Jeff Hedstrom is a GIS Analyst/Cadastral Theme Lead at the Montana State Library (MSL) and Past President on the MAGIP Board of Directors. His primary focus at MSL includes maintaining the Cadastral and CadNSDI datasets within the MSDI framework as well as maintaining metadata collections... Read More →
Wednesday April 16, 2025 8:00am - 8:20am MDT
Ballroom
The Hands-On Learning Lab is a training resource provided and developed by Esri Training Services. The lab is an excellent way to introduce or refine your skills related to Esri solutions and training opportunities while learning to use Esri software. As part of the Big Sky GeoCon, there is no charge for you to utilize and benefit from the learning lab!
Wednesday April 16, 2025 8:00am - Thursday April 17, 2025 3:30pm MDT
Montana Room
This presentation will explore demographic and economic data for geographic areas in Montana. We will walk through the most accurate and useful data sets from the U.S. Census Bureau Decennial Census and American Community Survey. We will provide guidance on the usability of data at varying geographic levels (ex. block, city, county). Finally, we will review the best resources for obtaining and using tabular and GIS-enabled data including the U.S Census Bureau, ESRI Living Atlas via ArcGIS Online and the Montana Department of Commerce.
Dave Ritts is a GIS Analyst with the Montana Department of Commerce. He primarily works with demographic and economic data and maintains dashboards, web pages and databases for the Census and Economic Information Center (CEIC). He has previously worked as a GIS Analyst for Oregon... Read More →
Wednesday April 16, 2025 8:25am - 8:55am MDT
Lewis Room
Vital Ground Foundation retained River Design Group to assess the ecological restoration potential of two properties within the Cabinet-Yaak Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone in Northwest Montana, to improve native riparian, wetland, and forest habitat. A GIS-based assessment was completed which provided a framework for identification of restoration approaches. Spatial analysis included historical aerial photo analysis and quantification of landscape-level changes since the 1940’s, and LiDAR data analysis which identified relict habitat features. Restoration actions were recommended, and preferred alternatives were clarified through cartography. Two river and wetland restoration projects were constructed in Fall 2024 utilizing GPS-enabled heavy equipment in construction.
Ms. Ammondt is a GIS Analyst and Restoration Ecologist at River Design Group based in Whitefish, MT, a private consulting firm offering stream and wetland restoration and water resources engineering services. Selita specializes in geospatial analysis and cartography, and ecological... Read More →
Wednesday April 16, 2025 8:25am - 8:55am MDT
Clark Room
This talk will cover updates to the Montana Cadastral application since its launch a year ago, and it will look ahead at new features that are planned. There will be time for questions and feedback.
Kenny Ketner is the Information Products Lead at the Montana State Library (MSL), where he has worked since 2016. His team is responsible for application development and systems administration, frequently in collaboration with the GIS professionals at MSL.
Wednesday April 16, 2025 8:25am - 8:55am MDT
Governor Room
Sarah Smolka has been the Flood Hazard GIS Specialist for Montana DNRC since 2023. She has an M.S. in Geography from the University of Montana and a background in GIS for public safety and energy.
Wednesday April 16, 2025 9:00am - 9:30am MDT
Clark Room
Regional Geospatial Coordinators Program: The purpose of the Regional Geospatial Coordinators (RGCs) is to establish a partnership of the roles and responsibilities of the respective partners in the twelve Regions. Within this presentation, RMR RGC will give an outline of how RMR RGC has worked to limit data silos and explores the critical aspects of GIS data management, focusing on the effective organization, storage, and manipulation of geographically referenced data within the BIA’s planning context. This emphasizes the importance of data validation and quality checks to ensure the accuracy and consistency of spatial data throughout the BIA’s geospatial system.
Regional Geospatial Coordinator, Department of Interior- Rocky Mountain Regional Office
I like to hunt, fish, and other outdoor activities. I really like talking about my 49ers, Celtics, and San Fran Giants. With work related, I like talking about AGOL, Collector, SDE Server (learning), parcel data, Metes and Bounds (COGO), and spatial analysis.
Wednesday April 16, 2025 9:00am - 9:30am MDT
Lewis Room
ArcGIS Workflow Manager is a scalable enterprise workflow management system that automates and simplifies many aspects of performing and managing GIS and non-GIS work in an organization. It optimizes GIS operations by providing real-time tools for managing people, processes, and products required to complete work. Come to this session to learn how you can get started with this technology.
Scott Moore is a Solution Engineer Team Lead with Esri in Olympia, WA. He focuses on assisting Esri software users with architecture design, application development and technical advice for deploying ArcGIS. Mr. Moore’s areas of expertise include web mapping, server based GIS... Read More →
Wednesday April 16, 2025 9:00am - 9:30am MDT
Governor Room
The Geospatial Skills Camp for Rural Montana Youth, hosted by MSU, is an immersive, hands-on program aimed at introducing youth from rural Montana to geospatial technologies and communities. This project brings curriculum covering STEM and GIS technologies to commutes that don’t always have access or educators to instruct the topics. The curriculum includes seven labs that are particularly relevant to Montana’s rural communities and gives students the tools to then explore their own spatial questions during the camp, and in the future. The camps pilot program was successfully launched in 2024, helping to refine the curriculum for this year’s camps. Here is the link to the story map: https://arcg.is/1faOzX1
Utilizing temperature of a tracer of ground water-surface water (GWSW) interaction has a long history in hydrology. Increasingly UAS thermal data is being used to evaluate high spatial resolution micro-scale (cm-level) GWSW interaction. Thermal UAS data can reveal areas of groundwater discharge, hyporheic zone interaction, and reaches of warmer water that can be barriers to fish movement and survival. UM and MTech conducted a 20-mile thermal UAS project on Thompson Creek in the summer of 2024. This work provides insights into the GWSW interaction along the creek and has implications for stream restoration in support of native fish populations.
Autonomous Aerial Systems Office (AASO) at University of Montana
Jeremy Crowley is the Director of the Autonomous Aerial Systems Office (AASO) at the University of Montana (UM). He has worked in the private sector, state and federal agencies, and academia for over 20 years mostly focusing on geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing... Read More →
Wednesday April 16, 2025 9:35am - 10:05am MDT
Lewis Room
Accurate, high-resolution elevation data for both exposed and submerged features in alluvial systems improves hydrologic and morphodynamic modeling. However, while most LiDAR and drone-based photogrammetry excel at capturing surface topography, they provide limited information about channel bed elevations below the water surface. We demonstrate a workflow to generate and stitch together high-resolution elevation data for both exposed and submerged features. This method integrates drone-based Structure from Motion DEMs with easily obtained field measurements and optical bathymetry tools to generate a single high-resolution, high accuracy topographic and bathymetric DEM raster.
Trust for Public Land® is a national NGO whose mission is to conserve open space lands and promote parks in the United States and it’s territories. One of the central goals of the Trust For Public Land is to ensure that “Everyone in U.S. cities should have access to a quality park within a 10-minute walk of their home.” Working toward this goal requires accurate information on the location of parks and people in urbanized areas, a database that we call ParkServe®. In this presentation, Dave Highness will describe the ParkServe® database and the methods for maintaining and presenting it to the public.
With many users across the continental US, the Terracon Data Solutions team provides tailored GIS solutions for its many offices. A constant struggle is to maintain data standards when there is so much data being collected at any given time. Once it came time to discuss our next version upgrade, the team discussed ways to better efficiencies to speed up the process. We stumbled upon the idea that one needs to 'clean up' before moving from one house to the other. Taking inspiration from a past presentation, the Data Solutions Team and the Solutions Architecture team developed an Esri Dashboard that used Content scoring to demonstrate to users what data is worth keeping and what is not. This assisted the team in reducing content by nearly 50% in a brief period because users could see their aggregate scores and knew what needed improvement and what could be eliminated. We will discuss the creation of the dashboards, the user reception of the concept, and the lessons learned.
Brett is the Corporate GIS Manager for Terracon Consulting Engineers and has worked in the GIS field for over 2 decades. His duties include the management of GIS analysis, geohazard mapping, web and mobile mapping projects, & company GIS support. Brett is also a retired police officer... Read More →
Wednesday April 16, 2025 10:10am - 10:40am MDT
Lewis Room
NOAA's National Geodetic Survey (NGS) defines, maintains, and provides access to the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS), which is a common foundation for geospatial data that serves as the basis for civilian surveying and mapping in the United States. Changes in technology and a better understanding of the dynamic earth have made it necessary to improve the NSRS to be of better use for modern applications. Currently, NGS is in the process of modernizing the NSRS, updating the existing horizontal datums with a suite of geometric reference frames and the vertical datums with a gravimetrically-derived geopotential datum.
Rocky Mountain Regional Geodetic Advisor, NOAA's National Geodetic Survey
Brian Shaw is NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey Rocky Mountain Regional Advisor. He began his career at NGS in 2002 and has a BS in Computer Science and an MS in Geographic Information Systems which made him the NGS geospatial go-to person. Brian emphasizes how GIS depends on geodesy... Read More →
Wednesday April 16, 2025 11:10am - 12:10pm MDT
Lewis Room
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have significantly transformed spatial data collection and analysis. This presentation will delve into the utilization of OpenDroneMap, an open-source software toolkit designed for processing UAV imagery. Attendees will learn about the capabilities of OpenDroneMap in generating high-resolution orthophotos, 3D models, and point clouds, with real-world case studies presented by Montana State University's Geospatial Core Facility. Join us to explore how OpenDroneMap can transform your GIS projects, providing a practical and scalable solution for advanced geospatial data management and analysis.
Jackson Rose is a Geospatial Research Analyst working in the Geospatial Core Facility at MSU. Jackson’s role in the Collaborative Waterways Mapping project includes overseeing and facilitating primary data collection efforts in connection with the CATS program.
Wednesday April 16, 2025 11:10am - 12:10pm MDT
Clark Room
Montana State University (MSU) has embarked on an exciting journey of digital transformation by implementing the preliminary elements of a utility digital twin for their water networks using the Esri Utility Network (UN) Solution. This innovative project has revolutionized their approach, moving from standalone CAD drawings and map books to a sophisticated data model that enables advanced asset management and network tracing capabilities through their enterprise GIS portal.
GIS Manager, HDR Engineering/Montana State University
Kyle Burke is a GIS Manager with HDR Inc. based in Missoula, MT. He holds BAs in History and Anthropology from the University of Montana and a MS in Geographic Information Science and Technology from the University of Southern California. He has over 7 years as a GIS professional... Read More →
GIS evangelist specializing in enterprise GIS, asset management and utility network management. Am fascinated with integrating business systems with GIS and helping utilities become smarter, geoenabled organizations.
Wednesday April 16, 2025 11:10am - 12:10pm MDT
Governor Room
Advancements in UAS hardware and Lidar technologies have provided opportunities for organizations to gather highly accurate and dense Lidar point clouds for small scale projects with quick turn around times. This presentation will outline a variety of projects, with varying challenges, specifications and client needs. We will review steps for planning successful UAS Lidar missions and detail UAS Lidar system specifications and applications. Assessing site suitability and the size of project area are important factors for UAS projects. Dense point clouds will be explored from engineering and water resource projects.
Tyler Kaebisch is a Geospatial Project Manager with Ayres. He has managed small and large-scale projects that apply remote sensing techniques to analyze features across the landscape.
Wednesday April 16, 2025 1:45pm - 2:15pm MDT
Lewis Room
Using ArcGIS Experience Builder, GIS-related web applications can be created by arranging and configuring components known as widgets. Core capabilities are provided by out-of-the-box widgets, while custom widgets can be added to allow for workflows and operations that may not otherwise be accommodated. In this session, the value of custom widgets will be discussed and the process of creating widgets will be explained. A range of audience interests will be served, from offering a general appreciation of the possibilities through to guidance for those who may wish to develop widgets themselves.
David Howes is a geospatial information scientist and the sole owner at David Howes, LLC (dhowes.com [dhowes.com]) in Seattle, WA, specializing in the development of GIS tools, processes, and supporting infrastructure for a variety of clients from small operations to multinational corporations. David has over 30 years of academic and private sector experience in both the United Kingdom and the Uni... Read More →
Wednesday April 16, 2025 1:45pm - 2:45pm MDT
Clark Room
Good map design helps the viewer navigate information effortlessly, turning complexity into clarity. This presentation will review selected cartographic design concepts, such as figure-ground contrast, visual hierarchy, harmony, and legibility, and provide practical examples of applying them in ArcGIS Pro. The practical tips will cover topics like selecting the right label halos, defining your color scheme, and applying blending modes. Examples will be focused on print and static maps created in ArcGIS Pro, but the concepts could be applied to any type of map or software.
In October of 2024, approximately 26 road miles within Helena, MT city limits were captured with a state of the art mobile lidar sensor. This presentation will provide a summary of the Helena mobile lidar collection including the technology, collection considerations, desired feature collection and accuracy. And will review what the data will be used for by the City. We will review the types of projects this mobile lidar point cloud and imagery can support in a GIS like asset inventory and management, change detection and much more.
Senior Account Manager, West Coast, NV5 Geospatial
Melissa Christie is a Senior Account Manager for NV5 Geospatial and lives in El Dorado Hills, CA. She has a BS in Geography and a minor in Geology from the University of Nevada, Reno. Melissa began her career in the public sector, working for USGS Water Resources Division, Washoe... Read More →
Wednesday April 16, 2025 2:20pm - 2:50pm MDT
Lewis Room
Innovation is not a single event but a continuous process of learning, adapting, and refining ideas to reach the right solution. At Pickett and Associates, our journey to develop an unmanned hydrographic survey program demonstrates this iterative approach. Beginning with a custom-built prototype in 2014, our goal was to enhance safety and efficiency in surveying hazardous industrial mining ponds. This presentation highlights the innovation process that carried us from a promising yet flawed prototype to the successful adoption of a commercially proven solution. Interdisciplinary collaboration and strategic partnerships with industry specialists were two key factors that helped facilitate this transformative journey. By viewing setbacks as opportunities to grow, we identified essential design criteria, conducted thorough market evaluations, and selected a system designed to withstand the extreme conditions of acidic mining ponds. Throughout this process, we reaffirmed that true innovation demands adaptability and persistence. Valuable lessons emerged, including the necessity of engaging end-users, knowing when to pivot from custom solutions to established technologies, and maintaining a steadfast focus on safety and quality. This case study provides actionable insights for fostering a culture of innovation that turns challenges into stepping stones for progress.
Takeaway: Innovation is not linear but a journey defined by discovery and growth. By embracing challenges and refining our approach, Pickett successfully developed and implemented an unmanned hydrographic survey program that exemplifies the power of collaboration and persistence in achieving meaningful innovation.
Senior Engineer - Innovation, Pickett and Associates
Dan Mummert, PE, is a Senior Engineer leading the Innovation Program at Pickett and Associates, LLC (Pickett). He holds a degree and a Professional Engineering License in Civil Engineering, specializing in Geospatial Engineering. Dan has over two decades of comprehensive experience... Read More →
Wednesday April 16, 2025 3:20pm - 3:50pm MDT
Lewis Room
Montana State University in Bozeman, MT is a 130 year old institution. In the spring of 2024, University Facilities Management launched their drone program. Combining high tech georeferenced drone mapping with past surveys, stories, drawings, As-Builts, it became clear that the old divisions of getting it right, i.e. GIS vs professional surveying could be used together to make a robust experience for contractors, engineers, planners, etc in getting it right. What is "here" is actually "here". Utility industry veteran, Adam Hallberg, Utility Coordinator describes this in detail.
This presentation explores how organizations can leverage ArcGIS Solutions to optimize operations, improve decision-making, and enhance collaboration. By integrating GIS tools into daily workflows, state and local governments can better manage resources, analyze spatial data, and gain valuable insights across sectors like urban planning, transportation, and public safety. We’ll demonstrate how ArcGIS enables real-time data analysis, streamlined processes, and smarter, data-driven decisions. Attendees will learn how to effectively implement ArcGIS Solutions to solve challenges, improve efficiency, and drive innovation, all while maximizing the value of geographic data within their organization.
Scott Oppmann is Esri’s ArcGIS for Local Government Project Manager. In this position he is responsible for the planning, implementation, and support of Esri’s ArcGIS for Local Government Solution. This solution provides a series of maps and apps that illustrate how Esri’s software... Read More →
Wednesday April 16, 2025 3:20pm - 4:20pm MDT
Governor Room
Learn how you can use the ArcGIS JavaScript SDK's map and widgets wrapped as web components to kickstart your journey in building web mapping applications.
Scott Moore is a Solution Engineer Team Lead with Esri in Olympia, WA. He focuses on assisting Esri software users with architecture design, application development and technical advice for deploying ArcGIS. Mr. Moore’s areas of expertise include web mapping, server based GIS... Read More →
Wednesday April 16, 2025 3:55pm - 4:25pm MDT
Clark Room
Fluvial geomorphology and channel migration typically have been studied by relying on field observations or long-term, medium- to low-resolution remote sensing imagery acquired over extended intervals. The technology of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) allows for on-demand data collection with high spatial resolution. This study compares the measurements of aerial imagery produced by the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) and the aerial imagery produced by a UAS, as well as their ability to capture and analyze land cover and geomorphic changes after flood events between 2017 and 2021 on the Sun River in Central Montana.
Tanner Tompkins works for a ranch management company headquartered in Bozeman, managing GIS data for over 2 million acres of deeded/leased land. He also helps lead a stream restoration program for the ranch company via GPS surveying, geomorphic measurements, UAS data capture, GIS... Read More →
Wednesday April 16, 2025 3:55pm - 4:25pm MDT
Lewis Room
This presentation explores how ChatGPT and other Large Language Models (LLMs) can enhance GIS workflows. Attendees will learn how to use AI on a daily basis to enhance GIS workflows. With practical examples and best practices, this session demonstrates how LLMs can complement traditional GIS tools, boosting productivity and solving common challenges. Whether you're a GIS analyst, developer, or project manager, you'll discover how to integrate AI effectively into your work for greater efficiency and innovation.
Curtis has over ten years of experience developing and managing geospatial and relational database solutions. He is currently the GIS Administrator at Pickett and Associates. Using ArcGIS Pro, Survey123, Field Maps, SQL, and Python he has built and maintained data collection, analysis... Read More →
Wednesday April 16, 2025 4:30pm - 5:00pm MDT
Governor Room
Imagery, big data, analytics, and the always expanding capabilities of the Enterprise stack make migrating from on-premise to a GIS Managed Cloud Services solution an ideal choice. During this session, we will review the top questions and concerns our clients have around making this move, how they prepared to migrate, and the benefits they have realized since.
Microsoft’s Power Automate is a low-code/no-code automation platform that integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365 and a host of third-party applications and services, including ArcGIS. In this session, we’ll explore a real-world example as an overview of requirements, capabilities, and limitations of this integration. Key topics will include authentication methods, deployment patterns, common pitfalls, quirks, practical tips and tricks, and lessons learned.
Full-service Missoula-based GIS professional services provider offering affordable GIS development and solutions, ArcGIS Enterprise deployments and upgrades (cloud/on-premises), and ArcGIS Online/Portal backup solutions. We serve customers in nine countries across the globe, from... Read More →
Wednesday April 16, 2025 4:30pm - 5:00pm MDT
Lewis Room
Wildfire’s destruction of homes is an increasingly serious global problem. Characterizing home hardening and defensible space at the individual structure level may reduce loss through enriched understanding of structure susceptibility. However, improved data and methods are required to accurately characterize parcel-level features at scale. Here, we present a remote sensing and statistical learning approach to representing single-structure susceptibility in Ouray County, Colorado. Using LiDAR and property records, we characterize fuel attributes in the built environment. This method uses open-source data and may be used by communities to develop policies and mitigation programs.
