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AGIC Awards
AGIC Awards
Click each award to expand the category and read more about each winner.
Volunteer of the Year Award (formally Chairperson of the Year Award)
Volunteer of the Year Award (formally Chairperson of the Year Award)
Winner - Karen Fisher, Central Arizona Project
Karen has been an active volunteer with AGIC. She is one of the co-chairs of the Natural Resources Committee and has helped push that group to be one of the most active committees in AGIC. During meetings, I've seen her keep the discussions active.
During the Leadership Retreat meeting in February 2024, where council members and other active members from the community came together to help provide feedback that AGIC officers used to develop the new Strategic Plan and goals, Karen was one of the more vocal members of the group. She had some great ideas on ways AGIC could improve helping new AGIC participants feel welcome to AGIC. One of her ideas turned into adding a list of skills to each committee page on the AGIC Organizational Chart that helps people identify what skills they may build if they join the group.
I got to actually work directly with Karen on the AGIC Annual Report Workgroup. She built the page on "Resilience, Water and the Environment," helped design the front page, and helped design the experience builder application that the annual report is built on. While the entire Workgroup was certainly instrumental in the report's publication, Karen stood out as taking initiative where even the workgroup chair (me) didn't. For example, she took the extra step to make the annual report experience builder more mobile friendly. Her work is greatly appreciated and I look forward to seeing what she does next.
Geospatial Volunteer of the Year
Geospatial Volunteer of the Year
Winner - Robert Balling, Arizona State University
Robert Balling has served as one of the lead faculty for Arizona State University's Master of Advanced Study in GIS since its inception in 2004. Yes, this is sort of part of Dr. Balling's "regular paid work" as it relates to teaching and service for ASU. However, the amount of time and effort spent in the last 21 years in this role far exceeds the amount of time, effort, and level of care he has contributed to this people in this program and its impact on the geospatial community in Arizona. First, the volume of work and effort: ASU's MAS-GIS program is one of only 4 universities in the US that has graduated over 400 students (428) between 2010-2023 (based on data from https://nces.ed.gov/). Dr. Balling has been a advisor to most all of the students coming out of this program through overseeing their Master's Projects, to day-to-day oversight of program management. Bob has perhaps advised more students in graduate geospatial education than anyone else in the entire US because of his efforts. Bob regularly meets with students at the geospatial internship or work sites and promotes statewide geospatial industry and education through AGIC, ESRI, PHXGeo, amongst other organizations and collaborations. Just ask everyone at the AGIC banquet to stand up if they have been advised or taught by Dr. Balling and a huge number of people will applaud and recognize his life-long efforts. The MAS-GIS program includes an annual award given to students that is an endowed gift from the Balling family. For going above and beyond the call of duty to ASU, Dr. Balling is well deserving of his efforts to AGIC and the State of Arizona for his efforts to train students for the geospatial workforce. Bob hasn't served directly on AGIC partially because of Shea Lemar's longterm efforts out of ASU, but he has been at conferences and events for the past 20 years. Dr. Balling is one of the reasons why the State of Arizona leads all other states in geospatial graduate education which directly promotes, enhances and more importantly has led to our highly-skilled Arizona workforce. Dr. Balling is emblematic of Arizona's Geospatial Volunteer Award for his life-long commitment to educate and promote our States geospatial community.
Gene Trobia Lifetime Achievement Award
Gene Trobia Lifetime Achievement Award
Winner - Steve Whitney, Pima County
Steve is awesome, nuf said.
AGIC Iron Cartographer Winner
AGIC Iron Cartographer Winner
Winner - Nicholas Dennis, Arizona Department of Transportation
The Iron Cartographer was a 60-minute cartographic challenge between Nicholas Dennis, Senior GIS Analyst for the Arizona Department of Transportation, and Maximilian Bourque, Director of Real Estate Analytics at Xponential Fitness. The competitors were provided with a theme, data, a computer to work on, and 60-minutes to create a map while the audience watched their progress on big screens and learned some tips along the way.
This year, Nicholas was voted by symposium attendees as the winner!
A special thanks to Entellus and Mil Geospatial, LLC for sponsoring this year's contest.
2025 Iron Cartographer Winner Nicholas Dennis
AGIC Maps & Apps Winners
AGIC Maps & Apps Winners
The AGIC Maps & Apps Contest provided a chance for the Arizona GIS Community to submit printed maps or online maps & applications they were proud of and wanted to share with AGIC Symposium Attendees. Multiple entries were received for each category but only one winner was selected by vote from symposium attendees. All entries, including the winners, can be viewed on the Maps & Apps Contest Winners website.
Maps & Apps Categories
GIS 4 Fun
GIS 4 Fun
GIS 4 Fun Award
GIS 4 Fun Award
Winner - TYPE arizona.txt
Submitted by Michael Huff, Burgess & Niple, Inc.
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) is a character encoding standard that maps characters like letters, numbers, and symbols to numerical codes, forming the early foundation of digital text representation. Its simplicity and compatibility made it a natural choice for early computing systems, especially in environments with limited graphical capabilities. Iconic Disk Operating System (DOS) games from the 1980’s, including Nethack, Rogue, and Moria, used ASCII to bring sprawling civilizations, characters, and events to life. This map adapts this method of representation using text symbols into our own world, representing selected features of the state of Arizona through ASCII art to challenge how we perceive familiar places and to view one such place with a new sense of wonder and fantasy.
Printed Map Awards
Printed Map Awards
Best Cartography
Best Cartography
Winner - Lights On The Atlantic
Submitted by Michael Huff, Burgess & Niple, Inc.
This map represents a research effort focused upon collecting data on the age, height, and history of each lighthouse that shines upon the Atlantic Ocean. Data were manually collected from local, national, and international libraries including Lighthouse Friends, the United States National Park Service, and Wikipedia. The map was produced in ArcGIS Pro for construction of the lighthouse dataset and initial layout, then exported to Blender (3D rendering and animation software). The 2D terrain was then extruded to become a 3D elevation model, and the Atlantic Ocean created as a simulated water surface. Each lighthouse point was transformed into a 3D light source and a true light simulation performed on the scene to render the partially-illuminated terrain and water based on the presence of lighthouses, forming a heatmap (or lightmap!) to underlay the data itself. Lighthouses are shown by height, age, and whether they still serve as a navigational aid.
Best Analytical Presentation
Best Analytical Presentation
Winner - USGS How To 3DHP
Submitted by Cynthia Ritmiller, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently launched the 3D Hydrography Program (3DHP) with the goal to build a national hydrographic framework that is integrated with 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) elevation data. The 3DHP framework begins with the legacy National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) that is replaced as newly acquired elevation-derived hydrography data becomes available. The data model for the framework is designed to leverage terrain and flow characteristics inherent in the derived hydrography and improve hydrologic modeling and data sharing capabilities. The initial version of the framework is now available as a web service. This poster will highlight important aspects of accessing the web service and using the 3DHP network.
Online Application Awards
Online Application Awards
Best StoryMap
Best StoryMap
Winner - Verde River Watershed: Exploring the Verde River Watershed from the headwaters down to the Valley of the Sun
Submitted by Sam Draper, Audubon Southwest
The Verde River Watershed in north central Arizona is home to the Verde River—one of Arizona’s few remaining rivers that flows year-round. The Verde River and its watershed are also home to many rivers and streams, lakes, Tribal lands, state parks, trails, national monuments, national forests, and diverse ecosystems. There are two major dams and reservoirs on the Verde River: Horseshoe Dam and Reservoir, and Bartlett Dam and Reservoir. To raise awareness about the Verde River Watershed and its importance to Arizona communities and wildlife, Audubon Southwest and The Nature Conservancy in Arizona launched our StoryMap: Exploring the Verde River Watershed from the headwaters down to the Valley of the Sun. Within this website, viewers can learn about the watershed’s land area as well as potential projects that could impact riverside habitat, create restoration opportunities, and adapt Arizona’s water infrastructure to deal with sedimentation and climate and precipitation variability.
The StoryMap was thoughtfully developed with community in mind, evidenced by utilizing user-friendly symbology, labels, and popups. We incorporated many ArcGIS tools and features including interactive map actions; photos, videos, and illustrations; a 3D scene viewer; and map sliders that bring our land classification analyses to life (created by performing supervised object-based segmentation). To broaden our audience and accessibility, we created a mirror of the StoryMap in Spanish after contracting with a professional translator to ensure the verbiage accurately represents regional dialects and nuances. We leveraged (and credited) a wide range of data sets, including: - AZGEO Data Hub (ADEQ, BLM, AZ Trail), ADWR, ASLD - BIA - National Wild & Scenic Rivers System - USDA Forest Service - USFWS - USGS National Hydrography Dataset - American Whitewater's Inventory - Audubon - Horseshoe Reservoir Habitat Restoration Study (2023) - Verde Reservoirs Sediment Mitigation Study (2021).
Best Application
Best Application
Winner - Public Safety Power Shutoff- Helping to protect you and your community from wildfire
Submitted by Michelle Gutierrez, Arizona Public Service
Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) could impact customers in highest fire-risk communities in Arizona, including parts of Coconino, Gila, Navajo, Pinal, and Yavapai counties. This Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) map is designed to provide customers with a visual display of the general areas where APS may implement a PSPS. Customers can use this map to search addresses to determine if an area is considered PSPS.
Data was pieced together by various business units at APS, including GIS, Customer Billing, and Distribution Operations. Many business units and departments came together to discuss and approve this public facing map. Several departments include Customer Experience and Solutions as well as Public Affairs. The GIS department assisted and supported this effort over the course of 6 months.
College Student Awards
College Student Awards
Best College Student Project
Best College Student Project
Winner - 2011 - 2021 Tree Canopy Analysis of the Granite Creek Watershed, Prescott, Arizona
Submitted by Josef Thompson, Arizona State University
This poster, summarizes a 10 year analysis of tree canopy cover and canopy height for the Granite Creek Watershed in Prescott, Arizona. The poster is still a work in progress.
K-12 Student Awards
K-12 Student Awards
Elementary School Division
Elementary School Division
Winner - How to prevent wildfires in Arizona
Submitted by Elijah Como
Adult Sponsor: Sam Como
Middle School Division
Middle School Division
Winner - The State of Arizona's Air Quality
Submitted by Ariella Campa
Adult Sponsor: Jackie Nichols, Teacher, Billy Lane Lauffer Middle School
High School Division
High School Division
Winner - Casinos: The Sixth "C" of Arizona
Submitted by Angela Yu & Ever McMahon
Adult Sponsor: Dawn Schmidt, Teacher, Corona del Sol High School
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