BLM-Eastern States General Land Office presents at virtual GIS conferences

The Bureau of Land Management Eastern States General Land Office presented at two national conferences in late February: the Esri Federal Users Conference and RootsTech.

RootsTech and Esri host the largest Geographic Information Systems and family history events in the industry, emphasizing genealogical research and GIS as a tool for federal agencies. Typically held in Salt Lake City, Utah and Washington, D.C. respectively, both conferences were held virtually this year in accordance with CDC guidelines for COVID-19. In previous years, the conferences collectively attract over 30,000 attendees annually.

“Our team came together in a big way this year,” said BLM-EIS GIS Manager Ryan Tietjen. “We provided a high-quality virtual experience and I’m proud of BLM’s resilience in making sure attendees learned about the great things our agency does.”

BLM-ES GLO Team Members at Manassas Battlefield National Park. Pictured from left to right: Chad Ennis, Land Law Examiner; Kelsey Combs, Management Program Analyst; Kristina Tryon, Management Program Analyst; Gretchen Ward, Land Law Examiner; Leon Chmura, Land Surveyor; Dave Radford, Deputy State Director of Geospatial Services; Allison Miller, Public Affairs Specialist; Daniel Fleming, Branch Chief of GLO Automation.

Esri founder Jack Dangermond and Family Search CEO Steve Rockwood provided keynote speeches at the virtual events.

At the Esri conference, BLM-ES GLO Records Operations Branch Chief Daniel Fleming worked with agency-wide geospatial program leads to narrate an information video highlighting how the BLM applies GIS technology to execute the multiple-use mission. The video also showcased the GLO “Record of the Week” story map project, featuring historic records from Alabama and Virginia – the story map project won the conference’s “People’s Choice” award this year.

The “Record of the Week” story map project is powered by Esri and utilizes ArcGIS technology to highlight historic land records.

At the RootsTech conference, the BLM-ES team offered a virtual course on genealogy – Hidden Genealogical Gems; Cultural Resources and Land Records of the Department of the Interior. Step-by-step tutorials on finding records using BLM systems such as Navigator, Land Catalog and the GLO website were given to attendees. The virtual course concluded with highlighting a few story map articles.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the BLM rose to the challenge, interacting with thousands of attendees. An in-person booth was replaced with a virtual booth – a testament to the outside the box thinking that replicated that experience virtually.

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