OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

City of Marietta GIS Day Celebration Meeting - November 19, 2025

City Council Archive View — Wednesday, November 19, 2025
BodyMarietta, Georgia
SessionCity Council Archive View
DateWednesday, November 19, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:29:58

Transcript — Verbatim
0:02

All right.

0:02

Hey, thank you guys for being here today.

0:05

And we'll start off with a big happy GIS day.

0:08

And today is a good day to celebrate.

0:10

We'll explain why.

0:11

These guys are going to do a great job walking you through what they do.

0:14

But I want to say that GIS is widely supported here at Marietta from the city manager to the city council to the BLW.

0:20

And they continue to invest in this technology because it does provide a lot of value to the organization.

0:25

It helps people improve processes, change processes.

0:28

And it's something fundamental that we're doing now.

0:32

It's a regular thing for us.

0:35

So we're always striving to be a smarter city.

0:37

And I would say that GIS enables us to do that because it acts as the connective tissue of smart cities.

0:44

It's not just maps.

0:46

It's the framework that lets different systems talk to each other.

0:51

So if you think about the evolution of GIS.

0:53

So we started with static maps, and we've moved along, and these guys are going to walk you through a lot of what they've done.

1:00

And they've got us from static maps to you know almost to the point where we can do things like digital twins.

1:05

So they'll walk you through a lot of those technologies today.

1:16

We have internal viewers, external viewers, they're going to walk through that.

1:21

And then if you think about the people who maintain the spatial databases, so the people in this front row, they're going to talk about what they do every day and how they manage that data, help you guys manage that data so that it can be used.

1:40

So have any has anybody ever heard this statement that all data has a spatial component?

1:46

Like 98% of all data has a spatial component.

1:49

That's a widely used term, especially in GIS circles.

1:53

I don't really know if it's true.

1:55

But I will tell you this, that 80% is probably more accurate.

2:01

And so when you think about the data that we have in government, most of the data has a spatial element.

2:06

So it's something we can put into some kind of portal, some kind of map, some kind of uh tool that you can use out in the field.

2:13

So things like work orders, they have addresses, things like budget line items.

2:18

You don't think about financials, but typically those are tied back to facilities or departments or districts.

2:24

Um obviously traffic data, transportation data has a special spatial element, planning data has a spatial element.

2:31

Umtilities, all the utilities, whether it's a water line, an electric line, an address of a customer, that's all a spatial element.

2:40

Um personnel, people work in a location, they do a function, they're moving around different places to take care of it.

2:47

So even personnel has a spatial function.

2:50

Um here's some of the things that deserve celebration on in GIS.

2:55

Um, spatial intelligence that powers everything that we just talked about.

2:59

Um GIS can take very complex data and simplify it with a visual picture.

3:05

Um then the way GIS provides access to that data, right?

3:09

So a lot of times data has always been siloed.

3:12

GIS is you know kind of founded on the idea of sharing that data and letting people see it, use it.

3:18

Um so that's something that should be celebrated.

3:20

Um you're gonna hear some amazing things from Jim, Alexis, Thomas, Brody, and Stephanie.

3:26

Um they're gonna talk about what they do, and I hope you guys all walk away thinking about what you do every day, what data you use, and how you could use it better to improve your process and how you connect with the GIS team and let the you let them help you come up with a new solution.

3:42

Um so I appreciate you being here, and with that, I'll turn it over to Jim.

3:45

Thank you.

3:51

Thank you, Ronnie.

3:52

And thank you all for spending some time with us today to celebrate GIS Day.

3:57

Um this is actually the 26th worldwide GIS Day.

4:01

It was started in 1999 as a day that was meant to kind of have people in the GIS community share with others that are not a part of GIS and kind of show what we do and you know try to inspire people who don't think about GIS to think about GIS.

4:18

Um the purpose of this presentation, yes, it is to show us some things that we've done recently, but it's also really meant to show you all and hopefully inspire you all to think about how you can use like Ronnie was saying, how to use GIS in your daily workflows and how we can try to help with through collaboration to create some new tools and new applications.

4:43

It's all about having data-driven solutions, and that's what GIS is good at.

4:47

The first documented GIS type of analysis happened way back in uh 1854.

4:55

It happened in London, and it was related to mapping cholera outbreaks.

5:00

And so what they did is they reported, they mapped out where the reported cholera outbreaks were happening, overlaid it with the locations of the water wells, and they were able to identify a pattern that the water well, that there was a specific contaminated water well where most of the cholera outbreaks were around.

5:19

So it was a very, very early use case.

5:21

Um but what that did was it solved a problem, the cholera outbreak.

5:25

GIS is all about problem solving.

5:28

It's about communicating, it's about telling a story through maps or other mediums, and it's about giving decision makers the ability to make informed, educated, and fact-based decisions.

5:41

So hopefully you'll see a lot of interesting ideas and you know maps here today, but you're also gonna see a lot of other ways that GIS is used, and maybe you didn't even think of it as GIS.

5:53

But before we get started, I wanted all of us to kind of introduce ourselves first, because you might have seen us our names through an email or something, but maybe you don't actually know who we are.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Technology and Innovation█████████████████████████████████████████████85%
Water And Wastewater Management███5%
Public Engagement██4%
Community Engagement█2%
Engineering And Infrastructure█2%
Parks and Recreation█1%
Public Safety█1%
Summary of Proceedings

City of Marietta GIS Day Celebration and Technology Update

On November 19, 2025, the City of Marietta held a GIS Day celebration featuring a comprehensive presentation by the Geographic Information Systems team. The meeting highlighted the evolution of the city's mapping capabilities from static maps to advanced digital twins, emphasizing that approximately 80% of government data possesses a spatial component. Presenters detailed various internal and public-facing applications, including specialized map viewers, dashboards for fire department analytics, drone programs, and community engagement tools, while outlining future plans for 3D modeling and data standardization.

Consent Calendar

  • No routine approvals or unanimous actions were discussed during this presentation-based meeting.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No members of the public provided formal testimony or comments during this internal presentation; the session was designed to inform current city employees and stakeholders about GIS capabilities.

Discussion Items

  • GIS Evolution and Core Concepts: Jim Carmichael (GIS Supervisor) explained that GIS acts as the 'connective tissue' of smart cities, moving beyond static maps to digital twins. He emphasized that while '98% of data has a spatial component' is a common claim, the team estimates '80%' is more accurate for current government data, covering areas such as work orders, budget line items, traffic, utilities, and personnel.
  • Team Introductions: The team introduced themselves, including Jim Carmichael (GIS Supervisor), Thomas Chappell (GIS Analyst), Brody Baer (GIS Analyst), Alexis Pierce (GIS Water and Sewer Coordinator), and Stephanie Clayton (GIS Intern), highlighting their diverse backgrounds in geospatial sciences, surveying, anthropology, and archaeology.
  • Addressing and Parcel Data: Presentations covered the city's grid-based addressing system (centered on Whitlock and the Loop), the importance of addressing for EMS response times, and the process for assigning addresses through the SageS portal, noting that city addressing is controlled by Marietta, not the county.
  • Mapping Technologies and Web Apps: The team demonstrated the transition from static maps to interactive web maps and web apps. Jim Carmichael showcased the new internal GIS viewer (scheduled to replace the legacy system on January 1st), highlighting its search capabilities, historical imagery (over 25 years of scans), and integration with recorded plats.
  • Department-Specific Applications: Thomas Chappell presented specialized viewers built with Vertiges Studio for the Sanitation Department (locating trash/recycle/brush routes and live truck locations) and a public-facing Cemetery Viewer allowing searches by name and plot number with report generation capabilities. He also highlighted Story Maps for the Marietta Arts Council and the historic cemetery.
  • Data Dashboards: Brody Baer demonstrated dashboards created for the Fire Department by Assistant Chief Garner. These dashboards overlay CAD incident data with maps to analyze call density by ward, fire district, and incident type, a project that began as a Council Member's request to visualize ward data. This tool allows for dynamic filtering to help allocate resources effectively.
  • Utility Mapping and Field Data Collection: Alexis Pierce detailed the workflow for Water and Sewer assets using ArcGIS Field Maps for GPS locating of hydrants, mains, and manholes. She stressed the critical need for 99.9% accuracy in locating utilities to prevent service disruptions and resource waste during emergency repairs (e.g., water main breaks).
  • Drone Operations and 3D Modeling: Brody and Jim discussed the drone program, noting 110+ flights this year. They explained FAA Part 107 certification requirements and Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) protocols for flying in Class D and E airspace near Dobbins Air Reserve Base. The team showcased orthomosaic images, 3D photorealistic models of construction sites (Greenhouse, Marietta Crossing), and the pursuit of a 'Digital Twin' for transportation and urban planning simulations.
  • Community Engagement and Internships: Stephanie Clayton shared her experience as an intern, noting the value of applying academic skills to raw, uncurated data. James highlighted the Holiday Light Survey 123 Story Map, a public-facing tool that collects citizen submissions of holiday displays and visualizes them for community tours.
  • Access and Future Directives: Presenters announced that all internal and external application URLs would be consolidated onto the IT SharePoint under a 'GIS App URL List' effective January 1st. Future directives include redesigning the Planning, Zoning, Water, and Engineering viewers, deploying a new Fire Hydrant inspection app, and creating a 3D basemap of the Marietta Square.

Key Outcomes

  • Actionable Directives: City employees are directed to submit project ideas or data concerns via the GIS general request support ticket or email, rather than waiting for GIS initiatives to surface organically.
  • System Migration: The legacy internal GIS viewer will be retired on January 1st, with all users required to transition to the new internal viewer and access all links via the new SharePoint portal.
  • Resource Allocation: The Fire Department has adopted a custom dashboard to better analyze incident data for strategic resource allocation.
  • Technology Adoption: The team committed to expanding the use of orthomosaic imagery, 3D models, and the eventual development of a transportation digital twin to support predictive modeling for traffic and infrastructure planning.

Meeting Transcript

All right. Hey, thank you guys for being here today. And we'll start off with a big happy GIS day. And today is a good day to celebrate. We'll explain why. These guys are going to do a great job walking you through what they do. But I want to say that GIS is widely supported here at Marietta from the city manager to the city council to the BLW. And they continue to invest in this technology because it does provide a lot of value to the organization. It helps people improve processes, change processes. And it's something fundamental that we're doing now. It's a regular thing for us. So we're always striving to be a smarter city. And I would say that GIS enables us to do that because it acts as the connective tissue of smart cities. It's not just maps. It's the framework that lets different systems talk to each other. So if you think about the evolution of GIS. So we started with static maps, and we've moved along, and these guys are going to walk you through a lot of what they've done. And they've got us from static maps to you know almost to the point where we can do things like digital twins. So they'll walk you through a lot of those technologies today. We have internal viewers, external viewers, they're going to walk through that. And then if you think about the people who maintain the spatial databases, so the people in this front row, they're going to talk about what they do every day and how they manage that data, help you guys manage that data so that it can be used. So have any has anybody ever heard this statement that all data has a spatial component? Like 98% of all data has a spatial component. That's a widely used term, especially in GIS circles. I don't really know if it's true. But I will tell you this, that 80% is probably more accurate. And so when you think about the data that we have in government, most of the data has a spatial element. So it's something we can put into some kind of portal, some kind of map, some kind of uh tool that you can use out in the field. So things like work orders, they have addresses, things like budget line items. You don't think about financials, but typically those are tied back to facilities or departments or districts. Um obviously traffic data, transportation data has a special spatial element, planning data has a spatial element. Umtilities, all the utilities, whether it's a water line, an electric line, an address of a customer, that's all a spatial element. Um personnel, people work in a location, they do a function, they're moving around different places to take care of it. So even personnel has a spatial function. Um here's some of the things that deserve celebration on in GIS. Um, spatial intelligence that powers everything that we just talked about. Um GIS can take very complex data and simplify it with a visual picture. Um then the way GIS provides access to that data, right? So a lot of times data has always been siloed. GIS is you know kind of founded on the idea of sharing that data and letting people see it, use it. Um so that's something that should be celebrated. Um you're gonna hear some amazing things from Jim, Alexis, Thomas, Brody, and Stephanie. Um they're gonna talk about what they do, and I hope you guys all walk away thinking about what you do every day, what data you use, and how you could use it better to improve your process and how you connect with the GIS team and let the you let them help you come up with a new solution. Um so I appreciate you being here, and with that, I'll turn it over to Jim. Thank you. Thank you, Ronnie. And thank you all for spending some time with us today to celebrate GIS Day. Um this is actually the 26th worldwide GIS Day. It was started in 1999 as a day that was meant to kind of have people in the GIS community share with others that are not a part of GIS and kind of show what we do and you know try to inspire people who don't think about GIS to think about GIS. Um the purpose of this presentation, yes, it is to show us some things that we've done recently, but it's also really meant to show you all and hopefully inspire you all to think about how you can use like Ronnie was saying, how to use GIS in your daily workflows and how we can try to help with through collaboration to create some new tools and new applications.

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