Mike Barbee

Mike Barbee

Mike Barbee is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado with a B.A. in Geography, and is currently a GIS intern with Eastern Municipal Water District.

Q: When did you first discover GIS?

A: I first discovered GIS when Google Earth and Maps were released in 2005 (I was just young enough to never need MapQuest or similar websites beforehand). I would spend hours simply touring the planet on these two platforms, exploring places that I thought I’d never get the chance to see firsthand. A few years later I began playing around with Dave’s Redistricting App as I gained an interest in political science. It wasn’t until my third year in college when I took Intro to GIS and GPS that I made the connection that these programs were simply limited forms of Geographic Information Systems.

Q: What inspired you to study GIS?

A: I initially studied GIS simply because it was offered as part of my bachelor’s program. I had “settled” with a major in Geography late in college (after exploring Biology and Criminal Justice) and didn’t have a career in mind. After school I slowly began to grasp how many different sectors made use of GIS, but it wasn’t until I recovered from heat exhaustion from working on a land survey crew in Desert Center, CA that I finally made the decision to pursue further education in the field.

Q: What has been a GIS highlight on your educational path?

A: I’ve had the amazing opportunity to intern at Eastern Municipal Water District and collaborate on countless projects, mapping out water and sewer infrastructure for nearly a million residents of the Inland Empire.

Q: Do you have a professor/mentor that has inspired you down a specific path in GIS?

A: I think it’s too early in my career to confidently say that I have a specific path in mind, but I’ve greatly enjoyed my work at EMWD and am especially appreciative of all my wonderful coworkers in Maps & Records for how much knowledge they’ve been able to share.

Q: What do you envision your GIS career looking like?

A: Growing my skill set with a company over many years and rising to the position of Senior GIS Technician is quite appealing as far as my future goes. To me every set of construction drawings, every easement, every project is a puzzle to solve, and I’d be more than happy solving them for many years to come.

Q: What is something you have enjoyed as being part of the IEGIS User Group?

A. I enjoy being part of a community and getting insight into what other users are doing in their day-to-day. It’s a great source on all the unique ways one can use GIS to solve real-world problems.

Samples of Mike’s GIS Projects

Cindy Nance

Dr. Cindy Nance

Dr. Cindy Nance is currently an Associate Professor in Geography at Mt. San Jacinto College. As a graduate student at Northern Arizona University, Cindy has worked for various archeological firms, and grant funded survey projects. Dr. Nance has also worked for various government agencies such as the Coconino National Forest and museums, the Louisiana Oil Spill Commission to help with efforts after the Exxon Valdez accident, and the Louisiana State University Division of Archaeology which was tasked with identifying known archaeological sites prior to issuing construction permits. Dr. Nance has had an exemplary professional career, along with a distinguished career as an educator, which has influenced the lives, and careers, of countless GIS students and professionals.

Q: When did you first discover GIS? Did you have any mentors, classes, colleagues, or professors that inspired you along the way?

A: As a child, I was inspired by National Geographic maps during weekends at my grandparents off-grid homestead. As a community college archaeology student, I worked on land surveys and historic sites in California’s high desert. At UC Berkeley, I used mylars with overhead projection to visualize land records through time for a site proposed for development. Through the dawn of the computer age, I beta tested various software, hardware and mainframes for document production which relied on programming language (no graphical user interface) and dot matrix printer output.

As a graduate student at Northern Arizona University, working for various archeological firms and grant funded survey projects, I enrolled in GIS courses in the geography department, using a variety of software for various tasks, such as Idrisi, before ESRI integrated diverse applications into their software package, circa 2000. At Louisiana State University, I continued my interest in archaeology and mapping with GIS to research cemetery conditions over time, considering proximity, adjacency and connectivity while also working at the state’s Division of Archaeology which was tasked with identifying known archaeological sites prior to issuing construction permits. Previously, I had worked for various agencies, such as the Coconino National Forest and museums to coordinate USGS maps with archaeological site records, and the Louisiana Oil Spill Commission’s federal project to identify land/water conditions in the event of an oil spill, after Exxon Valdez accident.

Without academic mentors to steer me in the right direction, reign in my curiosity, support my research, and provide career guidance, I was unlikely to succeed in academia: James Deetz (UCB), Charles Hoffman and Leland Dexter (NAU), Dewitt Braud and Heather McKillop (LSU), to name a few.

My long-term career goal was to create a spatial relational database of Mayan archaeological sites, coordinating various museum archives sites and artifact records, to identify the extent of trade routes, i.e. shared pottery styles in the southwest, preserve known sites and predict unknown site locations based on terrain features, was not realized. Instead, I found meaning and purpose in teaching GIS at Mt. San Jacinto College, focusing on data acquisition and spatial analysis, and realized my highest achievement in student success in their careers and personal accomplishments.

Q: As an Associate Professor of Geography what does a typical workday look like for you?

A: Preparing lecture materials, grading and presenting information to students to meet curriculum and transfer requirements, and career guidance and mentoring. I have not taught GIS courses for the Certificate or Associates Transfer Degree since 2012. Nevertheless, GIS and map interpretation remain my passion and are integrated in my General Education courses.

Q: What GIS project are you most proud of?

A: My published dissertation on stages of cemetery abandonment and evolving spatial attitudes about death (https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/7113/). And my recent publication available at CSU Northridge (https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/concern/publications/ws859p94z ) visualized with an ArcGIS Story Map - Desert Landscape Art “Looking Awry” (https://arcg.is/0CGXC40).

Q: What has been most valuable to you in the GIS sector to learn modern technology or advance your career to the next level?

A: As a GIS instructor, software upgrades were required semester-by-semester and thus practical applications that I created were updated. Annually, I attended local, state and international conferences. I frequently attended workshops to update my skills to integrate spatial innovations and disseminate to others. Over three decades, I presented and organized GIS and Geography events, receiving an Excellence in Education award 2011 CGIA/URISSA conference.

As an instructor, I did not apply GIS in the field, mostly worked on a keyboard, including creating, updating and sharing curriculum for transfer with community colleges and universities. I believe that integration of drone technology with GIS applications in archaeology, environmental research, and emergency response will provide more field opportunities for student careers.

As a retiree, I imagine using GIS as a volunteer on NGO projects. Or virtually travel using Google Earth imagery for signs of prehistoric and historic structural remains yet to be excavated. I intend to continue my photo-essays on landscape art. My passion for maps and spatial analysis persists.

Q: What is something you have enjoyed as being part of the IEGIS User Group?

A: Semi-monthly IEGIS and Palm Desert user group meetings, with ESRI representatives introducing new applications, created a network of employment opportunities for myself and later my students. While seeking GIS employment in the government sector, user group attendees and presenters shared professional experiences and recommended contacts. Over two years of employment applications and interviews, I had several job offers, and ultimately, a 25-year career at Mt. San Jacinto College, for which I am grateful.

Matthew Gonzalez

Hi, my name is Matthew, and I’m a GIS enthusiast from Menifee, CA. I have interests in data science, computer science, and environmental science alongside GIS. Through the lens of GIS, I have been able to grow in each of these fields and build on my foundation of knowledge.

Q. When did you first discover GIS?

A. I first discovered GIS during my undergraduate studies at UC San Diego. I took an introductory class and was instantly intrigued. After getting my B.S. degree, I have continued to pursue this field, both personally and professionally. My current schooling at MSJC has given me a greater appreciation for the various uses and applications possible through GIS.

Q. What inspired you to study GIS?

A. When I took my first GIS class, I was already studying geology, and had some experience reading and studying maps. For subjects like geophysics or structural geology, maps made learning tough concepts much more accessible. That gave me my initial appreciation for the importance of GIS to adjacent fields. From that point on, my classes and work experience in this field have continued to impassion me on learning and doing more with this technology.

Q. What has been a GIS highlight on your educational path?

A. During my internship with the nonprofit Tree San Diego, I created a Community Impact Report to assess the ability of the organization to provide trees for underserved communities. By using spatial data I personally collected, I was able to conclude that they were accomplishing this goal. Going through the data collection process and finding real answers was extremely rewarding, and only possible through the use of GIS software. (I’ve posted this and other projects on my website: https://4mmgonzal.github.io/ )

Q. Do you have a professor/mentor that has inspired you down a specific path in GIS?

A. Yes. My current professor, Emina Sulych, has been amazing in both seeing potential in me and providing opportunities for me to look into regarding GIS. Given my past academic interests in data science, she has steered me towards opportunities that suite my strengths.

Q. What do you envision your GIS career looking like?

A. I am motivated by interpretation and analyzation of spatial data to solve real-world issues. As such, positions like GIS Analyst or Specialist intrigue me. With my background, I would love to work in either Environmental or Municipal sectors. Serving my community and the future would bring me great pride.

Q. What is something you have enjoyed as being part of the IEGIS User Group?

A. Having a local community to share my interest in GIS makes me feel closer to the field. a support system is pivotal to the success of this or any industry. As a platform, the organization gives me insight into what my peers are creating, as well as employment opportunities.

Marcia Carrillo Ph.D; GISP

Marcia CarRillo

Marcia Carrillo Ph.D.,  GISP, is the VP of Tech Services at Psomas, a full services AEC firm that has office throughout the Western US. Prior to working at Psomas Marcia worked as Esri as a senior PM  in Utilities and Southern California Edison as a Senior Technical Specialist in GIS enterprise implementation. Marcia has worked on large GIS projects such as TRTP Transmission project, West Mojave GIS Mapping and Owens Lake Dust Mitigation Project.

Q: When did you first discover GIS? Did you have any mentors, classes, colleagues, or professors that inspired you along the way?

A: I discovered GIS at the USDA Salinity lab on the UC Riverside campus. I was working in a Post Doc position on mapping salinity and pesticide concentrations across large farming land. I got “bit” by the GIS bug and never looked back. My first big GIS project was the Owens Lake Dust Mitigation project. It was the wild west days of GIS and GPS which allowed me to explore all of the wonderful aspects of both technologies. I learned GIS mostly on my own, my best mentor was Ed Riegelmann, a GIS Senior Consultant who developed USAF GeoBase programs. He really instilled in me the how important it was to understand how GIS works at the big picture level.

Q: What got your career in GIS started?

A: It was working at CH2M Hill that got my career going in GIS. It was at the time of the transition from the desktop application  (ArcInfo 7), to ArcView; and a move to place GIS in the field to collect data. The value of data was just starting to get noticed by large organizations and I was able to really excel my career using data and GIS together to answer questions and show relationships that otherwise were not obvious.

Q: As a VP of Tech Services what does a typical workday look like for you?

A: The GIS team works on various projects such as developing strategic plans, web applications, databases, spatial analyst approaches, etc. I spend most of my time collaborating with my team members to ensure projects are moving along and helping them resolve any issues. My day can be building Ops Dashboards, responding to client questions, and developing scopes of work for various projects.

Q: What GIS project are you most proud of?

A: The project that stands out is the BLM WEMO project. The high-level summary of the project is that the BLM was reviewing OHV impact on the desert tortoise habitat in the West Mojave. Part of this was to map both double, and single-track roads, as well as any recreational sites that were used by the public on BLM land. What makes this project the standout is that we had to collaborate with  diverse stakeholders. I taught a group of 15 OHV stakeholders how to use GPS to map roads and quick marks. Over the course of a year we mapped over seven thousand miles of roads and collected over forty thousand quick marks. The data is still in use today which makes me proud of the work we did 15 years ago.

Q: What has been most valuable to you in the GIS sector to learn modern technology or advance your career to the next level?

A: Both are important, to advance my career I had to, and continue to, learn innovative technology to stay current and relevant in the field. Some aspects of my advancement to VP have been about strategic thinking, operations, and people performance. But I would not be an effective VP without staying up to date on modern technology. Also, technology is advancing at a higher rate than ever before, and with AI coming on to the scene, it is more important than ever to stay up to date.

Q: What is something you have enjoyed as being part of the IEGIS User Group?

A: I love hearing about what each member is doing with GIS, how they use the technology, and how GIS has changed the way they do business and the insights they have.

Pete Vitt

Pete Vitt

Pete Vitt has been a GIS Project Manager, Programmer and Analyst at the Santa Watershed Project Authority (SAWPA) in Riverside for over 25 years. Before arriving at SAWPA he worked in the environmental consulting industry doing environmental site investigations and assessments. He graduated from the University of California Riverside with a degree in Environmental Science.

His current employer, SAWPA, is a regional water agency that focuses on a broad range of water resource issues within the Santa Ana River Watershed including water supply reliability, water quality improvement, recycled water, wastewater treatment, groundwater management, brine disposal, and integrated regional planning. SAWPA also works to restore the environment of the Santa Ana River Watershed.

Q: When did you first discover GIS? Did you have any mentors, classes, colleagues, or professors that inspired you along the way?

A: I discovered GIS early in my career while working for an environmental consulting firm in the early 1990’s. We had a project at the recently closed Norton Air Force Base surveying background radiation in near surface soil. It was kind of a fun job (for a while) in that I got to drive an ATV equipped with a gps and radiation sensor back and forth across the base while the readings were downloaded to a base station. There were millions of readings to process and somehow make sense of and display. The only software that could handle all that spatial data was GIS. I learned GIS working on that project as well as by taking courses at UCR extension. I found I enjoyed working with GIS more than other things I was doing at my environmental job, so I looked for ways that GIS software could be applied to other projects at work. Within a few years I made the switch to a full time GIS Analyst and got my current job here at SAWPA.

Q: As a GIS Analyst and Programmer what does a typical workday look like for you?

A: There are a lot of different projects I work on to support our Planning and Engineering Departments. On any given day I’m working on one or more of these projects. I could be configuring maps, dashboards or a field map on AGOL, doing some programming to enhance an existing application like our brine line facilities management tools, or maybe making a map in ArcGIS Pro. We are a small agency, so I’ll also work in areas outside of GIS. I‘ve worked on applications to generate billing reports for brine line customers, an agency employment application on our website, and an online project submission form for water agencies to apply for grant funding for water projects. I’ll also help with data collection and generating figures for reports.

Q: What GIS project are you most proud of?

A: I developed a web mapping application using the ESRI JavaScript api to allow field operations staff to record facility inspections, repairs, marking of Dig Alert Tickets, and to view as-built and easement documents. The application has made it much easier for field staff to document their activities, and information is easily searched and displayed so Engineering can keep track of work that has been completed and to identify and plan for new work that needs to be done.

Q: What has been most valuable to you in the GIS sector to learn modern technology or advance your career to the next level?

A: I’ve learned a lot going to GIS Conferences and taking technology courses at UCR and UCI extensions. I’ve also found on-line ESRI documentation and technical support forums like the ESRI Community and Stack Exchange to be very helpful in learning new things and solving technical problems I couldn’t solve on my own.

Q: What is something you have enjoyed as being part of the IEGIS User Group?

A: It’s always fun and interesting to see the projects others are working on and the GIS software they use to accomplish their goals. It also gives me ideas on how to do my own job better.