News
Meet Gavin Jaravata, GIS Technician
Where are you from and where do you live now? I grew up in a small unincorporated area called Silverdale in Washington State. I crossed the Puget Sound to go to college in Seattle and decided to stay after graduating. What do you do at FLO? I’m a GIS technician working in the local government…
Ruth McColly, GISPWhat You Need to Know About Student Enrollment Forecasting
Student enrollment forecasts are critically important to all long-term planning efforts. They inform everything from staffing to school capacity planning. But how much do you really know about the forecasts you’re using? Here are the four things you need to know about student enrollment forecasting (no demography degree required!) to be the most strategic school…
Alex BraschSpatial Data Management Best Practices While Working Remote: What Local Governments Need to Know
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced an unprecedented number of local government employees to work from home. While very little is known about when they will be able to return to a physical workplace on a consistent basis, one thing is certain: the health of our communities depends on the vital services local governments provide. To…
Grant Herbert, GISPFLO’s Statement Against Racism
We must work to resist and reverse systemic racism in the communities where we live, work, and serve. We acknowledge that our society is built on systems and institutions that oppress Black people and Black communities. We have had the privilege of remaining silent, and now we commit to using our privilege to speak up…
Tyler VickAbout the Project In response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the Association of Washington Cities needed to persuade the Washington state legislature to advance a watershed-based strategic plan to address local fish-blocking...
Leora WernerAbout the Project The Association of Washington Cities collected event attendance data for years, but without an easy way to visualize the information AWC could not efficiently identify their less engaged members. FLO developed a...
Leora WernerAbout the Project The COVID-19 pandemic sparked two emergencies for Connecticut, one for public health and one for the economy. The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities addressed both with a data analytics dashboard. The...
Leora WernerAbout the Project City of Monroe knew they could use their GIS for more than creating electronic copies of paper maps to track assets for their public works department, but weren’t sure where to start. The implementation of a new asset...
Leora WernerAbout the Cemetery Management Project When City of Omak needed a new cemetery management system, they reached out to FLO for help. Although based on a GIS system, the software the City was using was no longer supported by modern computer...
Ashlyn SalzmanAbout the Project Clackamas County Water Environmental Services (WES) provides water, sewer, and stormwater services crucial to human health, producing clean water and protecting water quality for Clackamas County citizens. The organization...
Ashlyn SalzmanAbout the Project Boundary reviews are challenging for school districts large and small, requiring complex geographic and demographic analysis and enrollment forecasting techniques to balance enrollment throughout school facilities in the...
Leora WernerMeet the Client Clark Regional Wastewater District, one of the largest sewer districts in Washington State, provides wastewater services to approximately 100,000 people in Clark County. According to CRWWD, its customer base has nearly doubled...
Leora WernerWhatcom County Public Works Department provides many important services to residents, such as stormwater management. In rainy northwest Washington State where Whatcom County is located, a well-maintained stormwater system is vital to protect...
Leora WernerAbout the Project North Clackamas School District (NCSD) was experiencing significant student enrollment growth in a particularly fast-growing area of Clackamas County. This—in addition to a new elementary and high school and the...
Leora WernerAfter the passage of a $619.7 million bond in May 2018, Salem-Keizer Public Schools (SKPS) began planning for construction to increase capacity and accommodate a growing student body. In order to balance 10-year projected enrollment and...
Leora WernerThe rugged sagebrush ecosystem, home of the sage grouse, is the most widespread in the intermountain lowlands of the western United States, but it is also one of the most imperiled. Lack of protection and the continued erosion of the sagebrush...
Leora WernerSolid waste and recycling collection within Washington County is managed by private collection companies, who use legal certificates that guarantee them exclusive authority to collect waste in a given geographic area. The last update of the...
Leora WernerLincoln County found that its 20-acre property used for the Lincoln County Fair was underutilized and not producing sufficient revenues to cover the year-round costs of owning and maintaining the site. To identify potential expanded...
Leora WernerSnoqualmie Pass Utility District (SPUD) manages water and sewer utilities for the mountainous Snoqualmie Pass area, a popular outdoor recreation destination for the Seattle area. With no existing SPUD GIS or workable asset management system...
Leora WernerAbout the Project The City of Sammamish is experiencing a high rate of population growth, spurring a surge of building construction in the area. City leaders identified two challenges exacerbated by the increase in development: citizens were...
Leora WernerA non-profit land trust explores the impact of climate change on a nature preserve using aerial imagery and maps captured by unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Inland Northwest Land Conservancy (INLC) works with willing private landowners to...
Leora WernerUnmanned aerial systems (UAS) aided a county in efficient and accurate landfill management. As municipal solid waste is unloaded into landfill cells, the waste compacts and settles, reducing the landfill’s surface elevation....
Leora WernerUnmanned aerial systems (UAS) quickly and efficiently documented destructive flooding with aerial footage. Flooding in Ellensburg, Washington, unexpectedly shut down roads and inundated agricultural fields. In need of a quick way to...
Leora WernerAerial maps helped a farm manager understand impacts and patterns of seasonal flooding. Founded in the 1850s, Plas Newydd Farm in Ridgefield, Washington, has been managed as a year-round dairy farm and cattle ranch, as well as for...
Leora WernerA 3D terrain model of a rock quarry created using unmanned aerial systems (UAS) saved the quarry’s owner time and money. When Potlach, a public diversified forest products and real estate company, needed to know the remaining capacity of...
Leora WernerAerial imagery enriched the Port of Ridgefield's ability to tell a detailed story about the renaissance of their waterfront. From the mid-1960s to the early 1990s, Pacific Wood Treating Co (PWT) pressure-treated wood products with toxic...
Leora WernerWhen it comes to topographic mapping, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are an efficient and inexpensive alternative to total station surveys or aerial surveys using aircraft. The high cost of total station surveys or aerial surveys using...
Leora WernerSchool bus transportation is an essential service for many students, guaranteeing them a safe and reliable way to get from home to the classroom. Although the purpose of a school bus is simple, the system in which it operates comprises...
Leora WernerAs school planning consultants, we often hear from administrators that their district is too small to need student enrollment projections. But experience tells us that’s a misconception. Case in point: Washougal School District, a...
Leora WernerWhen you hear the word “plumber” you might think of someone coming to your home to repair a leaky kitchen sink, but in reality, plumbers and other pipe trades workers do a whole lot more. They maintain the infrastructure that keeps our...
Leora WernerThe mission of the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts (COLT) is to strengthen the land trust community by creating a unified, statewide voice to advocate for tools and resources to support member land trust missions. In order to do so, they need...
Leora WernerThe story map we developed in collaboration with Greenbelt Land Trust won first place in the Conservation, Environment, and Sustainability category of Esri's storytelling with maps contest in 2015. The map journal takes you along a trail at...
Leora WernerLand trusts that focus on strategic priorities protect land more efficiently and raise more funds. But how does a land trust align their conservation work with their mission, and make sure that lands they pursue meet their conservation...
Leora WernerAs part of a multi-disciplinary team, we evaluated Pierce County's existing land use policy for designating agricultural resource lands (ARL). This evaluation process led to our recommendations for alternative approaches to better protect and...
Leora WernerThe Wallowa Land Trust (WLT) works with private landowners, tribes, local communities, and government entities to preserve and protect the rural nature of the lands they serve. In order to take their conservation efforts to the next level, WLT...
Leora WernerAfter completing a GIS needs assessment, the City of Shelton prioritized the conversion and development of their GIS-based stormwater utility dataset. We developed a scope of work that would both accomplish the city's conversion goals and...
Leora WernerAbout the Project Several years of rapid population growth and increasing pressure on city services motivated the City of Pullman to identify more efficient ways to track, manage, and scale up operations across city departments. Pullman’s...
Leora WernerThe Burlington-Edison School District was in the process of updating their Capital Facility Plan when they reached out to FLO Analytics for a new student enrollment forecast. The district needed help answering pressing questions, like:...
Leora WernerEdmonds School District (ESD) found themselves in need of a better way to use student enrollment projections to plan for future facilities. The problem? The district’s enrollment projections provided forecasts for the district as a...
Leora WernerWhatcom County Public Works Department is responsible for maintaining the stormwater system in the Birch Bay Watershed and Aquatic Resources Management District. To fund this stormwater system, a fee is levied against properties within the...
Leora WernerRedrawing school attendance boundaries can be stressful for school district leaders—not only do they have to make the best possible decisions about current school capacities and student-teacher ratios, but they also must ensure that...
Tyler VickEcova is an international energy and sustainability management company that helps their clients save resources. This increases profitability, lowers risks, and enhances their clients’ reputations. For the last few years, we’ve been...
Tyler VickAFS-USA (AFS) is a nonprofit organization based in New York City that offers international exchange programs in more than 40 countries around the world. We’ve worked with AFS over several years, providing them with the means to make...
Tyler VickWe were asked by High Desert Organix to conduct a GIS-based site suitability analysis to identify a site for the construction of an organic compost facility that would have minimal environmental impact, land disturbance, public risk, and site...
Tyler VickEarth Fare is the second largest natural foods store chain in the country, with over 30 stores located in ten states east of the Mississippi River. Recently, Earth Fare became interested in growing their business by looking for opportunities...
Tyler VickThe City of Spokane and the Northeast Public Development Authority are leading an effort to revitalize an approximately 500-acre industrial area in the Hillyard neighborhood. The city is examining approaches to improving public infrastructure...
Tyler VickOur team conducted a solid waste system assessment for Thurston County to support their new solid waste management plan (SWMP) and to help meet capital facilities planning needs for six- and 20-year planning horizons. A critical component of...
Tyler VickBiomass, a renewable energy source, is an efficient way to generate energy from forest residues from timber harvesting and maintenance operations, as well as from mill residues from lumber and pulp and paper mill operations. We’ve partnered...
Tyler VickNew Seasons Market prides themselves on being the Portland Metro region’s neighborhood grocery store and supports both local and regional products, including family farms. With the goal of opening a number of additional stores, they looked...
Tyler VickHumanitarian relief and development NGOs often work in insecure countries where threats and risks can escalate and change at short notice. To maintain the effectiveness of a program, it is important that field staff and managers be kept...
Tyler VickHaving worked on numerous infrastructure projects in the U.S., we were excited at the opportunity to turn our attention to a Mercy Corps-led, $60 million, DFID-funded water, sanitation and hygiene program in three urban centers in the eastern...
Tyler VickAs part of a two-year project with electric utility Seattle City Light (SCL), we are providing the environmental affairs group with ongoing GIS services to support their Boundary Dam relicensing program. SCL’s Boundary project supplies more...
Tyler VickThe Port of Whitman County (Port), like all Washington ports, is empowered with broad economic authority to bring businesses and jobs to its local community. In support of these objectives, the Port has developed infrastructure plans to...
Tyler VickOur team is currently working with Multnomah County Drainage District (the District) to develop a comprehensive GIS-based asset management system to support their day-to-day management of the Columbia River floodplain and receiving stormwater...
Tyler Vick