Future of GIS, Moving to the Enterprise Platform

Editor's Notes

• #2: Future of GIS   The GIS has been a mission critical system within utilities for many years supporting planning, analysis, design, and outage workflows. But the technological landscape of GIS continues to change at a rapid pace... While this presents a challenge to keep up, the utilities at the forefront of the technology are realizing significant ROI by expanding their usage of geographic data in new and exciting ways. This session will review the foundational components of a GIS that every utility should have in place along with the best patterns for embracing the change as GIS evolves from an application to a true enterprise platform. Our joint goal is to support the entire utility by making map-based apps available anywhere, on any device, to every department. The future of GIS is now, don't be left in the past!
• #3: WHO SSP IS:  Just briefly a bit about who we are - SSP is focused on the electric, gas, water and fiber markets for core product implementation, customization, and systems integration. Chalk it to mostly GIS SERVICES work. We also partner heavily with Schneider Electric (previously known as Telvent) who provides a large set of utility specific products. Our main challenge with ArcGIS online was how to educate our customer base on this new platform because it really does present a fundamental shift in how utilities have traditionally used GIS.
• #10: HCA = High Consequence Area
• #16: ArcGIS as a Platform—What Is It? ArcGIS Online is an entirely new part of ArcGIS and extends ArcGIS into a platform, providing both online mapping/geographic analysis, as well as enterprise portal and geospatial content management. It complements and extends on-premises ArcGIS resources by providing cloud computing, as well as rich content and services. ArcGIS as a platform provides open geospatial capabilities to any user and allows access by any application on any device anywhere, anytime. A new concept of dynamic web maps is a central aspect of this platform and facilitates the organization, sharing, and use of geospatial content, maps, and data within groups and across divisions of an organization, as well as between organizations and the public. ArcGIS also includes a large library of applications and templates that are used to access and apply this content in multiple settings, including mobile, tablet, and desktop environments. Some of the fundamental features of the new ArcGIS platform are the following: Ready to use Self-service mapping Applications across all devices and browsers Content Services (routing, address, geoprocessing, analysis, etc.) Strong developer access and tools Platform for easily hosting and sharing applications and content Dynamically scalable and redundant (cloud infrastructure) Open and accessible using standards Supports all geospatial data types, including real-time server networks Provides an ecosystem of applications, content, and communities for users and partners Provides simple access to GIS using a Software as a Service (SaaS) model Integrates with ArcGIS desktops Integrated with business intelligence (BI) tools (Microsoft Office, SharePoint, etc.)
• #17: ArcGIS is accessible anywhere, and it works seamlessly across any device. The system is designed to work the way you work whether that’s at a desktop computer, with a smart phone or tablet, within a web browser, or even integrated into some of the most widely used business systems. As many of you may know, you can utilize ArcGIS from within powerful desktop applications built for technicians or GIS professionals, but you can also use ArcGIS from within familiar business system such as Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint, or through focused applications such as an operational dashboard, you can even use ArcGIS within AutoCAD. ArcGIS is accessible within web applications, running on any device with a web browser. You can embed ArcGIS maps and applications directly into existing webpages, and even integrate it with social media. There are native applications for all of the modern smartphones and tablets such as iPhones/iPads, Android Tablets & Windows Phones as well applications for high accuracy GPS devices.
• #18: ArcGIS is powered by spatial information in the form of something we call services. With the ArcGIS Platform you can very easily make your authoritative content available across the platform. You have the option to share your spatial information from within your own computing environment using our server software or you can reduce your administrative overhead by having us manage the computing environment and choosing to share your data in ArcGIS Online. Many Esri users take a hybrid approach, where some of their content is managed in their own computer infrastructure and some is accessed from online sources. The ArcGIS platform takes advantage of the latest advancements in cloud computing, like being scalable based on demand and it gives you a variety of implementation options depending on your specific requirements.
• #19: Maintaining information within a GIS is only valuable if those who need the information have access to it. ArcGIS provides a simple, easy to use system for organizing spatial content, maps, and applications for your organization. Whether you choose to use ArcGIS Online which is managed by Esri in the cloud or you use the Portal Extension for ArcGIS Server which is managed by users in their own computing environment you’re able to quickly provide access to maps and applications within groups that you define in the system. With ArcGIS content and applications can be organized and shared in the same way your organizations are structured, whether that’s: department by department, division by division, or workgroup by workgroup.
• #20: To make mapping and spatial information available to the entire organization, we’re bringing ArcGIS into systems which the entire organization works with. How many of you use Microsoft Office? With a few clicks of a button Microsoft Office users can have integrated interactive mapping, spatial analysis, and reporting from ArcGIS added directly into their Excel spreadsheets and their PowerPoint presentations. In addition integrated mapping and analysis from ArcGIS is available within many other commonly used business systems, if you’d like to know more about these solutions please just ask us at a break.
• #22: GIS Professionals GIS Enterprise Information workers Esri Maps for Microsoft Office, Cognos, etc
• #24: CHANGING THE CONVERSATION: Question #1: How can we expose new data within our customer's organizations while leveraging their existing investment in GIS? Include what you already know about how they use GIS and Server - this will allow you to expose GIS data to new areas of the organization. And then think about all of the other departments that have some data that could be enhanced significantly by taking it into a geospatial context - we're talking business databases, spreadsheets & reports from all over the organization. Anything with an address or any way to tie to a feature we already have in GIS (think customer number, asset id, etc). ArcGIS Online provides the platform to make this data available to users who have never used GIS before.
• #25: WESTAR USE CASE This is one recent use case we came across. At the core we were able to expose a utility’s ArcFM GIS data to new devices like the iPad, Android, phones, etc using ArcGIS Online. That was a huge step that then enabled us to look at the larger organization. In this example we were able to take real estate data that had been maintained in spreadsheets for years and load it directly into ArcGIS Online. This data contains ownership information for parcels where transmission lines need to be inspected including how to access the facilities. This data was not only displayed but could be edited within ArcGIS Online enabling a whole new department to utilize GIS for the first time.
• #26: CHANGING THE CONVERSATION: Question #2: How can we collect, utilize and empower the collection of NEW data points throughout the organization or even from the end customers? ArcGIS Online provides the mechanism to get that data into our existing back office systems very easily. But its up to US to figure out how that data can be put to good use. Can we integrate it into other existing geodatabases through geoprocessing, can we leverage that data as an integration point with other systems in the organization, can we utilize it to empower an existing workflow? The answer to these questions lie with you, the partners, because you know your respective industries better than anyone else. And these answers will drive services.
• #27: STREETLIGHT USE CASE Another quick use case starts with us exposing a public web map via ArcGIS Online. This webmap will allow our end customers to view and interact with our utility data. A customer is jogging at dusk and notices a streetlight is out. This web map allows them to GPS the location and capture the streetlight outage very easily. They can even include a photo of the location. This data is transmitted instantaneously to the back office. But how can we empower this data?
• #28: STREETLIGHT USE CASE We can easily generate an email back to the customer acknowledging the outage – HUGE from the customer perspective. And why not also automatically generate a new service request for the outage within our work management system that can then dispatch a crew to fix the issue. This simple, but integrated, workflow will save the utility money while increasing customer satisfaction. And in the end this results in real business for partners to design, develop, and deploy these solutions.