Turns Out, Location Matters... A Lot! - Case Studies in the Intergrative Impact of "Where"
October 23rd at 4 p.m. MST
About Lecture:
In 1854, John Snow, MD, used geographic analysis and maps to determine the primary source of the cholera epidemic in London. Public health spatial analysis was born. Much more recently, organizations across government, utilities, and private industry have discovered the positive impact of adopting a GIS-based location intelligence strategy using spatial analysis and maps to communicate potential outcomes. This session will offer some historical insight into early GIS in Utah and describe the current diversity of location intelligence applications through case studies. Examples represent stakeholder engagement, climate and environmental issues, transportation, and development challenges and will reference outcomes representing a strategy for balanced interaction between humans and the natural environment.
Bio:
Michael Johnson earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin system with majors in natural science and anthropology. As an undergrad he met and attended a seminar by well-known landscape architect, Ian McHarg. In his Scottish brogue, McHarg connected the dots with his passionate description of a multidisciplinary methodology for analyzing the interaction between the natural environment and humans, driving toward designing a symbiotic strategy for development. Location was central to this approach.
Mike accepted a graduate teaching assistantship at Utah State University in the LAEP Department where he discovered the integrative and analytical power of an emerging technology (GIS) which supported and accelerated McHarg’s approach. The Utah Governor’s Planning and Budget Office supported Mike’s graduate research project using GIS to help the State become “disqualified” for a proposed nuclear waste repository near Canyonlands National Park. That success led to an invitation to be the first director of a new state government organization called Utah AGR (now known as Utah Geospatial Resource Center) and the opportunity to dramatically expand the use of spatial analysis in Utah.
Mike’s subsequent 30-year career in the private sector included working with industry pioneers including Jack Dangermond, Don Cooke, Roger Tomlinson, and others. As the leader of several business units at ESRI, Inc., Mike advocated to senior leaders in government, utilities, and executives at Fortune 500 companies worldwide, the value of incorporating location intelligence-based methods and spatial analysis as central to organizational effectiveness, to drive holistic nature/human development strategies and balanced decision-making.
Mike currently works selectively to advise executives in visionary, innovative organizations who share these motivations to build strategies for success that incorporate location intelligence methods to support a vision of symbiotic nature/human interaction.
As a side interest, Mike volunteers as Board chair of two Foundations that support alternative career paths in skilled building trades with scholarships and grants.