Open wide..... We've Moved!

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Growing up, I had a mouth full of cavities and now have plenty of fillings to show for it.  Little did I know at that time (back when I though I wanted to be a fireman) I would soon be making a living by working in that same building where I would go for routine checkups and teeth cleaning.   No, didn't go in to dentistry (although if you stop by we could take a look at your teeth but I wouldn't trust our diagnosis).  We recently purchased the former dentist office in Roanoke where just a few short months ago people were getting crowns and caps, now it is used for drones, ipads and desktop PC's.  We are excited to make it our new home here at Cloudpoint Geographics.  

 

Ten (10) weeks of renovations consisted of ripping our old sinks and X-ray boxes, hoses, lines, excess wiring, tons of painting, new carpet, and best of all- the lighting.  We converted an old lab into a kitchen, and exam rooms are now functioning as high-tech office space.   The large window view that so many of us distracted ourselves with while a hygienist scraped on our jowls,  is now enjoyed by our staff as each person has their own private office.


We are blessed to have a new spot that so perfectly fits our current needs and the move was just across the parking lot from our old location.  Be sure to come by and visit us during our upcoming Open House on October 2nd from 4PM to 6PM.  

Map St. Chuck

Historic St Charles Missouri has a very modern tool for you to explore. We were delighted to help the staff of St Charles to create a hosted StoryMap that lets the general public discover all the city has to offer. Using ArcGIS Online templates and hosted on Amazon S3, we built the mapstchuck.com website in relatively short order and were able to customize it to meet staff requests.

The responsive website has 7 tabs across the top showing 7 categories of points of interest for the cities downtown area. Most every business, parking location and cultural landmark in St Charles is listed on the map. using the bookmarks available on the web map, we were able to also note the routes/detour locations for easy navigation around the city. 

Best of all the staff of St. Charles has complete control  over the content using ArcGIS Online organizational account to add, update or delete locations within the map. No continued cost or obligation to us or anyone else. Make it better!! 



Coming to an Office near you!

Here's an update as to what's going on at Cloudpoint Geographics. 

Office Remodel: 

I've had some people say they heard we were moving a while back but nothing since then.  We are deep into the remodel project and can see light at the end of the tunnel.  Here are some quick snapshots of the work being done.


employee spotlight:

Our new office manager, Jodi Hoffman, has been doing an awesome job.  Outside of work, Jodi keeps track of three fine young boys (four if you count husband Eric) and keeps things rolling smoothly at home and in the office.  We are thankful to have her on our team.


ILGISA Conference 2015: 

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We are heading to the ILGISA conference in Springfield, IL very soon.  Hoping to get moved in to the new office just before that.  Be sure to stop by our booth and say hello to our team.  We will all be there!

Also Cloudpoint will be sponsoring the new Monday night social so don't miss out on the fun.

Matthew Junker joins the Cloudpoint Team

As of June 29th, Matthew Junker is the latest addition to start working with the greatest GIS consultant This side of the Mississip!
(possibly the other side too)

Psst! the 'J' is pronounced like a 'Y' but he's used to that by now. Matt is originally from Varna, Illinois but currently lives in Chillicothe with his wife and two young sons. In some bizarre-unplanned-coincidence he also has a BS from Illinois State (that makes 3 Dr. Sublett survivors). However less-so coincidental, his local government experiences are exactly in line with Cloudpoint's needs and wheelhouse. Matt brings years of parcel mapping to our firm and with his help, we expect to expand our offerings of parcel-fabric conversion.

Don't be fooled by his quiet demeanor, He's handy with a hammer and knows enough stats on Chicago sports to make your head spin. He already has a nickname because of his twitter handle: midRangeJ We look forward to introducing our clients to him and I'm sure they will find him just as professional and knowledgeable as the rest of our outstanding team. 

Welcome Matt! 

City of Bloomington looks to optimize routes

A typical automated collection truck outfitted with optimized routing is an efficiency machine

A typical automated collection truck outfitted with optimized routing is an efficiency machine

The City of Bloomington is practicing good stewardship for the tax payers and looking to improve efficiencies for its solid waste collection program.  To do so, they have hired Cloudpoint Geographics to look at existing garbage pickup locations and  compare them with the GIS roadway network to find the most optimized routes of travel.  These optimized routes will help identify the most efficient routing pattern for trucks based on travel times and traffic patterns.  Some of the benefits the City hopes to recognize as a result include improved customer service; cost savings on fuel, staff, and equipment; equitable workload for route drivers; and the ability to utilize this data for future GPS and real-time monitoring applications.  Questions regarding route optimization can be directed to Jon Hodel at (877) 377-8124.

World's Greatest Little City (just got better)

We are excited for the opportunity to work with the City of Mendota, IL (The World's Greatest Little City as noted on their hompage) on implementing a city-wide utility GIS.  The City has contracted Cloudpoint to collect all utility assets with high-accuracy GPS and create maps of each distribution system.  The project includes water distribution, storm water network, and sanitary system.  This information will serve as the foundation of the City's future CMOM (Capacity, Management Operation and Maintenance) plan as required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  In its simplest form, the CMOM is used for monitoring the operation of sanitary sewers to prevent overloading of waste treatment plants and the overflow prevention of sewage into lakes and streams.

Crews will be using a Trimble Geo XH 6000 for data collection and syncing the data with esri's ArcGIS Desktop software.  Upon completion the city will have a fully functional GIS system for their entire utility network.  The majority of the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.

Henderson 911 Addressing.

Cloudpoint staff has been busy on the roads of Henderson county, Illinois. We have been contracted for the purpose of implementing a rural addressing program to improve emergency response to rural areas and enhance postal & parcel deliveries. A rural addressing program will also help serve residents by improving the use of vehicle navigation systems. Namely finding addresses digitally in Henderson Co. has been tough, this will make it easier. We are closely working with the US Post Offices in Henderson County to make the addressing assignments make logical sense.

There are several phases to this process. data collection, address assignment & delivering of the data in a viable format to the county. Digital records are great for those who have digital mapping capabilities. Cloudpoint will provide the Henderson County Sheriff’s department with an updated database (csv, MS Excel, shapefile, or other GIS format) with old and new addresses. As well, we will create and provide a dry erase wall map containing road names & incorporated areas upon completion of the project. 

 

Pictures from around Henderson County during our 911 addressing data collection phase. 

Above are several images from the initial part of the data collection phase (all photos were taken while the vehicle was stopped). This project is a great example of the diversity of talent that Cloudpoint Geographics has. From 911 addressing to Parcel management to Utility inventories we have the skills and understanding to get the job done.  

Meet Joe!

Though often bearded, I've never seen a mustache this big!

Though often bearded, I've never seen a mustache this big!

Joe Christian joined the Cloudpoint team at the beginning of April. The first day, Joe showed up in business dress but with a backpack of clothes for field work. He said, "I didn't know what to expect, so I wanted to be ready". Great job Joe! passed on-the-job test #1. Joe is a former employee of LT Environmental in Colorado and the City of Bloomington (IL) Engineering Department. Many people might also recognize him from his dugout dancing days working for the Peoria Chiefs organization or being lead guitarist/singer in local band "The Kritters". Joe graduated in 2014 with a degree from ISU in Geography, as well 2008 from Western Illinois. We're excited to have Joe's energy and talents to work for us. He will be quite useful in the field tagging traffic signs as well in the office kicking out the map projects, however we don't have any dugouts to dance on. 

esri partner conference

As I woke up this morning to 5 degree weather in central Illinois, I could help but think of poor Micah who is on his way to the esri partner conference in sunny Southern Cal where tomorrow's high will be a measly 82 degrees.  No, those of us holding down the fort here in the frozen tundra are not bitter in the least.  

Disclaimer: This is only a representation of a truly accurate golf stance and by no means is intended to portray Micah's swing....

Disclaimer: This is only a representation of a truly accurate golf stance and by no means is intended to portray Micah's swing....

This is the second year in a row that Cloudpoint has had opportunity to attend this conference and we are thankful for a strong partnership with esri as a leading provider of GIS services in our area looking forward to a continued relationship for years to come.  In the meantime, hopefully Mr. Williamson will return with more than a sun tan and improved golf game.  #EsriEPC

Catchin up with old friends at the 101st T.H.E.

We were able to sponsor and exhibit at the T.H.E. conference this week at the historic Illini Union building on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  This conference congregates transportation professionals from all areas including city & county engineers, highway officials, consultants, technicians, faculty and students who gather to discuss issues critical to the safe and economical movement of people and goods across Illinois and beyond.   It was well attended with almost 1,000 people registered.  Jon and Brett Hodel attended to help promote our GIS/Asset Management services and sign inventory management system called SignOps.  @THEatIllinois