SARGIS6 East June 20th - 22nd

We are pleased to announce the schedule of events for the SARGIS6 East workshop to be held June 20 - 22 in Morgantown, West Virginia.  The workshop is being sponsored by the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management which allows participants to attend at no cost.  The location is the West Virginia GIS Technology Center on the Campus of West Virginia University. 

Please email Don Ferguson to confirm attendance. 

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The workshop is being offered in conjunction with the SARGIS6 West Meeting and will follow a similar schedule.  

Similar to the SARGIS6 West Workshop, the purpose of the SARGIS6 East workshop is:
- Introduce how Search and Rescue (SAR) and other public safety operations can benefit from GIS.

- Introduce the IGT4SAR Map Template for ArcGIS (free download)
- Learn how GIS can help with planning and mapping within ICS operations.
- Gather volunteers to share and discuss SAR strategies.
- Highlight tactical SAR procedures/ data management.
- Demonstrate cutting-edge GIS mapping tools that can be utilized by SAR personnel.
- Help SAR organize and spatially categorize field data.
- Continue to build and strengthen the SARGIS Community!

Training
Everyone is invited to attend this course: GIS Specialists, SAR personnel, Emergency Managers, Emergency Responders, etc. For those of you with minimal experience using GIS please complete these two free online training modules prior to the class:

1. Getting Started with GIS (ArcGIS 10.1)
http://training.esri.com/gateway/index.cfm?fa=catalog.webCourseDetail&courseid=2500

2. Basics of Geographic Coordinate Systems (for ArcGIS 10)
http://training.esri.com/gateway/index.cfm?fa=catalog.webCourseDetail&courseid=2117

Agenda
The draft schedule is listed below (subject to change as we coordinate with the west coast):

Friday (6/20)

0900h - Introductions

0930h - IGT4SAR Training Session I

1200h - Lunch (on your own)

1300h - IGT4SAR Training Session II

1600h - Presentation: Why use GIS for WiSAR (webcast with west coast)

1730h - Adjourn

Saturday (6/21)

0900h - Minimum Essential Dataset - Base data

1000h - Making Maps with IGT4SAR and ArcGIS

1100h - Lunch (on your own)

1200h - Introductions (webcast)

1230h - Presentation: 2013 SARGIS Review, 2014 What's coming next? (webcast)

1330h - Presentation / Discussion: How to use Cell Phone data for SAR (webcast)

1430h - Utilizing GPS for SAR

1530h - IGT4SAR Training Session III

1730h - Adjourn

Sunday (6/22)

0830h - Geospatial Analytic Methods applied to SAR

0930h - IGT4SAR Training Session IV

1100h - Lunch

1200h - Presentation: SARGIS Case Studies (webcast)

1245h - Break

1300h - Presentation: What's new in Lost Person Behavior?

1345h - Break

1400h - Discussion: What do we want to accomplish in 2014?

1430h - Discussion: Q&A with ESRI

1500h - Adjourn

Accommodations in Morgantown:

Staying in Morgantown is pretty inexpensive.  The government per diem rate is $83 /day for lodging.

Parking on Friday may be a bit tricky on Friday.  I recommend you park at the University Ave Garage which has 24 hour available parking.  If you stay at either the Hotel Morgan or Waterfront Place they have parking available so you would probably want to check in before coming to class.  Saturday and Sunday parking is free on campus and WVU lot #10 is right outside Brooks Hall.  Just turn in off of Campus Drive (see the map).

The closest hotel (walking distance) to the training venue is the historic Hotel Morgan:
http://www.clarionhotelmorgan.com/

The Waterfront Place is very nice:
http://www.waterfrontplacehotel.com/

Also nice and walking distance to the PRT (http://transportation.wvu.edu/prt):

1) Residence Inn by Marriott - http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/MGWRI-Residence-Inn-Morgantown

2) Hampton Inn
http://hamptoninn3.hilton.com/en/hotels/west-virginia/hampton-inn-morgantown-MGWVVHX/index.html

Also the brand new Hilton Garden:
http://hiltongardeninn3.hilton.com/en/hotels/west-virginia/hilton-garden-inn-morgantown-MGWGIGI/index.html

For those of you flying in for the course, the closest large commercial airport is the Pittsburgh International Airport:
http://www.pitairport.com/

The Pittsburgh airport has easy access to car rentals and the local Morgantown transit authority runs a twice a day shuttle to the airport:

http://www.busride.org/MapsSchedules/Routes/29GreyLine.aspx