Registration is open for the 27th Annual Disaster Response/Data Mining Geospatial Workshop, taking place on June 4 & 5, 2026.

This event will take place at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

A virtual option is available to those who are unable to attend in-person. The Zoom meeting link will be sent out closer to the workshop date.

Visit the event page: https://rac.louisiana.edu/news-events/news/20260413/2026-disaster-responsegeospatial-data-mining-workshop-june-4-5

View the event flyer

The Regional Application Center/LouisianaView at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette is proud to host this cornerstone event for professionals in geospatial science, emergency management, and public service. For over two decades, the workshop has united experts and decision-makers to explore the powerful intersection of geospatial data and disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Please join us!

Thanks to Esri for the lunch and learn on accessibility. It has been posted on our YouTube channel. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VJkzOe5r6s

Data visualizations are increasingly used to communicate important information. Ensuring that this information is accessible for everyone is critical. Learn about digital accessibility essentials for creating and improving mapping and web applications according to current accessibility standards. This presentation will share the features supporting accessibility across ArcGIS web, desktop, and mobile technologies. We will cover how to approach web accessibility through built-in tools and best practices. This presentation also introduces methods to test accessibility.

Additional resources from Esri: https://community.esri.com/t5/accessibility-blog/resources-for-digital-accessibility-in-arcgis/ba-p/1582411

Thanks to everyone who attended our lunch and learn event on 2/26/2026, OpenStreetMap US.

Missed the webinar? No worries, we have shared it on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/fCd-tABot1A?si=mtX2TZCr3MIiMgz7

From the U.S. Census:

The U.S. Census Bureau has released version 4.26.1 of OnTheMap for Emergency Management.

Version 4.26.1 updates American Community Survey tabulations to the 2020-2024 5-year estimates and Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES) data to 2023.

OnTheMap for Emergency Management provides real-time access to a range of detailed Census Bureau data about the people living and working in areas affected by hurricanes, floods, wildfires, winter storms, and federal disaster declaration areas.

Explore our OnTheMap for Emergency Management data tool and our help and documentation resources.

https://onthemap.ces.census.gov/em/?utm_campaign=20260304pio&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

From ADA.gov - State and Local Governments with 50,000+ persons are required to have compliant web content and mobile apps by April 24, 2026.

A fact sheet is available here: https://www.ada.gov/resources/2024-03-08-web-rule/#highlights-of-the-requirements-in-the-rule

Smaller governments and special districts should be aware their deadline is April 26, 2027.

GISAA is reaching out to web app providers for guidance and tools to ensure accessibility.

Can't make it to the GISA Conference? The University of Alabama at Birmingham UAB) is hosting the UAB GIS Day!

Date: Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Time: 9:00am - 4:30pm

Location: Lister Hill Library 4th Floor

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4235be8d5b924fcaa4f6c753fb23426dhttps://uab.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4OUluMI1RPRputw

GIS Day celebrates the power of mapping and spatial thinking—bringing people together to learn, share, and be inspired. At UAB, GIS connects research, teaching, and community engagement across fields from public health and medicine to environmental engineering and policy.

What to expect:

1. Explore UAB’s GIS innovations See how mapping and spatial analysis are advancing public health, policy, and environmental research across Alabama and beyond.
2. Hear from faculty, students, and partners Learn how GIS supports teaching, discovery, and community engagement through real-world applications and data storytelling.
3. Connect with the UAB GIS community Meet others who share your interest in spatial thinking, and discover tools, resources, and collaboration opportunities available across campus.

Interested in attending? 

1. https://uab.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4OUluMI1RPRputw
2. Email: anassel@uab.edu or mhender4@uab.edu

The two easiest Public Parking Decks to park at are shown on the embed map within this StoryMap UAB GIS Day 2025
Both of these deck cost $3 for the first hour and then $1 each additional hour

Here are the parking locations on UAB’s Campus Map

• 14^th St Parking Deck
• University Blvd Parking Deck

In case you missed it, watch NASA’s Plankton Aerosol Cloud Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) observatory's GISAA lunch and learn from 10/3/2025, which has now been uploaded to YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5b0R7IFufg

Many of the past GISAA webinars have been uploaded to our YouTube channel. Check it out! https://www.youtube.com/@gisalabama

The popular FEMA resource, Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool (RAPT), has been updated! 

"The Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool gives everyone access to powerful data and GIS mapping that can help everyone understand their community. RAPT has more than 100 preloaded layers with data on population, infrastructure and hazards. This data and the analysis tools in RAPT extend GIS capacity for state and local officials to help understand disaster impacts and the potential challenges to resilience they face."

Visit https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/practitioners/resilience-analysis-and-planning-tool

Dan Mellott, GISP, and VP of the GISAA Board of Directors, authored a Sain Associates blog post about our organization.

Check it out: https://www.sain.com/advancing-gis-across-alabama/

We would also like to thank Sain Associates for being a GISAA sponsor!

Area of Interest Techniques

With Esri's John Nelson

When: 09/05/2024 12:00 PM, CDT
Where: Google Meet

Register here: https://gisaa.org/event-5834678

Google Meet Link will be emailed upon registration. 

When making your map, you want the focus area to be prominent, to help draw the audience's attention to your area of interest. There are lots of different ways we can do this, and we'll explore a variety of them using ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online. Get ready to live!

John Nelson is a map maker, software experience designer, and writer at Esri creating fringe geographic data, curious web experiences, marginally educational blogs, and debatably instructional videos. He works in a small woodshed in Michigan and relishes the opportunity to chat with other map folks.