ESRI's Community Analyst Subscription Service

I attended a live training webinar titled "Introduction to Esri Community Analyst" today, and would like to see who, if anyone, in the Iberia Parish GIS Intergovernmental Agreement would be interested in this product. The live webinar that I viewed was recorded, and will be available in a few days on the Esri training website.

Esri is offering a free 14-day trial of the product. I think we should try it, but I'd like the participation by some of you in the trial for specific examples of reports that would be helpful in your work. Since it works in an Internet browser, anyone can sign up for the trial, which includes up to 7 reports and/or maps. The link to sign up for the trial subscription is here.

Community Analyst is similar in many ways to the SCOUT for Local Government product by Buxton. Community Analyst is a web based subscription product that produces pre-formatted reports based on the variables chosen by the user. It is aimed at professionals in government, economic development, and related fields, but it does not require a GIS background to effectively use it.

Community Analyst subscriptions also include an add-in product for ArcGIS Desktop. Local data in shapefile format can also be uploaded to the cloud Community Analyst product for sharing among users on the same subscription. Community Analyst can be purchased in three levels of functionality.  The subscription options and preformatted reports included with each level are listed in a PDF document here. These are the list prices. I don't know if this product is included in the state's contract with Esri yet. Esri products on the state contract are usually priced about 10% below list.

Some uses that I can think of for this product would be:

• Disaster damage planning
• Community Analyst can show income levels by census block, allowing planners to focus aid
• Disaster damage assessment
• The user can draw a polygon around a damaged area, then produce a report showing numbers of households, real estate values, as well as other information
• Disaster damage recovery
• Using the damaged area polygon, resources for recovery can be mapped, and drive times computed.
• Economic development
• Buying patterns, income levels, existing businesses can be analyzed and reports generated similar to the SCOUT product.
• Grant applications
• Quickly create reports with demographic data to justify grant applications.

So, if you are interested in viewing the webinar or discussing the product further, I'd be happy to meet with you. At this time, the GIS department is not budgeting for this application since we don't know how much we would use it. Feedback from you, the IGA participants, will tell us whether we need it or not.

GIS Committee Proceedings

The GIS Committee met on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 in council chambers. Herff Jones was elected Chair and Pres Marshall was elected Vice-Chair.

The committee decided to hold regular quarterly meetings. The next meeting will be in early November.

A short report was given on the progress of the GIS function according to the Implementation Plan. The Chair asked for a presentation detailing the progress according to the plan phases for the next meeting.

After the meeting, Vince Palumbo forwarded a slide presentation on state laws pertaining to public records by Ryan Seidemann, Assistant Attorney General. This presentation was originally delivered in 2008, but the material covered still holds true for GIS data.

Intergovernmental Agreement GIS Committee Meeting

The next meeting of the Iberia Parish GIS Committee will be Wednesday, August 10, in the council chambers, 4th floor Iberia Parish Courthouse, 10:00 am.

In this meeting, the delegates nominated by each participating entity in the intergovernmental agreement will be recognized and installed as voting members of the committee.

There will be a presentation of the current status of the GIS Department, and discussion about future goals and deliverables.

Esri User Conference 2011




Waiting for the opening session doors to open

 Amy Brassieur, Iberia Parish GIS Manager, attended the Esri International User Conference in San Diego July 10-15. It was awesome. Production values very high. It was like a theme park for geographic information systems. There were about 30 tracks, including technical workshops and paper sessions, plus short demos on the exhibit floor.

Exhibit floor demo session

Oh, and did I mention the technical support staff that would sit down with you one-on-one and solve your problems?

Tech support on exhibit floor

There was also an area where you could sit down and do a 20-minute hands-on training session.

Hands-on training room

I made some new contacts and learned the bits I was missing during the technical workshops.
The conference center is built a little like a cruise ship - decks on every side, and glass walls and ceilings.



Harbor side view of San Diego Convention Center



GIS Status Update

The GeoComm road centerline and addressable structure point layer project is on schedule, with the fieldwork complete at this time. The final data products are scheduled for delivery in September. The GeoComm project includes training on a maintenance workflow for these data products.

The GIS server hardware and software is installed, and development is continuing on data and web map projects. Iberia Parish Government has a network administrator, Mike Prejean, on staff since May 31. Mike Prejean will help the GIS department make web maps and the server database available to all participants in the IGA.

Development of web maps on the GIS server is currently under way. The SQL geodatabase is installed, and relevant data is being added to it.

We have recently received a layer, done for Iberia Parish by LAGIC through a grant from the USGS, which gives points and building footprints for locations important in a disaster recovery. These points are classified by type of structure, such as law enforcement, retail, community centers, churches, and so on.

Development of other foundation layers, such as the parish drainage, rights of way, and easements, is a continuing effort.

A group meeting of all GIS intergovernmental agreement participants will be scheduled soon.

GeoComm Road Centerline Project Begins April 13, 2011

Beginning April 13, GeoComm vehicles will be collecting road centerline and habitable structure addresses throughout Iberia Parish. The following is the press release:

March 24, 2011


For Immediate Release: Countywide

Contact: Prescott Marshall, 9-1-1 Director

(337) 369-4427

Iberia Parish enhances Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for County Emergency Dispatch System

Iberia Parish, in order to continue to provide a high level of public safety services, will be undertaking a GIS project to develop accurate digital road and address point data. This data will be used to assist 9-1-1 dispatchers and first responders with finding 9-1-1 callers throughout the county.

Iberia Parish has entered into a contract with GeoComm, Inc. of Saint Cloud, Minnesota to assist with GIS map data development. The contract involves GeoComm staff performing GPS fieldwork throughout the county. GeoComm’s main purpose during fieldwork is to collect GPS coordinates for all roads and habitable structures in Iberia Parish. This data will be imported into the County’s 9-1-1 system to help with locating 9-1-1 callers.

During the months of April and May, GeoComm representatives will be driving every road in Iberia Parish collecting this data. Their vehicles are marked with the GeoComm logo and contact information along with a sign that they are doing official 9-1-1 business. In addition, the workers have identification badges.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact GeoComm at (888) 436-2666 and ask for the Iberia Parish project team, or contact Prescott Marshall, 9-1-1 Director, Iberia Parish, at (337) 369-4427.

About GeoComm:

GeoComm is an integrated GIS and public safety consulting firm that creates systems for 9-1-1. These systems are comprised of three core elements: accurate GIS and 9-1-1 data development and management, public safety-centric GIS software, and comprehensive consulting services ranging from wireless Phase I and II planning to two-way radio and networking to CPE, RFP, and PSAP consolidation studies. Over the past 15 years, GeoComm has successfully deployed thousands of licenses of public safety GIS software at different sites throughout 42 states. (www.geo-comm.com)

Several Projects Underway

The GeoComm road centerline and addressing project was kicked off last week. E-911 is contracting to GeoComm for high-quality road and addressing data. The E-911 board has agreed to share this data with the enterprise GIS. All signatories of the GIS Intergovernmental Agreement will be able to share this data. GeoComm will consult with E-911 and the GIS department to create a workflow to maintain the data thereafter.

The GIS Server project is well underway. The current data is being added to the SQL Server database. Next step - create map services and simple web applications so that governmental agencies can view the data.

Maps for various purposes have been created for several departments. Contact the GIS department at 369-4469 if you have a map request.

Zoning Layer Updated

The 2009 parish zoning layer has been updated with all changes from 2009 and 2010. The Planning & Zoning department is currently using it with ArcGIS Explorer, with a local copy of the 2008 aerial photography as a base map.

The server is here!

The new GIS server hardware is installed in the rack. The GIS server software is being downloaded and installed this week.

Once the software is installed, the 2008 aerial photography will be loaded, and a web application will be created so that all participants in the enterprise GIS will be able to use it.