Mission Coordinators and Subcommittees
In 2016, we completed two rounds of recruitment for GISCorps Mission Coordinator positions. The recruitment resulted in forming a team of 21 volunteers across three subcommittees: ArcGIS Online, Digital Humanitarian Network, and OpenStreetMap. The subcommittees support the Core Committee in a variety of areas, including developing standard operating procedures, training and guiding volunteers, and helping during disaster response missions. If you are interested in participating on a subcommittee, please contact us.
ArcGIS Online Team:
Purpose: Members of this team are helping develop SOPs for the GISCorps AGO platform and coordinate on projects that require the use of AGO
Chair: Jeff Pires
Members: Troy Wirth, Alexis Handelman
Advisors: Shoreh Elhami, German Whitley
Former Members: Brian Baldwin
AGO Team’s Report – May 2016
The ArcGIS Online Committee was established earlier this year, with the intent to promote ArcGIS Online (AGO) technology in support of GISCorps initiatives. Our four volunteer mission coordinators and one core committee adviser are working on developing standard operating procedures for our GISCorps AGO Organization, so that volunteers can quickly get up and running once deployed on a mission. In addition, we are reviewing all accounts and content in our current AGO site, to make sure we are using the platform efficiently. We are also making enhancements to the volunteer database to help us quickly find the right volunteers when AGO assistance is requested. GISCorps currently has about 800 volunteers with AGO experience! We plan to share many of these exciting changes at the Esri User Conference in late June. Please watch for a link to the new skills survey in the next few weeks.
AGO Team’s Report – August 2016
The ArcGIS Online (AGO) Committee has continued to make progress on multiple initiatives this quarter. Our AGO site was given a face lift just prior to the ESRI User Conference, and now includes updated maps & apps as well as links to partner organizations. Datasets behind the Missions Map, Missions Tour App, and Volunteer Locations Map have also been updated, and we continue to refine the processes that will maintain these into the future. A survey designed to supplement volunteer profile data with specialized AGO experience was completed, and as of early August we have seen a 25% response rate. If you have AGO experience and wish to include it in your volunteer profile, please respond to the survey here if you haven’t yet! Finally, we are continuing our search for AGO best practices which can be applied to GISCorps missions, and aim to have a first draft of Standard Operating Procedures for GISCorps AGO ready for Core Committee review in September.
Digital Humanitarian Network (DHN) Team:
Purpose: Members of this team will coordinate on projects where GISCorps collaborates with DHN
Chair: Leslie Zolman
Members: Michal Bodnar
Advisors: Shoreh Elhami, Leslie Zolman
DHN Team’s Report – May 2016
The DHN Team was established earlier this year and plans to contact the new DHN coordinators once elected.
OpenStreetMap (OSM) Team:
Purpose: Members of this team will coordinate on projects that require the use of OSM.
Chair: Emmor Nile
Members: Francesco Petrosino, Sundaralingam Suthakartan, Katie Pickett
Advisor: Leslie Zolman
OSM Team’s Report – May 2016
Since earlier this year when the OSM Team was established, members have become involved in several projects including the earthquakes in Afghanistan, Columbia, Ecuador, and most recently the flooding in Sri Lanka.
OSM Team’s Report – August 2016
Dave Litke (GISCorps Core Committee member) and Emmor Nile (GISCorps OpenStreetMap Coordinator) made a presentation about GISCorps at the annual OSM State of the Map US conference, held this year in Seattle, Washington, from July 23-25, 2016. Several hundred people attended the conference, which had a theme of “Building Community”. Mapping for humanitarian crisis response also was an important theme, and GISCorps is becoming increasingly involved in these activities. A video of Dave and Emmor’s talk, entitled “GISCorps-A Volunteer Community of GIS Professionals” may be viewed in here.