Student Awards - 4-year College/University
1st Place
Chloe Raines - Cal Poly Humboldt
The winning project endeavored to visualize human activities in the environment which could lead to environmental degradation. The study area was the Archipelago Sea in Finland which ingests pollution from the surrounding Baltic Sea. The main issue in the archipelago relates to shipping. Many studies have shown that increased maritime shipping traffic can have negative environmental effects, including underwater noise pollution, increased water temperature, diminished air quality, coastal erosion, habitat fragmentation, and the introduction of invasive species. Changes in shipping traffic from 2006 to 2019 were visualized to see which waterways experienced an increase or decrease in maritime traffic. The idea was to use web-based GIS as a tool to predict which areas in the archipelago would become impacted by increased maritime traffic.
The water route density was made with HELCOM’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) which records each vessel passing through a waterway. Data from the Finnish transport infrastructure agency, Väylävirasto, was used to map the waterways along with natural areas from the Natura 2000 network.
Chloe was not able to attend the conference - her awards were mailed to her.
Exemplary Use of GIS
Andrew Sims
City of Pasadena, CA
Andy guided the Lead-Free Homes Program at Pasadena's Public Health department and used GIS to support Pasadena’s 2023 Homeless Count and vaccine and flu shot distribution to Pasadena’s homeless community.
Andy’s contributions to the City and his extraordinary commitment to finding creatives ways to facilitate partnerships that serve Pasadena’s most vulnerable residents through GIS made him a deserving 2023 Exemplary Use of GIS award winner.
https://www.cityofpasadena.net/public-health/lead-free-homes/
https://news.yahoo.com/pasadenas-homeless-count-offers-medical-195221425.html
Outstanding Geospatial Web Application
Srinivasa Jalaparti
Sempra Energy Utilities
The GIS SPARC Web Viewer was developed for use at SDG&E, one of the three major electric and gas utilities in California. There was a need for a widget that could trace a linear network upstream or downstream of features, as well as display the selected features on a web map. The challenge for Srinivasa Rao Jalaparti, Sr. GIS Software Engineer at Sempra Energy, was to develop a custom widget the team called “Electric Tabular Distribution Network” or TDN. The model viewer Srinivasa implemented was highly user friendly and users could perform multiple Electric network tracing operations using GIS data on the web, like Circuit Upstream, Downstream, and Trace between any device. Also, the tool provides detailed results on the map, so users could easily navigate to each network feature and export data for further analysis. Mr. Srinivasa Rao Jalaparti has been designing and developing widgets for many years, but the TDN was especially challenging. Using his skills in GIS and IT, he was able to come up with a very user-friendly UI design that enables users to quickly navigate between the tools and data on map, which makes the GIS SPARC Web Viewer a valuable tool with many daily users.
Excellence in Teaching
Dr. Soheil Boroushaki
California State University, Northridge
Dr. Soheil Boroushaki has revolutionized the CSU Northridge GIS program with an engaging classroom manner, deep preparation using teaching materials which explore beyond industry software, and an ability to anticipate rapid changes in the discipline. Dr. Boroushaki’s students are fully prepared to continue research in the GIS, to pursue post-graduate work, and to obtain employment in private industry as well as agencies such as NASA-JPL, the City of Los Angeles, and the State of California. During the 2020 pandemic, Dr. Boroushaki transformed all GIS courses, beginning to advanced, for online delivery with limited lead time ensuring continuity in the program and the timely matriculation of students. His students even made t-shirts with his likeness on them, which is probably the highest honor an educator could receive.
His award was received by one of his students.
Chair’s Award - Jacob Mark, Woolpert
CGIA has a great group of board members who are actively engaged in GIS advocacy throughout the state by working to promote the use of GIS as well as support GIS students new to the discipline. Jacob has gone above and beyond in his efforts since joining the board and his enthusiasm and hard work sets a great example for everyone.
