A few weeks ago, Linda Rockwell (Mohawk Valley GIS) posted to the GISNY listserv making reference to a short conversation she recently had with an elected federal representative. As it turns out, the representative she was talking with did not know what “GIS” or Geographic Information Systems stood for even though he was active on committees in Washington dealing with Transportation and STEM issues.  For those of us who have been working in GIS in New York State for many years, Linda’s encounter does not come as a surprise.  By no means was it the first time, nor will it be the last, a GIS practitioner in New York State came away from a conversation scratching his or her head thinking “How can that politician possibly not know what GIS is about or the value of what we do?!”  Reason:  one of our most significant limitations as a statewide community of GIS professionals is that we have been incredibly slow in terms of delivering an effective and lasting “message” to elected officials concerning the role of geospatial technology in government and business.  While there are pockets of successful GIS projects across the state, due largely on local and sustaining political support, widespread legislative awareness of the technology has never been truly realized.

So What’s Missing?

In context of advancing as a professional discipline, look no further than similar organizations across the state as part of their efforts in representing membership and professional interests to elected officials.    And really, no Madison Avenue magic is involved – just very specific outreach and polished marketing to the Legislature as part of creating legislative agendas.   For example, current efforts by NYS professional organizations which benefit from the development of geospatial technology include:

• New York State Society of Professional Engineers:  Always at the top of my list here in Westchester County.   Their influence is broad and at the end of the day their involvement and use of geospatial data is endless.  And they always host great golf tournaments.
• New York State Association of Chiefs of Police:  Many years ago as a rookie GIS Manager I was told by a superior that when justifying or pitching a GIS budget I should always have the Police and Fire Chief standing next me.  Some of the best guidance I ever received which still resonates today.    We’ve spent many years carefully nurturing our relationships with these disciplines which have proven to be incredibly fruitful.

• New York State County Highway Superintendents Association:  What a winter for roads across the region.  One of the few places where grant funding is still to be found, transportation networks are a staple for GIS programs statewide supporting many emerging geospatial applications in vehicle tracking, mobile mapping, inspections and work order/permit processing.  Transportation and public works departments make great GIS allies.  Take note of their annual legislative approach:  membership showing up in mass in Albany and then head to the chambers to see their representatives.  If there is some kind of YouTube video of this annual event, it would make a great training video for the NY GIS Association.

• New York State School Board Association:  I’m still at a loss as to why after so many of GIS development across state the GIS/geospatial community has not aligned itself closer to our public school systems. Particularly at the local level where we are competing for the same tax dollar and there are so many areas of mutual interest including demographic analysis, demographic analysis, facilities management and public safety programs, and student transportation applications among others.  And this has nothing to do with GIS in the classroom which is still a work in progress at best.  You can be assured the Legislature will hear the NYSSBA 2014 legislative agenda loud and clear.

• New York Farm Bureau:  I’ve recently written on the growing number of areas in the agricultural space where the traditional GIS community can expand collaborative efforts.  The NYFB legislative priorities augment the recently passed federal farm bill (The Agriculture Act of 2014) which authorizes agricultural, environmental and community assistance programs through the end of fiscal year 2018 and contains provisions that support infrastructure and the environment.   I bet the NYS GIS community can find a way to get involved.

• New York State Association of Professional Land Surveyors:  While their website is a bit out of date in context of 2013/2014 information, NYAPLS is no stranger to the NYS GIS community based on the many years of debate over the “Surveyor Legislation” which as of January 2014 is in Legislative committee review.    With an organization of comparable membership numbers to the NY GIS Association, NYAPLS seems to a decent job in getting its message heard and represented.

• Even umbrella organizations such as New York State Association of Counties, New York Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials,  and even the Business Council of New York  have broad legislative agendas representing government and business interests involved in geospatial technologies such as economic development, tourism, health, infrastructure, and the environment.

Noted, most of these organizations have been established much longer, are vastly better funded, and are represented by legal counsel and supported by lobbyists.  Though the Legislative Committee of the NYS GIS Association has been closely monitoring evolution the “Surveyor Legislation”  over the past couple years, the NYS GIS professional community can learn much from the inner-workings of these organizations on how to build effective legislative agenda programs.

Is There Any Relevant NYS 2014 GIS Legislation?

Kinda.  Maybe a little by accident and a little by design.   Ironically in stark contrast to Linda’s concern that elected officials don’t really know about GIS and its still “our secret”, there actually is legislation currently under review in the NYS Legislature which has either specific mapping language or relies to some degree on geospatial technology.  Speaking as one who was a member of the New York State GIS Coordinating Body for 17 years (now dba as the GIS Advisory Council) and having routinely attended state conferences and hosted local user group meetings, I can say there has been very little dialog, communication, and/or review of NYS legislative bills by the GIS community – except for the “Surveyor Legislation”.   I doubt much of the NYS GIS community knows little of how these pieces of legislation were submitted, by whom, when, or why.    In showing what is currently on the table, I simply used the online NYS Open Senate legislative search engine using key words such as  “mapping, geographic information systems, and surveying” to generate a list. Some of the proposed bills are more relevant than others and/or have been around a while, but at least the search result can and should be part of the discussion.   Illustrative pieces of legislation aligned with the NYS geospatial disciplines include:

• Surveyor Legislation:   As noted above – this one is still around.   The NYGIS Association has been tracking and reviewing this piece of legislation for several years primarily with regard to its potential impact on field data collection/mapping with GPS units and the mapping of physical features.

• Open Data Law:   One of my favorites in context of all discussions and efforts we’ve been hearing relative to “open government” here in NYS.  Not clear how this does/does not augment the Governor’s Executive Order of last year or relates to Open New York – which was actually launched through the efforts of NYS Dept. of Health.  And there are a bunch of new geospatial open data portals to choose from as well.

• Legislation relating to public health issues including Autism and Alzheimer‘s detection (see also Bill A5025-2013) and  ovarian and breast cancer research (the later of which signed into law).

• Proposed legislation to establish both a statewide planning and mapping system of educational institutions and for the development of a comprehensive campus security plan for the state university of New York, the city university of New York and community colleges.

• Miscellaneous legislation directing the commissioner of agriculture and markets to assess and report on the use and development of precision agriculture, and the use of broadband by farmers.   NYS agricultural GIS ready to go prime time.

• Also, efforts to create a website providing sex offender registry information to be searchable by zip code of a registrant’s employment and a framework to provide notice of proposed construction of gas gathering lines and pipeline facilities for the purpose of  creating and maintaining a map of infrastructure related to fuel gas transmission, as well as health and environmental legislation focusing on hydraulic-fracking.

Conclusions

While I can relate to the conversation Ms. Rockwell had with her representative,  I’d rather propose that our underappreciated “little secret” of GIS is still not a priority in context of the many critical issues elected officials are faced with today,  particularly  in an era of declining staff and financial resources.  Come budget time, the “must-have” case just hasn’t been made in many circles.   We haven’t elevated the collective body of geospatial work to a high enough level of sustained and ongoing political awareness.  And it’s not going to change until the GIS community transforms the manner in which it presents the geospatial message on a much larger stage and can build capacity to conduct business within the legislative framework.

Over the past six months, there have been a myriad of articles in the online trade publications referencing the growth of geospatial technologies in agriculture.  From the growing field of “precision agriculture/ precision farming” or the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs aka “Drones”) the use of geospatial technology is clearly expanding in the agricultural (crop and fruit) disciplines across the State of New York.  There is even the growing field of GeoInsurance which focuses on policy and insurance underwriting covering agricultural lands and programs which are increasingly being viewed as vulnerable due to impacts of climate change and more frequent natural disasters.  However, while there is considerable geospatial growth in the agricultural community, it would appear the traditional NYS GIS community has made only limited headway in context of collaborating and advocating use of the technology with this emerging user community.  A review of papers presented at recent statewide GIS conferences (2013 NYGeoCon) or past GeoSpatial Summits show only a limited number of agriculture related topics and presenters.

One way to frame the potential for building a closer business relationship with the NYS agricultural community is this:  What’s the ceiling for the geospatial technology in one of New York State’s largest industries – covering 23% of the statewide land base, seven million acres, and nearly 36,000 farms?  Or the second-largest producer of wine in the nation contributing to over $3.76 billion in economic benefits to the economy of the state in 2008?   As well as a means to engage students graduating annually from the SUNY system with Certificate, Associate and Bachelor degrees in Agricultural Business, Agricultural Engineering Technology, Agricultural Science, and Agricultural Technology?  And the many agricultural program and research efforts at the Cornell Agriculture and Life Sciences Program (CALS)?

Precision Agriculture:  It can be said that the practice of precision agriculture (PA) was enabled by the advent of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology which ultimately resulted in a farmer’s ability to locate precise locations in the field allowing for the creation of maps – based on a common grid for comparison –  showing and measuring the spatial variability of variables such as crop yield, terrain features/topography, organic matter content, moisture levels, pH, or nitrogen levels among others.  Precision agriculture has also been enabled by technologies like crop yield monitors mounted on GPS equipped combines, seeders, and sprayers – which can have immediate results in reducing overlap and other benefits, not least of which is more timely field work and less operator fatigue.   Illustrative of the growth of PA (crops) in New York State is shown in an online article in DairyBusiness.com – with references to the Western New York Crop Management Association and a Cornell University publication (undated) entitled Precision Agriculture Technology:  New York State’s Adoption, Adaptation, and Future.  Any Google search on “NYS Precision Farming” from the CALS website will generate a long list of articles and examples of PA across the state.   Precision Agriculture is also being promoted through the New York Corn & Soy Growers Association.   Though certainly not the only other additional references on PA in NYS, other informative articles and URLs include:  ESRI’s GIS for Agriculture, the Ohio  Geospatial Program (Agriculture and Natural Resources),  GPS hardware providers  Trimble and Leica, a recent 2013 GCN Magazine article “A Bumper Crop of GIS Maps”, and everyone’s favorite tractor company –  John Deere.  Precision Viticulture (wine) is also the subject of applied research through the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station.

Precision Agriculture includes, GPS, traditional GIS applications, and even Remote Sensing

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs):  While there is still much debate on the “legal” uses of UVAs (Geospatial-Solutions online articles Nov2013 and Dec2013), UVAs (aka “Drones”) are anticipated to have a dramatic impact on the precision agriculture market as a means to easily capture aerial images for scouting and monitoring crop health such as detecting pests, weeds and nitrogen deficiencies.   Farmers will have the ability to know what’s going on with every plant, spotting problems before they spread, and applying chemicals with precision. They’ll use pesticides and fungicides only when needed and in the smallest amounts necessary, lowering the chemical load in both food and environment and saving money. On smaller farms, farmers can get to this level of precision with hand-tending. But larger farms, the answer is more likely to be with the use of drones.

Drones can also be used to locate cattle and their available forage over large areas, measure crop height, and generate topographic maps and models for land leveling and drainage applications.  In addition, GPS-enabled drones can store precise X,Y coordinates for pictures taken enabling farmers to stitch pictures together more accurately, getting a better image of what’s happening on the ground.  (A much cheaper, quicker, and more accurate alternative than contracting for aerial photography or using lower resolution satellite imagery).    While the current generation of drones (Data Drones) are being used primarily in context of collecting information, the next generation of machines will be capable of proactively protecting crops (Protection Drones) from bugs, birds, disease and other unwanted problems.  Ultimately it is anticipated that drones will evolve to planting sees then applying fertilizers and herbicides – only in precise locations (Seeding and Harvesting Drones).

Drones for agriculture come in many sizes and shapes often weighing under ten pounds.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently selected the facilities at the Griffiss International Airport, the former Air Force base near Rome, New York as one of six locations in the United States to prototype the development of drones for commercial use.  Aerospace firms and universities in New York and Massachusetts will be involved in the research at Griffiss.  This bodes well for upstate New York as the Association for Unmanned Vehicles International (AUVSI) report The Economic Impact of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the United State shows the economic benefit of UAV integration. AUVSI’s findings show that in the first three years of integration more than 70,000 jobs – including an estimated 2,276 in New York alone – will be created in the United States with an economic impact of more than $13.6 billion.   This benefit will grow through 2025 when we foresee more than 100,000 jobs created and economic impact of $82 billion.  A few days after the selection of the Griffiss site, the first company announced its plans to utilize it for testing. FlyTerra, a New York City firm, is developing drones for use in aerial imaging and terrain data gathering for agricultural and other purposes.

Current FAA rules limit drone operation to under 400 feet and to steer clear of airports and crowds on the ground. But that will change in a couple years as U.S. Congress has mandated the FAA incorporate drones into national airspace by Sept. 30, 2015.  But if you want to jump in right now, you can go buy your own drone at Amazon for under $300 (yes – battery included). Even the more expensive and advanced drones which are being prototyped in agriculture are easily controlled using the Apple IOS or Android smartphones.

GeoInsurance:  Agriculture is an industry which is exposed significantly to climatic risks, and the insurance industry is increasingly using geospatial tools to help analyze and understand weather patterns and climate as part of insurance underwriting.  Remote sensing technologies, in combination with traditional GIS applications, form an integral part of day-to-day risk analysis.  Large geographic predictive models focus on drought forecasting, or other natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, wild fires, and earthquakes.  Geospatial tools are also being used in claims management and resolution (and to consider the use of drones in this regard in the future?), mitigating risks, fraud detection, as well as overall decision making.    As globalization and increasing catastrophes (both natural and man-made) continue to create risks, more and more complex, geoinformation and location analytics are opening up the insurance industry.  The U.S. GeoInsurance Conference “Enabling Geospatial Technology for Risk and Catastrophe Modelling in Insurance” will be held April 8-9, 2014 in Miami, Florida.  More information on New York farm insurance can be found at the NYS Agriculture & Markets website.

Conclusion:  There is a tremendous upside for the NYS geospatial industry to develop an expanded business and professional relationship with the NYS agricultural community.  From the size of the statewide agricultural industry (including both crop and fruit – including the wine industry), labor and work force numbers, consultants supporting the NYS farming industry, farm equipment dealers, emerging UAV and GeoInsurance industries, and higher education academic and agricultural extension training programs – all collectively present a large potential constituency that should be nurtured by the NYS GIS Association.  It will take some time, but the long term effect should be fruitful.

If all goes well, perhaps one day at a future NYS GIS Conference or Geospatial Summit, attendees will gather outside the conference pavilion pulling up lawn chairs to watch a drone demonstration – all while sipping on a glass of New York State wine!