Geospatial Science Department and Facilities Management work together on campus inventory and mapping project

The Geospatial Science Department and Facilities Management joined forces to tackle high-precision physical asset inventory and mapping “in house.”

In fall 2021, Grace Condit ’24, Becca Joas ’22, and Tyler Adam ’23 from Professor Wenjie Sun’s Applied GIS Projects class configured a wireless pairing of a Trimble R1 GPS receiver and an iPad, designed a smart-form based field data collection survey using the ESRI Survey123 app, collected field data of precise GPS locations and attributes of campus water valves and hydrants with maintenance crew members, and created a web app on office computers and mobile devices to share information on physical asset inventory for management and maintenance field uses.

This collaboration led to a generous donation of the latest subscription-based centimeter precision GPS equipment from Facilities Management to the Geospatial Science Department for use in later applied research projects by students.

Becca Joas ’22 and Sara Fitzgibbon ’24 working with the new Trimble Catalyst DA2 GPS to collect high-precision field data. In spring 2022, Becca Joas ’22 and Sara Fitzgibbon ’24, as part of Prof. Sun’s Web GIS class, got the exciting opportunity to work with the new Trimble Catalyst DA2 GPS and the new ESRI ArcGIS Field Maps mobile app, along with multispectral drone imagery acquired from the WSGC-funded project, to help Facilities Management create precise geospatial inventory of campus sidewalks and parking lots.

Applied projects partnered with on-campus “clients” offer valuable hands-on experiences for GIS students while meeting internal needs such as physical asset inventory, mapping, and information sharing in a convenient, efficient, and cost-effective way. Students gained valuable technical and “soft” skills from these engaging and mutually beneficial applied projects.

Sponsoring Department, Office, or Organization:

Geospatial Science Department

For more information, contact:

Prof. Wenjie Sun