ArcGIS Update!
By: UPR Disaster Recovery Coordinators
January 2022
In our December 2021 blog post, we dove into the details of the ArcGIS platform that the UPR System has now access to and how it can support our efforts of providing visibility to the UPR’s plethora of assets. In this post, we’ll provide you with a brief update on where we are in the process of creating the infrastructure in which we will build our asset map and the rollout strategy for all campuses.
First of all, BIG shout out to our colleagues from the Systems Information Office in Central Administration, who have been extremely helpful and supportive in this entire process! Mr. José Pabón has been our IT Champion since day one and we couldn’t be more grateful!
Second, as the UPR’s Disaster Recovery Coordinators, we are extremely excited that through the implementation of this project the UPR System will be able to efficiently connect with the GIS asset maps that are being created, as we speak, for all governmental agencies through the CDBG-DR GeoFrame Program. This island-wide initiative aims to produce a foundation of “high-quality, geo-referenced data and building an infrastructure of people, policies, software, hardware, and systems for citizens to access and use spatial data to enable evidence-based decision-making.” By having visibility and access to all of Puerto Rico’s government agencies assets and those of the UPR System, we will be able to significantly improve our response and disaster recovery efforts moving forward.
Now, let’s jump in!
The DRC/OSI Team
The development of our UPR asset map is a very ambitious task, as we all know. We’ve been very deliberate since the beginning on prioritizing visibility, equal access to the platform for all campuses, and ensuring the sustainability of the project by aligning this effort with all other data collection tasks or initiatives in order to optimize all requests for information.
We have been working very closely with the OSI Team in Central Administration to make this happen. These are a few of the steps we’ve taken together:
- Exploring the alignment between OSI’s Data Warehouse initiative and the UPR Asset Mapping Project to strengthen institutional data management processes.
- Integrating the UPR Asset Mapping Project GIS mentors to the team (among them: Prof. Aurelio Castro, EGP; Prof. Geoffrey Vega, UPR Ponce ; Prof. Fernando Gilbes, UPR Mayagüez) in order to ensure that the ArcGIS infrastructure on which we’ll be creating our map is solid, efficient and sustainable.
- Co-designing the rollout strategy that will provide equal access to all campuses in the UPR System.
The DRC/OSI Team is meeting weekly to continue developing and implementing this joint effort.
We are still looking for GIS Champions throughout all campuses, so if you’re interested in joining this groundbreaking team, remember to fill out this form!
Also, if you’re curious about what ArcGIS can do, you can start learning about the platform and how to use it by checking out these free online tools:
ArcGIS Book Series – https://learn.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-book-series/
ArcGIS Learn – https://learn-arcgis-learngis.hub.arcgis.com/
Esri Training – https://www.esri.com/training/catalog/search/
