MAPPING THE ROUTE TO THE FUTURE

Hello Everyone,

Hope all is well. This week's topic is the ArcGIS Roadmap.

I'm not talking about the Roadmap for products.

I'm talking about a customer engagement we call an ArcGIS Roadmap.

This week I participated in a week-long event with a large customer and I felt it was a good time to discuss this process broadly and help inform people of what all is involved to help you see if this may benefit you and your organization.

1. What is an ArcGIS Roadmap??

It is a customized document prepared by Esri that will guide your organization's staff to expand GIS capabilities sustainably, while following best practices, to support the needs of your org.? This document will be prepared after interviews take place with staff from across as many departments in your organization from whom you can get an agreement to meet. These interviews provided information regarding day-to-day processes, data, technology, and needs.? The product resulting from this process is a document that lays out our recommendations on how best to proceed, to meet the goal of utilizing ArcGIS technology to best assist your organization.? This document is in essence the current state of your GIS, as well as defining the desired future state of your GIS. It also lays out how you get from where you are to where you need to be. Basically like the title of the newsletter says...

"Mapping the route to the future"

2. Why is it important... (From My Perspective.)

After spending 14 years in local government, and while also doing a couple of these engagements since coming to Esri. This is what I believe to be the biggest benefit.

Using this tool to begin communication across an organization...

All too often this picture to the right depicts what it's like working in local government GIS. You have the solution but either because "We have always done it this way." Or "We are too busy to implement another element to our job." You and your solutions get overlooked.

The ArcGIS Roadmaps gets your cities departments engaged in the process. This begins to foster communication and thus the support you, and the growth of your GIS.

All governments need GIS because everything in a government deals with...

"Where", where is the manhole, where is the light post, where is the most newly paved road...

So, how do we start developing and executing this Geospatial Strategy?

Like most things in GIS, it starts with you...

1. Contact your Account Manager and express your interest in doing an ArcGIS Roadmap...
2. Then contact your administration once you have got the Esri account team on board.
3. With Esri and your administration on board it's up to you to get buy-in from all the departments in your organization letting them know that Esri has agreed to provide you with a GIS roadmap free of charge, and all you need from them is for them to partake in a 45min web meeting with your Esri Account Team, account manager, and solution engineer, in which no sales pitches will occur. The meeting will solely be an interview, with questions about how they interact with GIS and what their day-to-day duties are. As well as what software systems they currently use.

Your account team can provide you with a list of questions that the departments will likely be asked to prepare them if need be as well as some documentation on the process to help you gain that buy-in.

Then the only thing left is to schedule the meetings and the rest is up to your account team at Esri. They will compile their finding and present a comprehensive overview of what is the best way to an impactful geospatial future...

Its up to us to create change... Its up to us to drive geospatial adoption... Its up to us to get government to make decisions based on intelligent data not assumptions...

Until next time...

Keep up the good work...