VAMLIS GeoCon 2024

During the course of Next Generation 9-1-1 GIS onboarding, VGIN fielding questions about documenting extract, transform, and load (ETL) processes and ways to automate them. Both of these are aspects of the ongoing MIDAS program: maintain, improve, document, automate, standards changing. As more and more Virginia localities transition to the long ongoing maintenance phase, programmatic techniques may become increasingly helpful. But how do you get started? "Programming" can commonly mean several things in a GIS environment. Using ArcGIS Pro as an example platform and an ETL of addresses for an NG9-1-1 upload as a scenario, this beginners guide to programming for experienced desktop users pops the hood and explores how users interact with different types of "programming" whenever they use GIS by working through several of these meanings including:

• running or using a program or tool through the graphical user interface
• exploring, modifying, and executing a tool with the Python window
• building a script
• Modelbuilder as a graphic user interface for scripting
• deploying a script as a tool

Attendees will have more confidence in knowing what situations may benefit from fine-tuning their GIS approach for performance, automation, time savings, and how to make these changes.