UW–Madison Geospatial Summit

Agenda

10 a.m. – Keynote Address by David Hart: Three Decades of Coastal GIS at Wisconsin Sea Grant

Brief Description: Many of the issues associated with managing Great Lakes resources are unique, complex and challenging. You can approach them from multiple, and often competing, perspectives. Conditions change frequently and solutions are hard to test. Adaptive management of Great Lakes resources involves applying a structured, iterative process of decision-making under high levels of uncertainty. It allows incremental actions to be taken while continually collecting more information to reduce uncertainty and refine management. Effective practice of adaptive management benefits from the discovery, acquisition, integration, analysis and visualization of multiple sources and formats of geospatial data. Since 1994, Wisconsin Sea Grant has collaborated with many partners to apply geospatial technologies to explore and analyze the issues facing the Great Lakes. This presentation shares the lessons learned from three decades of coastal GIS in Wisconsin, describes current Wisconsin Sea Grant GIS collaborations and looks to the future of geospatial technologies for adaptive management of coastal resources.

David A. Hart is a Senior Scientist with the University of Wisconsin Aquatic Sciences Center and serves as the Associate Director for Extension at the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute. David’s research occurs at the intersection of geographic information science, environmental planning and coastal management. Since 2014, he has managed a staff of outreach specialists who share coastal scientific knowledge throughout Wisconsin. David earned his doctorate in Land Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Master’s of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of New Orleans and a B.S. in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan. He has been a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners since 1988.

11:15 a.m. – Janet Silbernagel from Silvernail Geodesign and Ben Yahr from Resolution Studio, LLC: Beyond the Dashboard: Using ArcGIS tools for Fieldwork, Resilience Planning, and Public Outreach

We are a collaborative team of landscape architects/UAV pilot and geodesigner, using interactive map tools to support field monitoring and collaborative decision-making in large, complex projects, and to help communicate their story to broader audiences. Together we developed integrated ArcGIS tool suites for two Milwaukee area projects. The first was for the riparian restoration and monitoring of the Kinnickinnic River through Pulaski Park. We will describe how our initial vision for a Story Map as a living deliverable grew to include Field Maps for bi-annual checks on woody vegetation and a whole Collection of apps to track and communicate the progress of restoration. Then we will illustrate a working project for Milwaukee County Parks to assess bluff resilience and prioritize mitigation projects at 13 parks along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Here we designed a collaborative communication tool with Experience Builder that hosts several embedded Story Maps, web maps and apps, and a project ranking dashboard.

Janet Silbernagel is the founder and sole proprietor of Silvernail Studio for Geodesign, LLC. Prior to starting this unique geospatial practice in 2020, Janet was a professor of landscape architecture and environmental studies at Washington State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she directed innovative geospatial and graduate programs. Janet began her career as a landscape architect and landscape ecologist with the US Forest Service.

Today her work at Silvernail applies the power of geospatial analysis through the landscape planning/design process, connecting people to place through maps, stories, and sustainable design. Silvernail leverages web mapping technology to engage communities in design and planning processes. Janet is a SITES® Sustainable Initiative Accredited Professional, helping clients and projects achieve their goals with sustainable and resilient strategies.

As founder of Resolution Studio, LLC, Ben Yahr, PLA, ASLA, serves as a Landscape Architect with over 19 years of experience providing creative design and project management support for public access, park and open space planning, waterfront design, and ecological restoration projects throughout the Great Lakes Region, Canada, the Caribbean, and Australia. Ben thrives on bringing new approaches, technology, and techniques such as drones to the design process to improve efficiency, client service, and the environmental components of projects.

As a key leader of conceptual, design development, and final design teams, Ben coordinates marketing and business development activities; field services; the production of landscape architecture, ecological restoration, civil, and coastal engineering design and bid documents; and is well versed in UAV services, CADD, GIS, and 3D visualization, and photorealistic rendering software for design analysis and communication.

12 p.m. – Christian Andresen from the UW–Madison Geography Department: Examining the Role of Vegetation on Coastal Bluff Stability Using Drone LIDAR

Brief Description: Coastal erosion and the permanent loss of land and infrastructure has been an ongoing challenge along the bluffs of Ozaukee County. Past and ongoing efforts to monitor bluff stability using drones have focused on bare, non-vegetated bluff surfaces given the limitation of photogrammetric methods to capture the bluff surface under vegetation. The lack of understanding of bluff stability processes in vegetated areas is of concern given the large portion of vegetated bluffs across Ozaukee County and Wisconsin.  Recent technological advancements have allowed the development of drone-based LIDAR which captures ground surface properties including areas with thick vegetation, providing an untapped technology for assessing bluff stability. In addition, drone LIDAR also captures the 3D structural arrangement of vegetation (e.g. height, density, etc) which allows us to quantify the role of vegetation structure on bluff failures. This study will provide a well-constrained quantitative assessment on the rates of bluff destabilization in both vegetated and non-vegetated surfaces while characterizing the structural properties of bluff vegetation and its effects on erosion rates in Ozaukee County.

Dr. Andresen is an Assistant Professor in the Geography Department and his work focuses on drone LIDAR applied to landscape structure characterization. His current work studies the role of vegetation and bluff erosion along the shorelines of lake Michigan in Wisconsin.

1:30 p.m. – The career panel will feature Jay Riester from Seiler Geospatial; Zachary Nienow from Ayres Associates Inc.; Tomissa Freisleben from Cyclomedia; and Janet Silbernagel from Silvernail Geodesign

2:30 p.m. – Career fair with representatives from local GIS companies and agencies, including: Ayers Associates, Silvernail Studio for Geodesign, Seiler Geospatial; Cyclomedia; Capital Area Regional Planning Commission; the Nelson Institute; SAGIC; NV5; US Physical Plant; Cloudpoint; Wisconsin Land Information Association; State Cartographer's Office; and more.

Livestreaming

We hope you’ll join us in person—but if you can’t, the speakers and career panel will be livestreamed.

Click here to join the livestream!

Location

Gordon Dining and Event Center - Overture Room
770 W Dayton St, Madison

Parking may be available in nearby campus visitor lots. Use the interactive map linked above to find parking, or check the Visitor Parking Availability page.