives to serve the public and solve puzzles.

Morning break in the Ballroom

Title: Local.gov Software Should be Open

Description: Local governments have a lot in common, especially within the same state. Many of us have developed custom software in-house or hired outside contractors to do such work. That software was bought with public funds, may have utility to other agencies, and yearns to be free.

We should, as public entities, make our applications open-source. The benefits are manifold.

Publicly-available source code can be reused by other organisations, saving tax-payer money. Code made available to the world is open to transparent inspection as well as improvements from anyone with interest. If another entity authors updates or hires a contractor to adapt a program, the resulting improvements can be committed back to the public repository, benefiting all users.

Small moves, like adding language to contracts that ensures you will own the code produced by a vendor can free our software. Publishing sources under an open licence to a site like GitHub enables easy sharing and even a free backup (no messy code escrow needed!).

I'll provide a proof of concept from PottCounty as well as examples where this would have helped in the past. I'll also make a compelling case to open-up our custom applications, and offer to help write resolutions for boards that choose to prefer vendors who won't insist on keeping the code you paid them to write under lock and key.

Recommended reading: The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond

Presenter: Anthony Kava

Presenter Bio: Anthony "Karver" Kava is a hacker who fights crime and eats trail mix. He calls himself a Tactical Computer Geek as a mind-meld of his day job title of Digital Forensics / Technology Administrator and his moonlight gig as a Special Deputy, both in the Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office. He enjoys Digital Forensics, InfoSec, Community Outreach, and long walks in the Dark Web. Assigned to the Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force since 2009, worked County IT 2003 - 2017, has some certs, lives to serve the public and solve puzzles.

Title: How to Assess Your Network Like the ICIT Tech Team

Description: Over the past 7 years the ICIT Tech Team has visited nearly 30 Iowa Counties to evaluate their IT and GIS environments. Join us as we share what we have learned during these evaluations so that you can better evaluate and manage your environment.

Presenter: Joel Rohne, Andrew De Haan, Micah Van Maanen

Presenter Bio: Micah Van Maanen is the IT Director at Sioux County. Joel Rohne is the IT/GIS Director at Worth County. Andrew De Haan is the IT Director at Marion County.

Conference Wrap-up in the Ballroom

Conference review IGIC/ICIT Board Meeting