Project Profile

ArcGIS Server Replication for Automated E-911 Update

Client:
Harrisonburg/Rockingham Emergency Communication Center

Location:
Harrisonburg/Rockingham County, Virginia

Timmons Group was hired by the Harrisonburg/Rockingham Emergency Communication Center (HRECC) to design and implement a solution that supports near-real time Geospatial updates of critical infrastructure and address layers by both consolidating disparate data sets and facilitating the consumption of these layers into E-911 mapping system. The solution integrates ESRI’s ArcServer, ArcSDE, and the HRECC mapping software using ArcServer replication and automated extract, transform, and load (ETL) tools to seamlessly extract the updates from multiple sources, integrate data GIS data, and update the mapping system.

Tasks included:

• Assessment of the current systems, work processes, and user requirements
• Development of recommendations into a functional requirements document
• Implementation of the infrastructure, software, applications, workflows, a defined in the recommendations

Project Profile

Enterprise GIS Business Plan

Client:
Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA)
Virginia Geographic Information Network (VGIN)

Location:
Statewide, Virginia

The VITA Information Technology Investment Board (ITIB) designated the provision of geographic information systems (GIS) services as an “enterprise system.” To implement the intent of the ITIB, the Chief Information Officer of the Commonwealth contracted Timmons Group for the development of a Business Plan for the provision and operation of enterprise GIS services.

Business Plan Goal and Objectives
The goal of the VITA GIS Business Plan is to demonstrate how existing decentralized GIS resources and activities can be marshaled into a comprehensive enterprise suite of GIS services, providing improved business support at the same or lesser collective total cost of ownership. To accomplish that goal, the plan met the following objectives:

• A common definition (i.e., model, template) of what constitutes a GIS resource, in terms of hardware, software, common geospatial data layers, personnel, and related support services
• A comprehensive inventory of GIS resources in the 20 Virginia State agencies with current GIS operations.
• Based on GIS resource inventory, a compilation of geospatial applications and their related data layers.
• Reviewed best practices of states recognized as leaders in GIS services
• Identify technical issues (i.e., security, network capacity) that may impact the delivery performance and interoperability of geospatial services
• Identify Enterprise GIS options for GIS consolidation, including services, the appropriate technical architecture/configuration, related hardware/software requirements, staffing and organizational structure. Estimate the cost/benefit for each option associated with the enterprise consolidation.
• Identify any factors potentially impacting transition from the existing GIS landscape to the optional enterprise operations outlined above.

Town Hall Meetings
To facilitate agency participation and group discussion/feedback, the project plan included collateral development and facilitation of several (7) GIS Town Hall meetings. Survey forms we generated across multiple functional areas including data, applications, web services, and other resources. The initial Town Hall meeting was hosted by the Commonwealth’s CIO Lem Stewart. The focus of this meeting was to illustrate why GIS Services are an excellent candidate for cost savings and improved services via a “shared services” approach, as well as opportunities for state agencies to participate in the business planning process. Over 30 representatives from 14 state agencies with current or proposed GIS operations, including agency heads, deputies, and GIS managers, participated in this session.

Additional Town Hall meetings included a technology/security issue overview, discussion and overview of the GIS survey instruments given to each agency, the results of the survey instruments and a final analysis overview of the Business Plan.

Project Profile

Transportation-Focused Enterprise GIS Strategic Planning

Client:
Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT)

Location:
Statewide, Virginia

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) contracted with Timmons Group to review their GIS strategic direction for the upcoming years and looks to integrate newer technologies such as Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and web services. The end goal of this project is to strategically position VDOT to better their data and more rapidly turn data into information and solutions from which intelligent decisions can be made.

This project will define short and long-term operational and strategic actions and associated deliverables to meet the overriding vision of streamlined data availability and information delivery. To meet these objectives, Timmons Group will deploy technical, operational, and management consulting expertise to address the following functional areas at all levels of VDOT’s GIS user community:

• Data Requirements/Management; including Metadata Standards/Change Management, Data Collection/Development Standards, and Data Maintenance/Synchronization
• Web/Map Service Requirements; including Map Services; Web Services, and Web Services Management/Enterprise Services Bus (ESB) Technologies Application
• Discovery/Requirements (Custom/COTS) review and recommendations; including In-house (desktop, Internet), Mobile, Existing COTS, and New Applications Identification an Functional Requirements Scoping
• Governance/Organizational Structure Review; including Committee and workgroup structure, Services; Data, Applications, Business Process Definition/Chain-of-custody, Change Management, and Public Relations/Outreach/Training/Support
• Best Practices Due-diligence; including peer review and identification of best practice agencies within the DOT community.
• Consulting Skills Required
  • Strategic Planning/Needs Assessment
  • Business Process Refinement
  • Application Architecture Experience
  • Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) knowledge
  • GIS/Geospatial Applications Expertise

 

Project Profile

ESRI ArcGIS Mobile Solutions

Client:
Virginia Department of Transportation

Location:
Statewide, Virginia

Timmons Group has contracted with the Virginia Department of Transportation to develop ArcGIS Mobile solutions for Environmental and Transportation business needs.  VDOT, as a part of their planning, construction and maintenance process, must carefully track their wetland remediation sites to ensure compliance with the appropriate state and federal regulations.  The ArcGIS Mobile Solutions will enable VDOT’s mobile workforce to be more productive and collect more accurate and timely information to support VDOT’s mission.  

Timmons Group will be expanding the number of applications to include HAZMAT, Cultural and Natural Resources, and Noise features in the near future.  The ArcGIS Mobile solution includes workflows to support field data capture by VDOT Environmental staff and will leverage ArcGIS Server Replication to their Enterprise GIS database.

This solution employs the latest technologies from both Microsoft and ESRI including SQL Server Compact, the Synch Framework API, and ArcGIS Mobile.  VDOT’s Environmental Division will ultimately deploy 12 Trimble GeoXT devices within the coming year.

 

Project Profile

Forest Guideline Monitoring System Design

Client:
State of Minnesota, Department of Natural Resources

Location:
Statewide, Minnesota

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) contracted with Timmons Group to design an application to support forest guideline implementation monitoring for use by field staff. The business oriented goals of the completed project are to reduce data collection costs, improve data accuracy, reduce training time, increase the efficiency of data gathering, build a scalable and flexible architecture to ensure the application’s longevity. The forest guideline monitoring project required skills and abilities in natural resource business analysis, technology project management, process and data modeling, database design as well as knowledge and experience with best practices in land management GIS.

The design phase of this project entailed the development of a comprehensive field survey questionnaire-guided work flow diagrams, engineering a functional proof-of-concept prototype application built upon ESRI ArcGIS Desktop technology, creation of ergonomic application interface designs, constructing and testing the supporting database design and entity relationship model and compiling system requirement specifications.

Technology Utilized

• .NET framework
• ArcGIS Desktop
  
• ArcObjects
  
• Visual Basic
  
• Panasonic Toughbooks with GPS receivers

Project Profile

Complex Resource Event Analysis Manager (CREAM)

Client:
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Location:
Statewide, Florida

The Complex Resource Event Analysis Manager (CREAM) was built to operate within a spatially-enabled internet map service architecture that supports the business and application needs of natural resources managers, namely those dealing with fish, wildlife, river, estuary, and coastal resource management.  The purpose of this project was to create a number of robust tools to be deployed within ArcGIS Server and ArcIMS through an agency wide enterprise GIS. CREAM consists of the spatial clip along with gazetteer and mapmaker functionality to provide a means for users to draw upon multiple web-accessible GIS databases to produce aggregated tabular reports that list and detail resources that lie within any specific area of interest (AOI) demarcated by the user. The robust gazetteer allows users to quickly identify areas of interest.

CREAM enables a wide range of resource managers to generate reports simply and directly to support their resource planning emergency response work and management plans – without having to understand GIS or internet technology. A primary mission of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is to identify and protect resources at risk in the state. This includes areas at risk from spills of hazardous waste or oil, as well as activities such as dredge and fills or recreational boating which may impact seagrass beds and marine wildlife. By obtaining an accurate account of the extents and impacts to state resources, CREAM provides environmental managers with the information they need to implement regulatory and management plans.

Technologies

• ArcGIS Server
  
• ArcSDE
  
• ArcIMS
  
• .Net 2.0 Framework
  
• AJAX

Project Profile

ArcGIS Server Development - EMAPS IV

Client:
South Florida Water Management District

Location:
South Florida Water Management District, Florida

The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) contracted with Timmons Group to enhance their existing Environmental Monitoring Analysis and Planning System (EMAPS) application.

Timmons Group is developing the EMAPS application as a web-based mapping and analysis tool leveraging ESRI’s ArcGIS Server WebADF 9.3 technologies.  The EMAPS application will be a quick, user-friendly, tool which provides SFWMD staff access to monitoring station location and attribution information as well as a host of other GIS base data needed for planning activities.  Timmons Group is also assisting the District in the development of ArcGIS Server Image Caches to optimize the performance of EMAPS and GIS System Architecture Design activities.

As part of the EMAPS IV project, Timmons Group is performing the following tasks:

• Functional Requirements Workshops
  
• System Architecture Review
  
• Application Development
  
• Map Cache Development
  
• Application Deployment and Testing
  
• Application Documentation
  
• Application Training
  
• Program Management
  

Project Profile

Forestry Management Requirements Definition and Application Prototype

Client:
State of Wisconsin, Department of Natural Resources

Location:
Statewide, Wisconsin

Timmons Group was tasked to perform the initial due-diligence and requirements definition for the Wisconsin Forest Inventory & Reporting System (WisFIRS) Phase II.  Additionally, Timmons Group developed a prototype GIS application that integrated with WisFIRS Phase I. WisFIRS is a web-based set of tools for collecting, mapping, planning and managing forest information, or reconnaissance, at a stand level. These tools allow forest managers to plan and schedule forest treatments including site preparation, thinning and harvests, insect and disease treatments, and tree planting. Phase II defined the Integration of GIS visualization and analysis tools to the existing WisFIRS Phase I business data tables leveraging ESRI ArcGIS Server. The prototype application focused on mapping and editing the spatial and corresponding business attribute data of forest parcels that had been ‘treated’ with a prescribed therapy (e.g., insecticide spraying). The prototype application successfully demonstrated the potential benefits and ranges of use for ArcGIS Server applications within WisFIRS.

Deliverables

• Database-driven content
  
• SDE-stored data
  
• Scalable Architecture
  
• SAN Storage
  
• VML-based selection tools
  
• Server-side views of forest parcel data

Technologies

• ASP.net 2.0
  
• C#
  
• IIS
  
• ArcGIS Server
  
• ArcSDE
  
• ArcIMS
  
• VML
  
• DHTML
  
• Oracle 10g

Project Profile

South Dakota Wildlife Information Land Management Application (WILMA)

Client:
South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks

Location:
Statewide, South Dakota

The South Dakota GFP is working with Timmons Group to build a centralized, web-based enterprise information system that will integrate GIS functionality with land management activities allowing for temporal tracking of land resources, management activities, land inventory, planning and goals and objectives reporting. The application will allow GFP managers, conservation officers, and other constituents edit enterprise geodatabases online.  The Enterprise Land Management Internet application will enable the agency to spatially manage all Game Production Areas (GPA’s) and their corresponding 5-year plans.  In addition, the powers of geospatial analysis will enable users to easily and readily extract information out of the application through custom reporting, mapping, and querying.

Timmons Group will be building the Enterprise Land Management Internet application utilizing ESRI’s ArcGIS Server, ArcSDE, and ArcIMS software to facilitate the creation, editing, validation, storage, and management of spatial data elements. The incorporation of web services adhering to the principles of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) will allow the GFP to have access to a suite of geospatial functionality through the lands management application and provide the added benefit of a reusable design model to be leveraged by future applications.

In addition to the enterprise internet application, Timmons Group will be developing a field-based mapping and data collection application.  The mobile solution will complement the web application and enable field users to check out attribute information (inventory data) for a GPA onto their mobile device and add, edit, and update data.  Upon returning to the office, mobile devices can be docked and data seamlessly synchronized back to the enterprise ArcSDE database.  This solution will utilize ESRI ArcGIS Mobile and SQL Server Compact technologies.

Project Profile

ArcGIS Server Mobile Application

Client:
Virginia Department of Forestry (DOF)

Location:
Statewide, Virginia

The Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) manages more than 15 million acres of forest in the commonwealth of Virginia. To protect and sustain forestland, the department collects data on and performs mapping of Virginia’s state forests. With an operational budget of $26 million, VDOF employs 272 salaried staff.

VDOF needed to establish an enterprise GIS to improve operations and take advantage of current technology. To do this they chose Timmons Group, a civil engineering company with a large technology and geospatial services practice, to build and implement a geospatially enabled enterprise information system called the Integrated Forest Resource Information System (IFRIS). The first phase of the implementation was deployed in 2006 and consisted of an enterprise Web portal based on ArcGIS® Server. IFRIS allows users to spatially and temporally track activities and quantify time spent in terms of strategic goals, grant allocation, and cost sharing. For the second phase, VDOF needed to extend its investment in an enterprise geographic information system (GIS) to the field and allow remote field-workers to access business and geographic functions needed for daily routines.

Specifically, Timmons Group needed to design an enterprise GIS application that allowed employees to track time and accomplishments out in the field and map forest-related activities such as forest stand observations, water quality harvest inspections, wildfire incidents, and woodland home communities. The key objectives were to reduce the time and expense of traditional field-worker activities as well as accurately and consistently capture field data for input into the enterprise GIS.

The Solution

Timmons Group designed a mobile solution for VDOF that integrates GPS functionality, allowing staff to use ESRI’s ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Mobile software. All field-workers are equipped with Trimble® GeoXM™ devices running ArcGIS Mobile, SQL Server® Compact, and .NET Compact Framework 2.0. Field employees use the GeoXM device to collect feature data by cataloging attributes, such as pest infestations, on an inventory form along with GPS coordinates. GIS Web services push the GPS data and associated attributes from the mobile device to IFRIS Web. Mobile workers can now easily log every phase of the inspection process in the field while also recording time sheet information and monitoring observations and inspections that they recently completed. Uploaded field data and features can be immediately viewed via IFRIS Web, and a recently synced field data dashboard Web service allows the user to quickly zoom to data collected in the field.

ArcGIS Mobile technology makes it faster and easier for field staff to capture data and describe the location and nature of critical forestry data. ArcGIS Mobile provides the ability to integrate mapping and GPS into a form-based data collection application. Mobile map services hosted by ArcGIS Server allow the upload process to be seamless and transparent to the forester or field-worker.

The Results

Workers are now able to monitor their recent work activity and fill out appropriate time sheets without having to return to the office. The system also reduced paperwork, eliminating 13 paper forms. Regional managers are now able to monitor the details of department projects and make rapid adjustments that target service resources to high-priority areas. The system also leverages Virginia’s geospatial enterprise platform, giving workers quick access to statewide basemap data, such as high-resolution digital orthophotography, and other geospatial services.

It is expected that within three years of implementation, VDOF’s mobile solution will yield a return on investment of 52 percent.

 

 

Project Profile

Integrated Forest Resource Information System (IFRIS)

Client:
Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF)

Location:
Statewide, Virginia

IFRIS includes application modules that support enterprise computing functions, including the following:  federal reporting requirements compliance, time and accomplishment reporting, forest stewardship plan management, forest lands (tracts and parcels) management, automated fiscal and strategic goal reporting and field data collection.  IFRIS facilitated the elimination of many existing paper forms; cumbersome workflows consolidated data capture and maintenance.  Employee time and accomplishment (i.e., forestry practices) reporting are linked interactively to spatial features, including managed tracts and parcels facilitating advanced spatial decision support functions.  Advanced web-based mapping functions allow for the creation and manipulation of a variety of spatial features including forest stands, tracts and parcels / stands.

As part of the initial consulting services, Timmons Group assisted VDOF in the development of a supporting needs assessment and information architecture solution.  The needs assessment and initial due-diligence was accomplished through user interviews, information collection, legacy application and data review.  User interviews included a diverse set of users ranging from technical staff to foresters and field professionals.  The developed solution includes the use of ESRI’s ArcGIS Server©, ArcIMS© and ArcSDE© to meet spatial data management, reporting and analysis.  The architecture is extensible and offers geospatial web services as part of a service oriented architecture (SOA) model.

• IFRIS won the ESRI Special Achievement in GIS Award 2006 (IFRIS)
• IFRIS was selected by the American Council of Technology as an Intergovernmental Solutions Award Finalist in 2007
  
• IFRIS was selected, in October 2007, for the Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Information Technology by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers.  
  
• IFRIS was selected as one of only two applications in the world to be demonstrated at the ESRI International User Conference in August 2007 in San Diego California.
  
• IFRIS was published in ArcNews http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/fall06articles/virginia-dof.html in the fall of 06.