Category Archives: Empire Statewide GIS

NYS Geospatial Can Grow (and Fly) with Agriculture

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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

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.

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!

NextGen NYS Geospatial: Expanding the Profession

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Based on the support of many long standing contributors, vendors, and returning individuals, the NYGeoCon 2013 meeting in Saratoga Springs, November 12-13, was considered a success.  Looking forward to future conferences and similar outreach efforts within the state, many could argue there is much optimism within the professional geospatial community – particularly with the NYS GIS Association at the helm – for continued growth and presence of the GIS profession across the Empire State.   However, unless new members are recruited from professions which are currently not part of the “staple” of the Association membership (government/public agencies, software companies, photogrammetry, academia, and civil engineering disciplines), such optimism may be tempered based a combination of recent industry and business reports, metrics, and employment trends.   Consider the following:

Government Job Growth Weakest:  A December 2013 Governing Magazine article notes that while private employment may finally be ready to accelerate, “state and local government job growth continues to be among the weakest of any industry”.  Translation:   Much of the future geospatial development – most likely at all levels of government in the Empire State – will increasingly be vendor/contractor based. While it is anticipated that existing government GIS programs in the Empire State will find a means to continue on some level, current government budgets and tax cap spending limits, suggest that new or expanding government geospatial programs will occur at a decreasing rate.    And few in government administrative or management level GIS positions across the state would probably be unable to argue otherwise. 

Minimal Technology Sector Growth:    A recent Praxis Strategy Group market report entitled “The Surprising Cities Creating the Most Tech Jobs” offers current statistics on employment trends in industries normally associated with technology, such as software, engineering and computer programming services. The article also presents numbers of workers in other industries which are classified as being in STEM occupations (science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related jobs).   Though the study considers only MetroNYC – and not the entire state – the findings are still somewhat troubling as the NYC ranked 36th on the national scale – only slightly ahead of metro Buffalo (43rd) and Rochester (45th).  Since 2001, New York City’s tech industry growth has been a paltry 6% while the number of STEM related jobs has fallen 4%.  The chances of New York City – or others parts of the state for that matter – of becoming a major tech center are handicapped not only by high costs and taxes, but a distinct lack of engineering talent. On a per capita basis, the New York area ranks 78th out of the nation’s 85 largest metro areas, with a miniscule 6.1 engineers per 1,000 workers, one seventh the concentration in California’s Silicon Valley. (Buffalo and Rochester statistics in this regard may be better though were not available as part of the article).

Shared Services Still Struggles:  For a technology which presents incredible opportunities for public organizations to share computing infrastructure, replicate (or share) identical mapping applications, cost-share on similar geospatial data development projects, or jointly exploit new Cloud-based programs – Information Technology (IT) shared services – and by extension GIS – have yet to be broadly implemented across the Empire State.  An August 2013 report prepared by the Cornell University found that while Shared Services programs in areas such as transportation, public safety, and recreation/social services continue to show promise, only eight-percent (8%) of the nearly 946 New York State government agencies surveyed in the study were engaged in Shared Services IT projects.

Growth Outside the GIS Mainstream:  An illustrative series of 2013 global market study reports by TechNavio forecasts steady GIS growth in disciplines which currently do not have a significant presence in many statewide conferences and programs or the NYS GIS Association.  Largely outside of government, and certainly not normally considered “tech jobs”,  these key industries  include banking and financial services, real estate, retail,  telecommunications, and utilities – all of which have significant corporate presence in the Empire State.  Many of these same industries were also identified as “GIS growth sectors” – including banking, insurance, law enforcement, business, healthcare, and finance – as part of a Geospatial Job Market panel discussion at the 2012 Association of American Geographers annual meeting.

Long term sustainability of the GIS profession in the Empire State requires the continued expansion and recruitment of industries which to date, have not had a strong visible presence in statewide GIS programs and activities.    Such opportunities exist by engaging these disciplines –  health care, retail, real estate, insurance and banking, and telecommunications, to name a few –  in local and regional GIS events,  NYS GIS Association professional development programs, or conversely, by attending and participating in industry trade shows and annual conferences held here in New York State (i.e., National Retail Federation,  NYC Real Estate Expo,  Annual NYS Commercial Real Estate Conference, NYS Association of Health Care Providers, and NY Bankers Association as well as many others).

Long term growth and influence of the NYS Geospatial profession should be considered extremely promising though will need to be based on a broader mix of disciplines and practitioners.

Reflections on NYGeoCon 2013

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The 2013 New York State GIS conference was held November 12-13, 2013 in Saratoga Springs, New York.  Organized by the NYS GIS Association, this is the first year the state conference has been rebranded as NYGeoCon which will be held alternating years with the Geospatial Summit.  With conference registration topping 300, including students, single day attendees, and vendors, the two-day event included a wide range of topics including nearly 30 individual presentations and a dozen workshops/panel discussions.    Among the many topics offered –  mobile technology, shared services, and open data themes – were common conversation points throughout the conference.  The conference also included special efforts to involve college students and contained an Education Tract highlighting statewide higher education GIS instructors.  Conference vendor support was equally impressive with 19 companies exhibiting during the course of the conference.

Beyond the normal opening day conference welcome by out-going NYS GIS Association President Al Leidner and the usual “State of the State” presentation by NYS GIO Bill Johnson, the conference began in earnest with an impressive keynote presentation by Jack Levis who is known to many as “the United Parcel Service (UPS) guy” in the Penn State Public Broadcasting production The Geospatial Revolution.  Levis has keynoted at other GIS/location-based conferences over the past several months presenting the company business message about how UPS used to be a trucking company that used technology, but is now a technology company that happens to use trucks.  His presentation focused on how UPS uses data (much of which is mobile gathered) to support enterprise descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive analytics in helping build and refine the UPS delivery model.  Interestingly, Levis feels, in general, much of the available digital street center line files (public/commercial) still need updating and improvement.  It was an excellent presentation which had a major underlying geospatial component.  Levis fielded several questions from the audience after the presentation.  Both the conference welcome and Levis presentation are available for viewing on the conference homepage.

The annual business meeting of the NYS GIS Association, which was held at lunch on the second day of the conference, demonstrated the tremendous growth of the Association as an independent, professional voice and presence in statewide geospatial programs.  The nearly hour-long meeting included several committee reports (Membership, Communications, Conference, Legislative, Private Sector, Education, Regional Groups, and Professional Development) as well as general discussion on issues such as GISP certification, types of membership (professional/associate, etc.) and collective efforts for continued growth and influence across the state.  One of the more impressive statistics taken from the meeting was that nearly one-third of the nearly 500 members of the Association are from the private sector.  A very encouraging number which suggests, for now, that New York State geospatial business and industry representatives are  supporting the underlying efforts and long-term goals of the Association.  The business meeting also included the introduction of incoming President Julie Tolar (Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority) and President-Elect Susan Nixson (City of Ithaca), as well as three new Board members:  Rich Quodomine (NYS DOT), Julia O’Brien (FEMA Region 2) and Mickey Dietrich (Tug Hill Commission).

Looking forward, the Association will hopefully continue to align its professional and conference efforts with like-minded statewide professional organizations which leverage geospatial technologies.  Overall, the 2013 event should be considered a success given ongoing struggles in attendance at similar geospatial conferences in the Northeast.  One of the few speed bumps the conference hit was placing the ESRI Sponsor Workshop – against other ongoing presentations – in the very last time slot of the conference which resulted in woefully poor attendance.  As a conference Platinum Sponsor, ESRI was deserving of much better placement on the agenda.

Kudos to the NYS GIS Association conference committee in organizing the successful 2013 NYGeoCon.  We look forward to the 2014 Geospatial Summit.

GIS on Campus

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Home to one of the three original university programs associated with creation of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) in 1988  – University of Buffalo, University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of  Maine –  New York State universities and colleges have long contributed to building the statewide GIS knowledge base and training students for professional careers in both government and industry.

While the statewide geospatial academic landscape has changed dramatically since creation of NCGIA, GIS concepts continue to be offered and integrated into many research and academic programs across the state including both the State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY) systems.  And beyond the traditional geography programs, GIS concepts can also be found as part of many state and private universities in a growing number of environmental science, civil engineering, health, and computer science program curriculums.

A cursory review of GIS academic and research efforts across the Empire State includes:

Academic Programs:  Four-year programs in geography are available at eight SUNY schools with a bachelor degree in GIS being offered only at SUNY Cortland.  An Associate Degree is available at Cayuga Community College and Erie Community College offering a GIS Specialist Certificate Program.  Graduate programs in the SUNY system are available at SUNY Buffalo, Albany, and Binghamton with Buffalo offering a PhD program.  Masters programs are also available in the CUNY system at both Hunter College and Lehman College.

Educational offerings at other statewide schools include masters and doctoral degrees at Syracuse University School of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) and a growing number of geospatial/geoscience offerings at several private liberal arts schools including, but not limited to Hamilton College, St. Lawrence College (Certificate Program),  Hobart and William Smith College, and Sienna College. Pace University (Pleasantville, NY) professor Dr. Peggy Minus has received recognition as one of the first GIS academics to offer a massive open online course (MOOC).

Research and Outreach:  Geospatial research work at SUNY institutions include Dr. Tao Tang at Buffalo State working with 3D visualization and  public health issues, Dr. Chris Renschler, SUNY Buffalo leading the Landscape-based Environmental System & Analysis Modeling (LESAM) lab,  Dr. James Mower at SUNY Albany, Dr. Jim Kernan at SUNY Geneseo,  Dr. Wendy Miller at SUNY Cortland using GIS in a Central New York economic analysis, Dr. Ann Deakin at SUNY Fredonia working with GIS students in supporting a local not-for-profit focused fighting poverty and infrastructure management at Chautauqua Institution, and  Dr. Ryan Taylor at Purchase College focusing on GIS applications in Water Resources Assessment and Wetlands Assessment in southeastern New York State.   Any summary on the contributions of SUNY system geographic programs towards development of the statewide GIS effort would be remiss without making reference to the long time contributions of Eileen Allen, GIS Support Specialist in the Center for Earth and Environmental Science at SUNY Plattsburgh.

Notable geospatial research programs associated with Hunter and Lehman Colleges include The Institute for Sustainable Cities and the Center for Advanced Research of Spatial Information (CARSI). Current efforts at Hunter College focus on transportation research, spatial statistics, geospatial semantics, and volunteered geographic information (VGI) while selected Lehman College research includes Climate Change and Public Health in Coastal Urban Areas, urban agriculture, and Risk Terrain Modeling of the Bronx – and effort to measure quality of life conditions and potential mental and physical health stressors in the local environment.

Close by at the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN),  researchers are working on a grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to develop a Hudson River Flood Hazard Decision Support System.  The project will ultimately create an easy to use, free, online mapping tool to let users assess the impacts of flood inundation posed by sea level rise, storm surge, and rain events on communities bordering the lower Hudson River.

Research and academic work from long standing research institutions such as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) continue to blur the boundaries between geospatial reality and fantasy with advancements in computer graphics and visualization.  Note Brian Tomaszewski’s work with ArcGIS as a gaming environment for measuring disaster response spatial thinking. Here’s the link to the Summer 2013 ArcUser article on his research.    Geospatial concepts can easily be found elsewhere at these institutions in engineering and computer science programs.

Academic Degrees and Research in the Future 

There is no question the industry is witnessing major changes in how organizations build and maintain GIS capacity:  More and easier access to online content, free and easy to use viewers, cloud solutions (hardware, software, data), shorter development schedules in bringing applications into production, and basic GIS functions being integrated and offered as part of most off-the-shelf software programs.  While there will always be a selected need for cartographers, map makers,  and desktop users, is the larger geospatial job market becoming more software developer oriented?  Of the recent debate on the regional GIS listservs and blogs discussing which software skill sets, academic degrees, or professional certifications (i.e., GISP, ESRI, etc.), which are thought to be important in the GIS career path, refer to a 2012 post on the issue by Justin Holman entitled “Spatial is Indeed Special….. but GIS Software Skills will Soon be Obsolete”.  And whether or not it is more a factor of a weaken U.S. economy, government downsizing, or in fact,  changing skill sets that are defining the new GIS job market (or an individual career path)  – GIS student graduation / employment metrics are numbers the NYS GIS  and academic community need to pay close attention to.  While I was fortunate enough to recently post – though yet to fill – an entry-level GIS position here at Westchester County GIS,  it’s been one of the few full-time GIS positions listed in New York State during 2013 as advertised on the NYS GIS Association job posting page.

And what about academic GIS research?  There is plenty of it around on our college campuses,  much of which is being funded from government grants or self-funded through individual programs.  Greater buy-in and financial support from industry and business – particularly  businesses with the big statewide “geospatial” presence – such as ESRI, AutoDesk, Google, Pictometry, IMPACT, Transfinder, IBM, ConEd, Verizon, Pitney-Bowes, and several New York health care conglomerates – can be helpful to focus on applied research efforts developing products and applications for municipalities, schools, community organizations, not-for-profits, small businesses, public utilities, and tribal governments to support day-to-day business functions – in New York State.   In keeping with similar NYS government consolidation efforts, research to validate GIS shared services models would be of significant statewide benefit.  And perhaps the most important and timely research effort may be to investigate and determine what factors really are reshaping the industry in context of job creation and employment opportunities for New York State college graduates.  One way or another, such findings can be used to identify what, if any, changes need to be made in academic curriculums and degree programs statewide.

Editor Note:  Many thanks to Dr. Ann Deakin @ SUNY Fredonia for contributions on SUNY system summaries and related article content