Texas GIS Forum October 23 – 27, 2017 | Austin, Texas

Keynote Presentation
Bern Szukalski, Chief Technology Advocate and Product Strategist at Esri

Bern Szukalski uniquely serves as a technical evangelist, technology advocate, and product strategist, working directly with Esri's global user community and product marketing and development teams. He's currently focused on making GIS more widely available and shareable via the Web.

Special Presentation
History of GIS in Texas

Platinum Sponsor Presentation

Guest Speaker
Todd Mostak, CEO of MapD

GPUs & Their Role in Geovisualization

As a research fellow at the Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab at MIT, Todd recognized the possibilities behind the mechanics of Xbox and PlayStation to transform traditional data analytics platforms. Replacing his CPU for a GPU, Todd was one of the first innovators to discover the untapped potential of GPUs to analyze, visualize and explore data in ways never done before. Now? He is reducing query times from hours to milliseconds for companies like Verizon, Amazon, Simulmedia and npm, enabling them to spend significantly less time crunching data and more time analyzing it to make key business decisions.

Guest Speaker
Joanna Sanchez, Educational Policy Researcher at Howard University

Joanna was born and raised in the Texas Rio Grande Valley, and earned her undergraduate degree in Geosciences from Trinity University. Joanna’s work with her non-profit, Odisea, and the Gates Millennium Scholarship Association and Hispanic Scholarship Fund (she is a recipient of both), inspired her to go back to school. In 2017, she earned her Ph.D. in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at UT-Austin where she conducted research projects incorporating the use of GIS and spatial analysis to explore research and policy questions. She gained policy experiences with Texas State Representative Mary González and as a policy fellow with the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. She is currently a postdoctoral research associate in K-12 STEM Education at Howard University.

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Guest Speaker
Sean Wohltman, Geospatial Scientist at Google

Sean is a Geospatial Scientist for Google’s Maps Customer Team. He has most recently been the technical lead for Google’s Enterprise Aerial Orthoimagery program and designed the workflows for provisioning and serving terabytes of imagery at scale on Google Cloud Platform. Since joining Google in 2008, he has worked to bring analytic capabilities to Google’s Geospatial platform and developed technologies to bring Google Earth and Maps to disconnected tactical and crisis-response environments. Prior to joining Google, Sean worked as a geospatial analyst in the Office of Counterterrorism and as a developer in the eGEOINT Management Office at NGA. He earned a bachelor's degree in geography from Virginia Tech in 2004, where he also earned his M.S. in geographic information science in 2005.

Guest Speaker
Kyle Walker, Urban Studies Director at Texas Christian University

Kyle Walker is an associate professor of Geography and Director of the Center for Urban Studies at Texas Christian University. His research focuses on the demography of US cities and suburbs, internal migration trends in the United States, and tools for open data science. At TCU, Kyle teaches courses in urban studies, data analysis, and Geographic Information Systems. He holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Minnesota.

Session A (Big Tex)
Data Availability & Management

Platinum Sponsor Presentation

Session A (Big Tex)
Open Source GIS

Special Keynote
Saroo Brierley

Lost as a child, Saroo tracked down his hometown in India using Google Earth and his memories. His story inspired the Oscar-nominated film, Lion.

Forum Social at the Oasis

30 years of the Texas GIS Forum will be celebrated with a spectacular social event at the Oasis on Lake Travis, the Sunset Capital of Texas. Thanks to our Platinum Sponsors, we will celebrate this milestone occasion with an inspirational keynote speaker, amazing entertainment, scrumptious food and drink, and a knock-your-socks off view.

Town Hall: State of the State

GIO update presentation followed by an all-hands discussion on what's been done and where we are going?

Education and Professional Development Panel

Needs and expectations in workforce relating to education and professional development.

Closing Remarks