Hello TribalGIS!
I wanted to recap the TribalGIS Oklahoma Regional Meeting that we had today at the South Central Weather Climate Science Center in Norman, OK:
The meeting started off with a Webinar from an ESRI representative going through some of the latest notable changes with ArcGIS Pro 1.4. If you didn't know, ArcGIS Pro is currently a desktop solution that relies on web connectivity. However, its full intended purpose is to replace ArcMap as the main desktop solution one day. ArcGIS Pro requires an ArcGIS Online account or Portal for ArcGIS. Currently Tribes can get ArcGIS Pro through TribalGIS by navigating to TribalGIS.com, logging in as a member. On the main page you first must apply for an ArcGIS Online account. Once that is set up you can use your ArcGIS Online user ID to fill out a request for ArcGIS Pro.
Muskogee (Creek) Nation's Historic & Cultural Preservation Department led a presentation on "GIS Workflow for Archaeometry and Cemetery Recordation", (Pretty fancy title huh?). Gano, LeeAnne, and Anthony showed the group their Area of Interest used for consultation, as well as how they use GIS for mapping for doing archaeology and ground penetrating radar. (They had some other great stuff too so be sure to contact them if you are interested in what their program does
www.mcn-nsn.gov/historic-culture-preservation/
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We then transitioned to an open forum where we brought up issues common to our region. Lack of base stations in southeastern Oklahoma was brought up and the group discussed ways to circumvent these issues. We talked more about GIS and Archaeology including the use of metal detecting in doing survey. The group also discussed server and active directory issues with Portal for ArcGIS. After blood sugars began to drop the conversation turned into rambling chaos of things I don’t quite remember. We broke up into groups and continued conversations while we ate.
After lunch April Taylor with the South Central Climate Science Center gave us updates on upcoming Climate related trainings (Picture attached). Climate change is effecting us all in Indian Country and we urge other Tribal GIS professionals to contact April or attend one of these trainings to learn more on how Climate change is effecting your Tribe. Take a look at the attachment for a list of the upcoming events.
Lastly, we had Mike Sharp and Shellie Willoughby from the Oklahoma Office of Geospatial Information give us a presentation on the OKMAPS project. OKMAPS is a publicly accessible mapping website, it is a collaboration of state GIS data from multiple sources, and has state accessible data in the event of an emergency. While there is a vast amount of data you can download, some of the most notable includes LIDAR elevation data, Historic aerial photos, and land parcel information. Much of the data can be downloaded but all of it can be added to your GIS as a map service! Mike and Shellie have done a lot of work to ensure Oklahomans have access to viable GIS data, take a look at it now
okmaps.org/ogi/search.aspx.
That about sums up the Oklahoma Regional Meeting, if you couldn’t make it we urge you to come next time. If you want to organize your own regional meeting please feel free to ask anyone on the NTGISC Board or Advisory Committee on how we can help you set one up!