What IT Professionals Should Know About Getting Started With & Supporting GIS

What IT Professionals
Should Know About
Getting Started With &
Supporting GIS
www.bcs-gis.com
www.twitter.com/bcsgis
www.twitter.com/marvlis
Jim Tochterman, VP, Research & Development

Who is BCS?
• Formed in 1998 in Aiken, SC
• Privately held and woman-owned
• Primary focus is GIS for Public Safety
• Esri Gold Tier Partner

What does BCS do?
• Company Business Units
 MARVLIS
 Public Safety
 Mobile Technologies
 Esri Software Sales, Services, Training & Consulting
 Defense/Intel

What does BCS do?
• Strong Public Safety Focus
 MARVLIS
 MARVLIS Forecast LE
 TheAddresser
 Crime Analysis Tools
 Crime iMap
 Fire Analysis Tools

Where have we been?
 Not long ago, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) were once
relegated to only back office support operations.
 Minicomputers, terminals, digitizers, and pen plotters were the
cutting edge technology.
 Used for data creation & producing paper maps to support
City/County/Regional Planning, Economic Development, Tax
Assessment, and other local government efforts & operations.

Where are we now?
 Today, gone are the token-ring networks and 9-Track tapes of the past,
replaced with Fiber Ethernet & Storage Area Networks (SAN).
 GIS has grown from a decision support tool to being fully integrated
into Information Technology (IT) within organizations across many
industry verticals, both in the office & in the field. Even… at home.
 You may or may not see a map, but spatial data is driving tasks like
Business Intelligence (BI), Disease Surveillance, and Disaster Response
just to name a few.

Where are we going?
 Just like IT, GIS is evolving. It too is moving to a web services model
which in turn is making it more of an integrative technology.
 Organizations/Departments are sharing data easier and mobility is
connecting users in the field enabling data exchange in real time.
 Augmented Reality (AR) & Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), & 3D GIS
are quickly making their way to common use.

What do I need to get there?
 GIS is not like supporting Microsoft Office users. In supporting or
developing a GIS, there are several things that should done be first &
reevaluated often:
 Who are my key players & what are their critical needs?
 What is the staffing situation?
 What kind & quantity of computing resources am I going to need?
 Can my network support GIS?
 Develop a plan and a budget.

Key Players, Critical Needs
 Who are my key players & what are their critical needs?
 What departments/users will benefit the greatest immediately?
 Easy wins first (low cost successes, faster ROI)
 What departments/users will utilize in the long term?
 What kinds of data & equipment will I need to support goals?
 Will I need specialized applications & systems integrations?

Staffing
 What is the staffing situation?
 Do you have/need a GIS Manager?
 Do you have/need GIS Technicians?
 Do you have/need Software Developers?
 Do you have/need the necessary IT Support Staff?
 Training for existing (or new) staff?

Computing Resources
 What kind & quantity of computing resources am I going to need?
 Workstations
 CPU & GPU Intensive
 RAM Intensive
 Large & Small Scale Printing Devices
 Servers (Physical or VM)
 File & Web Servers
 RDBMS Servers
 Public Access
 Mobile Devices
 Field Data Collection
 Billing Systems (Water/Gas)
 Cloud Computing
 Storage / Backup
 Additional Computing Cycles
 Business Continuity

Network Resources
 Can my network support GIS?
 GIS is bandwidth intensive
 Large datasets and long running processes
 Do I have Ethernet where I need it (1GB >)?
 Do I have Wi-Fi where I need it (802.11g >)?
 Do I need cellular for field workers (LTE)?
 Do I need VPN for remote site access?
 Will I need Internet access for sharing data with public (NT1 >)?

Plan & Budget
 Develop a DEFENSIBLE plan and a budget.
 GIS is a complex technology program
 Substantial year-to-year budgets are required
 Capital & Operational
 Work with your finance departments (they are creative)
 Breakdown your plans & make them easy to understand
 Infrastructure
 Data
 Applications
 Sustainability
 Staff
 Define costs
 Hardware vs. Software
 Data (3rd Party)
 Inside Labor vs. Outside Labor
 Share costs (ALL players)

GIS is IT
Questions?
Are you ready?
www.bcs-gis.com
www.twitter.com/bcsgis
www.twitter.com/marvlis

What IT Professionals Should Know About Getting Started With & Supporting GIS

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