Esri Northern Michigan

User Group

 

Welcome to the official home page of the Esri Northern Michigan User Group.

 


 

The Esri Northern Michigan User Group (ENMUG) is an association of GIS professionals and other Esri product users from the public, private, and non-profit sectors who meet on a roughly semiannual schedule to discuss and share ideas concerning Esri GIS software and related technologies. These meetings are open to all persons interested in Esri GIS and associated subjects.

 


 

Current Officers:

 

President:

Jerremy Dunlap

Secretary:

Brooks E. Kelley

Esri Liaison:

Sam Klimoski

 

            Other members’ contact information can be found in the membership list.

 


 

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be sometime in the Spring of 2012. It will be held somewhere in or around Traverse City. Please check back for more information.

 

Past meetings:

 

Meetings.gif

 

The most recent meeting was on September 28, 2011. It was a joint meeting with the Esri Upper Peninsula of Michigan User Group and was hosted by Cheboygan County at City Hall in Cheboygan. Esri started the meeting with an overview and demonstration of their new ArcGIS for Land Records data model. Marquette County then presented some interesting GIS-based thoughts concerning the precise location of “Northern Michigan”. After lunch Traverse City and InfoGeographics, Inc discussed the various Esri products supporting mobile computing. This was followed by a presentation by AECOM about the use of GPS powered tablets used for environmental monitoring/inspections. Traverse City closed the meeting by demonstrating the use of ArcView in support of local government assessing.

 

The Group’s twenty-second meeting was on March 22, 2011. It was hosted by the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments (NWMCOG) at their offices in Traverse City. Muskegon County Mapping and GIS demonstrated how they automate GIS processes without programming support. Next the USGS highlighted opportunities associated with the National Map 2.0 and the New National Map Viewer. After lunch Esri provided an overview of new functionality associated with ArcGIS 10. The meeting concluded with a panel discussion concerning GIS budgeting.

 

The Group’s twenty-first meeting was on September 14, 2010. It was hosted by the Michigan DNR at their offices in Roscommon. The Michigan Center for Shared Solutions/Technology Partnerships started the meeting with an overview of their Michigan Imagery Solution project and Version 10 of the Michigan Geographic Framework. Esri then brought the Group up-to-date on their work with the Local Government Resource Centers and Templates. After lunch, there was a roundtable discussion of some of the new functionality available at ArcGIS 10. InfoGeographics and Roscommon County also discussed using GPS devices and ArcPad to support the County’s Gypsy Moth Program.

 

The Group’s 10-year anniversary meeting was on April 13, 2010. It was hosted by the City of Traverse City and Grand Traverse County. InfoGeographics started the meeting with an overview and demonstration of the new version of their GeoConnector product. This was followed by a presentation on deed recovery/land review by the Michigan Army National Guard, Camp Grayling. After this, Grand Traverse County demonstrated creating, maintaining, and using annotation in the geodatabase and ArcGIS environments. After lunch, Esri presented information concerning 1) the forthcoming ArcGIS 10 product line, 2) ArcGIS Online Sharing Community, and 3) the Esri Resource Center. The Group closed the meeting by sharing tips and tricks associated data display and editing within ArcMap.

 

The Group’s nineteenth semiannual meeting took place on October 6, 2009. It was hosted by Gourdie-Fraser in Traverse City. After members introduced themselves and described their current GIS-related projects, Gourdie-Fraser presented some archaeology-related work they’re doing with the Grand Traverse Bay Underwater Preserve. Next Wexford County described their use of GIS in governmental tax delinquencies and foreclosures. Then Grand Traverse County presented some work involving some rather innovative lakefront assessing analysis. After lunch, Esri addressed a number of topics including the ArcGIS Resource Centers and Esri Online Services. Michigan DNR closed the meeting by describing their development of the new state forest management areas.

 

The Group’s eighteenth meeting was on April 21, 2009 and was hosted by the Michigan Army National Guard, Camp Grayling. The meeting began with a presentation by InfoGeographics on leveraging the RDBMS within the geodatabase. This was followed by a presentation by the US Forest Service on using Model Builder to automate everyday tasks. After lunch Traverse City did a presentation on using Esri’s new websites, particularly the Resource Centers, to quickly configuring the ArcGIS Sample JavaScript Viewer. Camp Grayling concluded the meeting with a presentation on the DOD’s Spatial Data Standards and Surface Danger Zone tool. This was following by a tour of the Camp’s facilities.

 

The Group’s seventeenth meeting was on July 23, 2008 and was hosted by Charlevoix County. InfoGeographics started the meeting off with a presentation on optimizing data processes through automation. This was followed by an overview of ArcGIS 9.3 by Esri. After lunch, the Group shared tips and tricks associated data display and editing within ArcMap. Traverse City then did a presentation on using the free GNU Image Manipulation software GIMP with ArcMap to create future landuse maps. The meeting ended with a tour of the Charlevoix County GIS facilities.

 

The Group’s sixteenth meeting was on January 29, 2008. It was hosted by Cherryland Electric Cooperative at their office in Grawn (just outside Traverse City). Esri started the meeting with a discussion and demonstration of the ArcGIS Server Workgroup product. The USGS then highlighted opportunities associated with the National Map. After lunch, Grand Traverse County presented an interesting talk on dynamic digital assessing maps. InfoGeographics concluded the meeting with a functional overview and demonstration of the forthcoming version of their GeoConnector product.

 

The Group’s fifteenth meeting was held on July 31, 2007. The US Forest Service hosted the meeting at the Huron-Manistee National Forest office in Cadillac. InfoGeographics kicked off the meeting with a presentation on migrating utility information to the geodatabase. This was followed by a presentation by Traverse City concerning the new Cityworks-based work order management system in use at Traverse City Light and Power. Muskegon County Mapping and GIS then provided an overview of their GIS efforts. Esri concluded the meeting with highlights of the 2007 Esri International User Conference.

 

The Group’s fourteenth meeting took place on January 30, 2007. This meeting was hosted by Traverse City. Michigan DNR started the meeting with a presentation comparing contemporary landcover datasets. Antrim County came next with a discussion of creating and manipulating shapefile attribute data using VBA and MS Excel. After lunch Northwest Michigan Council of Governments provided an overview of their current GIS-related projects. Esri closed the meeting with an overview of their new server GIS environment, geodatabase options at version 9.2, as well as providing some everyday tips-and-tricks for ArcGIS desktop users.

 

The Group’s thirteenth meeting was July 17, 2006. This meeting was hosted by Wexford County at Mitchell State Park’s very cool Carl T. Johnson Hunting and Fishing Center. Charlevoix County started the meeting by bringing the Group up-to-date on its GIS-related activities. Following this Grand Traverse County did a presentation on addressing and tax map production. Continuing the theme, InfoGeographics presented its ArcGIS-based Map Book application developed for Muskegon County. After lunch, Traverse City discussed its ongoing GIS development project with Traverse City Light and Power. Esri concluded the meeting with a presentation on Server GIS.

 

The Group’s twelfth semiannual meeting was held on January 31, 2006. This meeting was hosted by Traverse City. Grand Traverse County kicked off the meeting by bringing the Group up-to-date on its various GIS projects. Wexford County followed with a presentation of GIS support for County E911 and emergency services. After lunch, No Boundaries Maps and Graphics, Inc. discussed the use of GPS, GIS, and the National Grid for locating snowmobile trail markers in the Eastern UP. Esri wrapped up the meeting with an overview of new functionality associated with ArcGIS 9.2 and the new ArcGIS Explorer product.

 

The Group’s eleventh semiannual meeting was held on July 12, 2005. This meeting was hosted by Benzie County at their Government Center in Beulah. The meeting began with a presentation by the host, Benzie County, on the status of their GIS implementation. Following this Michigan DNR did a presentation on the Upper Manistee River Access System. Immediately after lunch, the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians did a presentation on 3D Visualization of Water Quality Data. This was followed by a presentation by the Huron-Manistee National Forest on Geospatial Methods for Determining Fire Prevention and Preparedness Projects on the Huron-Manistee National Forests. Esri concluded the meeting with some software news and a demonstration of the new ArcGIS Network Analyst extension.

 

The Group’s 5 year anniversary meeting took place on January 25, 2005. This meeting was host by Traverse City Light and Power at their offices in Traverse City. In the morning, Benzie County brought the Group up-to-date on its parcel and centerline conversion effort. InfoGeographics followed with a GeoConnector 2 software demonstration. After lunch, Traverse City discussed the status of its Traverse City Light and Power and City Water and Sewer projects. Esri closed the meeting with a presentation of Esri product news and software demonstrations of ArcGIS Geoprocessing, Model Builder, and ArcSchematics.

 

The Group’s ninth semiannual meeting was held on June 23, 2004. This meeting was hosted by the Traverse City. In the morning, Charlevoix County and Alpena Power Company brought the group up-to-date on their respective GIS programs. After lunch, Grand Traverse County presented a talk on GIS-based Homestead Exemption Analysis and a representative of the State’s Homeland Security GIS Advisory Committee presented an overview of their activities. The meeting closed with a presentation from Esri regarding the new functionality available with ArcGIS 9.

 

The Group’s eighth semiannual meeting was held on January 27, 2004. This meeting was hosted by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians at their conference center in Manistee. Grand Traverse County initiated the meeting with a discussion of their GIS Web Application. This was followed by a presentation from the US Forest Service. Esri closed the meeting with a discussion of their mobile GIS technology. Morning refreshments and lunch were generously provided by the Little River Band.

 

The Group’s seventh semiannual meeting was held on July 29, 2003. This meeting was hosted by Charlevoix County. The meeting commenced with a presentation by the Northwest Michigan Community Health Agency on the use of GIS for groundwater protection. InfoGeographics followed with a presentation of their recently released GeoConnector product. After lunch, Grand Traverse County shared with the group their views on addressing and the integration of site plans and other scanned documents within GIS. Esri concluded the meeting by demonstrating the use of their software in a utility context.

 

The Group’s sixth meeting was held on January 28, 2003. This meeting was hosted by the Michigan DNR’s Spatial Information Resource Center (SIRC) at their facilities in Roscommon. The DNR kicked off the meeting with a discussion of their land management practices and use of GIS therein. This was followed by a presentation by Grand Traverse County on the development of their highly useful landmark layer. After lunch Esri provided a sneak peek at the topology and editing capabilities of ArcGIS 8.3. The meeting concluded with Traverse City bringing the group up-to-date on its GIS program.

 

The Group’s fifth semiannual was held on July 23, 2002. This meeting was hosted by the City of Traverse City. The meeting started off with presentations by Esri staff on the recent User Conference in San Diego, and demonstrations on the georeferencing, spatial adjustment, and map series toolbars shipped with ArcGIS. Manistee and Charlevoix counties then brought the group up-to-date on their GIS activities. After lunch, Scott Dryzga of MSU discussed his research on parcel ownership and forest cover and mapping the shoreline of ancient Lake Algonquin. Fleis and Vanderbrink Engineering concluded the meeting by highlighting a recent project with REGIS to link scanned as-built images within ArcView.

 

The Group’s forth semiannual was held on January 29, 2002. This meeting was hosted by the Michigan DNR’s Spatial Information Resource Center (SIRC) at their facilities in Roscommon. Esri brought the group up-to-date on the status of their product suite and demonstrated tips-and-tricks for optimizing performance within the ArcGIS environment. Other user-presented topics included: an overview of Grand Traverse County’s street centerline redesign and related projects, a demonstration of SDSEMaps service, and a demonstration on using ArcView and free data to create hunting maps. An open discussion of various GIS topics also occurred. The meeting ended with a presentation about, and tour of, the SIRC.

 

The Group’s third semiannual meeting occurred on July 23, 2001 at the Gaylord Holiday Inn in Gaylord. It was sponsored by Gosling Czubak Engineering Sciences, Inc. Discussions were lead by Esri staff and several user group members on topics including the new ArcGIS suite of GIS software, Traverse City’s distribution of GIS applications to remote users, opportunities and issues for GIS at county road commissions, and developing a GIS for assessors’ using free data.

 

The Group’s second semiannual meeting occurred on January 22, 2001 at the Government Center in Traverse City. It was hosted by the City of Traverse City and Grand Traverse County. Discussions were lead by Esri staff and several user group members on topics including ArcIMS implementation, GIS and related activities at the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments, designing new trails for the National Park Service’s Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and the potential of XML within GIS. A roundtable discussion was also held.

 

The Group’s initial meeting was held July 17, 2000 at the Government Center in Traverse City and was also sponsored by the City of Traverse City and Grand Traverse County. Discussions were lead by Esri staff and several user group members on topics as diverse as new Esri technologies, LIDAR, GIS data conversion, ArcView-based property assessment, and the status of the Traverse City and Grand Traverse County GIS projects.

 


 

Upcoming Events of note for Northern Michigan GIS Users:

 

1.

02-03 May 2011

IMAGIN Conference

Bay City MI

 


 

Interesting GIS Reference Sites:

 

Michigan Geographic Data Library

 


 

Other Esri Users Groups in Michigan:

 

Esri Upper Peninsula of Michigan User Group (EUPMUG)

 


 

The site hosted by InfoGeographics and maintained by Brooks E. Kelley

Last Updated 06 Oct 2011