2026 Big Sky GeoCon - From Data to Design: Full Schedule

The Montana Association of Geographic Information Professionals (MAGIP) looks forward to your participation at this year’s 2026 Big Sky GeoCon!

11:10am MDT

ArcGIS Pro and Python: Potentially Helpful Bits and Bobs

Wednesday April 15, 2026 11:10am - 12:10pm MDT

West Divide Room

The purpose of this collaboration session is to provide helpful guidance for anyone using ArcGIS Pro and Python together or separately. The basis for the material presented and demonstrated is everyday experience, particularly with respect to an annual project for which procedures have evolved over many years. A list of related and unrelated topics will be reviewed and audience members will be invited to contribute to the discussion. Ideally, there'll be something for everyone and, as usual, the goal is to provide a forum for a beneficial exchange of information, ideas, and inspiration.

Presenters

David Howes

David Howes, LLC

David Howes is a geospatial information scientist and the sole owner at David Howes, LLC (dhowes.com) in Seattle, WA, specializing in the development of GIS tools, processes, and supporting infrastructure for a variety of clients from small operations to multinational corporations. With over 30 years of academic and private sector experience in both the United Kingdom and the United... Read More →

Wednesday April 15, 2026 11:10am - 12:10pm MDT
West Divide Room

Python & Automation

9:05am MDT

Visualizing Bozeman’s Data through FME and Experience Builder

Thursday April 16, 2026 9:05am - 9:35am MDT

East Divide Room

The City of Bozeman’s Asset Management department leverages FME for automated data processing, and Experience Builder for data visualization. The tools help Bozeman be more transparent with its data and operations for the public, as well as improve internal efficiency. This presentation will offer insights into Asset Management’s practices and workflows by going into details of a couple projects: the Police Data Dashboard and the Building Permit Data Dashboard. These two projects highlight the great impact of FME and GIS on Bozeman’s daily operations.

Presenters

Lin Rich

City of Bozeman

Lin Rich, Asset/GIS Systems Administrator, Asset Management Department, City of Bozeman_x000D_
Lauren Wilcox, GIS Analyst, Asset Management Department, City of Bozeman

Lauren Wilcox

City of Bozeman

Lauren Wilcox, GIS Analyst, Asset Management Department, City of Bozeman

Thursday April 16, 2026 9:05am - 9:35am MDT
East Divide Room

Python & Automation, Government

2:10pm MDT

Turning Massive NASA Climate Data into GIS-Ready Data Cubes

Thursday April 16, 2026 2:10pm - 2:40pm MDT

Alpine Room

Climate projection datasets pose major challenges for traditional GIS workflows due to their size and dimensionality. This study uses the NASA NEX-GDDP-CMIP6 dataset, comprising 65 years of historical simulations and four 85-year future scenarios across multiple models, totaling approximately 7.4 TB of data. To enable scalable analysis, we employ Dask and Xarray to construct spatiotemporal data cubes with lazy loading, chunking, and pixelwise computation. This workflow enables mesoscale GIS-ready analysis of changes in the thermodynamic drivers of humid-heat across the Arabian Peninsula.

Presenters

Daniel Bose

Research Assistant, Montana State University

Daniel Bose
PhD Student, Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University
Humid-Heat Climatology, Geospatial Data Analysis, and Machine Learning

Thursday April 16, 2026 2:10pm - 2:40pm MDT
Alpine Room

Python & Automation

2026 Big Sky GeoCon - From Data to Design

11:10am MDT

David Howes

9:05am MDT

Lin Rich

Lauren Wilcox

2:10pm MDT

Daniel Bose

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