More than 200 government IT leaders attended the Esri Public Sector CIO Summit on March 20-21 to discuss Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and how to integrate geospatial thinking into their work.
The Esri Public Sector CIO Summit was an invitation-only event for government IT leaders who want to understand GIS capabilities and discover how to leverage GIS to build smart communities and support IT and government trends.
WaTech Director and State CIO Bill Kehoe represented Washington on a panel discussion with Laura Clark, CIO of Michigan. They reflected on how GIS is integral to the top 10 CIO priorities for 2024.
Joanne Markert, WaTech's state Geographic Information Officer, and Irene Vidyanti, WaTech's state Chief Data Officer, also attended the event. In line with WaTech's efforts to create a comprehensive data ecosystem that benefits the state and its residents, Irene and Joanne coordinated with others from Washington state on data strategy efforts and how to implement those ideas in several key areas for WaTech including strategic planning efforts at both the enterprise and WaTech levels and how to create integrations with the technology, avoiding data silos.
Examples of how GIS is being used in Washington state, which were discussed at the event, include:
- The Department of Natural Resources use of artificial intelligence for mapping native seagrass locations to preserve salmon habitat.
- The Department of Fish and Wildlife’s use of GIS to remove and contain invasive European Green Crabs using a variety of map-based tools to coordinate with tribes, citizens and local government.
In the future, Washington state plans to use GIS even more strategically within the state’s IT systems.