A Deep Dive into Geospatial Innovation: Recap of the 2024 OGIS Symposium at Virginia Tech

By: Imma Mwanja

Date: May 6th, 2024

On April 5th, 2024, Virginia View, in collaboration with the Virginia Tech University Libraries, hosted the 24th Office for GIS and Remote Sensing (OGIS) Symposium at Virginia Tech. This was a focal point for showcasing the vibrant geospatial research and projects conducted by students and faculty across the university over the past year. The Symposium also brought in an external presenter from a company offering geospatial solutions in Virginia and globally.

Held in Newman Library, this annual event brought together researchers, students, and industry professionals to explore the broad applications of geographic information technology (GIT), including geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing. This year's symposium provided a unique platform for dialogue and collaboration within the Geosciences discipline.

Insights from Experts in the Geosciences Industry

The symposium featured a compelling lineup of guest speakers who are at the forefront of their respective fields. 

Dr. George Allen, an Assistant Professor of Hydrology and Remote Sensing at Virginia Tech, delivered a presentation titled “Beyond the gauge: Observing Earth's Rivers and Lakes from Space” which tries to answer 3 big questions: 

• What is the surface area of all rivers and lakes globally and how much greenhouse gas do they emit into the atmosphere? 

• How can we use satellites to track changes in water quality and quantity in rivers and lakes? and

• How much water flows through all of Earth’s rivers and lakes?

Dr. Mike Willis—an Associate Professor of Cryospheric Science, Geodesy and Remote Sensing at Virginia Tech—led an engaging discussion on “Navigating the New Arctic: The Greenland Hazard Project” which highlighted critical research on the impacts of climate change in the Arctic regions, specifically Greenland, to address needs for information about natural hazards using radar and optical remote sensing, geodetic field studies, and community-based photogrammetry projects. The major goals for this project are:

• Improved understanding of Arctic change and its local and global effects that capitalize on innovative and optimized observation infrastructure.

• New and enhanced research communities that are diverse, integrative, and well-positioned to carry out productive research on the interactions or connections between natural and built environments and social systems.

• Research outcomes that inform national security, economic development, and societal well-being, and enable resilient and sustainable Arctic communities.

• Enhanced efforts in formal and informal education that focus on the social, built, and natural impacts of Arctic change on multiple scales and broadly disseminate research outcomes.

Dr. George Allen (left) and Dr. Mike Willis (right) giving their insightful presentations at the 2024 OGIS Symposium. Photos by Stacey Kuhar

Kinsey Browning, a Geospatial Technical Area Lead from Stantec presented on “GIS in Mining: Digging into Data”, showcasing the pivotal role of GIS in enhancing efficiency and sustainability in mining operations done by Stantec globally. She touched on the 3 main phases of mining (early/exploratory, operations, and post-operations/monitoring) and how GIS plays a role in all phases.

Kinsey also mentioned how Stantec implements remote sensing in mining operations, for example for the exploration of mineral deposits, to extract chemical and physical parameters surfaces, and to track trailing storage facilities for toxicity. She also discussed their data management solutions and how they use GIS for environmental impact analysis at mining areas but also how Stantec holds communications to educate the public and different stakeholders.

Finally, Seth Peery—the Senior GIS Architect at Virginia Tech Enterprise GIS Department, reviewed the current geospatial support services offered by the university, emphasizing the expansive impact of these services in facilitating research and operational efficiency across campus. He dove into the services that Enterprise GIS offers and how they work effectively on the back-end to support distributed and collaborative GIS at scale at the university.

Seth then gave a “Year in Review” of ArcGIS Online software-as-a-service content and apps (including ArcGIS Pro) usage at Virginia Tech. He reviewed several fixes for known issues, new capabilities for Virginia Tech organization members, usage metrics, and licensing changes for 2024.

• There is a known issue with ArcGIS Pro Sign In via 2FA. The fix is to select the option to “Sign in Using Browser”.

• All users in ArcGIS Online have been assigned the following new privileges via the "Publisher+" custom role:

  • Self-service creation of Shared Update Groups in which all members can edit all content shared with the group

  • Self-service Content Transfer, enabling users to transfer ownership of content to another user, subject to their approval. This is a common workflow when students or faculty leave the university and need to identify a new owner for data related to ongoing projects.

  • Publish dynamic hosted imagery layers

  • Create and run data pipelines (a new feature included in the Q1 2024 AGOL update from ESRI)

  • Create hosted Jupyter notebooks inside of ArcGIS Online.

• Metrics for our ArcGIS Online organization utilization from April 2023 - April 2024:

  • We now have over 10,000 users! This is a milestone that only a handful of universities nationwide have reached.

  • Virginia Tech members averaged 15,000 hours of ArcGIS Pro usage per month over the past year.

  • The no-code Instant apps and Experience Builder apps are growing in popularity, with 164 created over the past year.

  • 1458 members created 9996 new content items over the past year, mapping regions all over the world, reflecting the global reach of Virginia Tech.

• The ArcGIS Enterprise service managed by Seth's team supports use cases not supported in the SaaS ArcGIS Online platform, such as geoprocessing, imagery analysis, large datasets and real-time mapping.

• The legacy ArcMap product will be removed from our ESRI license in June. All users still using this product need to migrate to ArcGIS Pro.

• The question was raised: Are we getting value out of our institutional membership in the Open Geospatial Consortium?

Kinsey Browning (left) and Seth Peery (right) presenting at the 2024 OGIS Symposium. Photos by Stacey Kuhar

Celebrating Student Innovation

A major highlight of the symposium was the “Student GIS/Remote Sensing Poster and Web App Competition and Showcase”, which featured a diverse range of projects demonstrating the innovative application of remote sensing and GIS technologies. Students at this year’s symposium presented 32 maps which showcased their geospatial analysis techniques, related internship experiences, geospatial course projects, maps, and other creative endeavors.

Graduate poster winners (left) and the EIP student of the year winner (right) being presented with their prizes at the 2024 OGIS Symposium. Photos by Stacey Kuhar

Moving Forward

The 2024 OGIS Symposium not only underscored the interdisciplinary nature of GIS and remote sensing technologies but also highlighted their critical role in addressing some of the most pressing global challenges. From environmental conservation to urban planning and public health, the applications are as diverse as they are impactful.

As we reflect on the wealth of knowledge shared and the connections forged during this year’s Symposium, it is clear that Virginia Tech remains a hub of innovation and excellence in the field of geospatial research. We eagerly anticipate the continued growth of this vibrant community and look forward to next year's symposium, where new ideas will undoubtedly emerge as we strive to push the boundaries of what GIS and remote sensing can achieve.

We would like to thank our partners and sponsors: Virginia Space Grant Consortium, Virginia View, the Virginia Tech Center for Environmental Analytics and Remote Sensing, and Virginia Tech University Libraries.

Please join us next year for our 25th anniversary celebration of the Virginia Tech Office for GIS and Remote Sensing Research Symposium!

Planning Committee:   John McGee (jmcg@vt.edu)

Imma Mwanja (imma@vt.edu)

Santosh Rijal (rsantosh@vt.edu) 

Edwin Brooks (ebrooks@vt.edu)

Jonathan Petters (jpetters@vt.edu) 

For more information about The Virginia Tech Office for GIS and Remote Sensing Research 2024 Symposium, please visit this website: https://sites.google.com/vt.edu/ogis/2024-ogis-symposium