Given limited personnel and a short time since startup, IGIS has made significant contributions throughout ANR. There is a great need for the program within and beyond ANR, and IGIS personnel have shown impressive results in reaching out to the wider ANR community and external partners.
Here is a summary of the direction and next steps I provided to the IGIS Program Director:
- IGIS should focus on expanding capacity and reach with drones and prioritize investing in new technology.
- IGIS will work with the REC Directors to develop a call process to identify science leads who are interested in taking over full ownership of one or more of the flux towers.
- IGIS should discontinue its involvement with cataloguing dark data, but work with ANR Communication Services and Information Technology office (CSIT) to inform ANR academics that digitized documents are available in the ANR repository.
- Associate Vice President Powers and I will meet with Program Director Kelly to further discuss the proposal to re-characterize IGIS from a statewide program to a statewide academic service.
- IGIS will develop a business plan to continue to scale up services that are in demand by UC ANR academics and offer services in a way that decreases reliance on central funds.
- IGIS should update its website to clearly articulate to whom resources and services are available. When IGIS is not able to provide a service, to the degree possible, it should act as a clearing house and refer clients to other providers.
- IGIS should incorporate evaluation methods that focus on the effectiveness of workshops and services and the extent of IGIS' reach.
I look forward to working with IGIS as it pursues these and other opportunities that may arise.
Glenda Humiston
Vice President
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
The Informatics and Geographic Information Systems (IGIS) Statewide Program now offers online office hours for all ANR staff and academics. Every Monday from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., an IGIS staff member will be hanging out on Zoom hoping to hear from ANR people and discuss all things GIS.
They are ready to discuss issues such as these:
- how to use GIS in your work - needs assessments, research, communication, operations, evaluation, etc.
- where to find spatial data
- going from a question to a GIS analysis
- making a quick and dirty map for print or online
- software recommendations
- ArcGIS tools, workflows, and trouble-shooting
- spatial data analysis with R
- spatial stats
- WebGIS and Story Maps
- tools for mobile data collection
- storing and sharing data
- what you can do with drone imagery, and how to get it
- what you can try yourself, and when you may need to get help
- the IGIS GIS Service Center - what they do and how it works
No question is too big or too small! And while they may not be able to answer every question, they will either find out or point you in the right direction.
Other details:
- Online office hours are for ANR personnel only.
- To help ensure that the most appropriate person is available to talk with you, they ask that you sign up for a time slot, with a brief description of your topic or question.
- Zoom connection information will be sent when you sign up.
- Can't make Monday afternoons? Choose 'Other' as the time slot when you sign up, and they will contact you to set up an alternative time.
- If you have a slow internet connection, you can turn off your web-cam or simply phone in.
UC ANR's Informatics and Geographic Information Systems (IGIS) Statewide Program is offering a new series of training workshops. This series of agriculture– and natural resource–oriented GIS, Web mapping and Global Positioning System trainings will be held at a variety of venues around California.
The five-hour trainings, scheduled from October through January, will be offered in Sacramento, Riverside, Davis and Berkeley and at the UC ANR Lindcove Research and Extension Center.
For the schedule of upcoming events and to find a workshop near you, visit http://igis.ucanr.edu/IGISTraining.
For more information about IGIS, please visit http://igis.ucanr.edu.