My favorite project was partnering with our sister firm Mannik & Smith Group to use LiDAR and GIS to inventory road signs along US 19 in West Virginia. We created automated, custom sign data reports that display all of the information about each sign assembly in one place in an informative and visually appealing manner, and our client was very happy with them. 

My proudest moments professionally this year were presenting with DRMP GIS Analyst Meaghan McCarthy at the American Public Works Association (APWA) Florida West Coast Branch meeting about all of our inspection and inventory projects and starting to work for the City of St. Petersburg, Fla., to use GIS to digitize as-built information. As a St. Petersburg resident and involved community member, it has been a professional goal of mine for years to work with the City.

Spaceport of the Future (Infrastructure) – This project incorporates mapping and analysis for the infrastructure projects to be carried out at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida over the next four years. Our role on this project focuses on data verification and data visualization of the concepts that will shape the capabilities of the Spaceport Complex.

A career highlight of this year is being able to learn and leverage new technologies, such as Power Bi and Power Apps, which are not traditionally associated with GIS and integrating them into our processes and skill offerings. 

One of my favorite projects this year was the Hillsborough County Public Schools Growth Management App. This application is designed to help the County track development concurrency data and estimate potential increases in student populations based on new developments. The data generated is crucial for assigning students to specific schools and producing detailed reports for planning purposes. My role in the project was to design the overall framework for the app and develop custom tools that would enable the client to easily understand and use the system. This involved automating backend calculations, creating custom print workflows and implementing advanced data manipulation techniques to ensure a smooth user experience. The goal was to make the entire system intuitive, efficient, and seamless for the end users.

One of the highlights of my career so far was attending the Central Florida GIS (CFGIS) Workshop Conference in Daytona Beach, Fla. It was my first GIS conference, and it was an eye-opening experience. The conference exposed me to a wealth of new information and insights about how other companies are using GIS. I had the opportunity to learn about the transition from Geometric Networks to Utility Networks, the use of Python in different applications, and how tools like Site Scan are being utilized for 3D analysis. It was an inspiring experience that expanded my understanding of GIS technologies and their potential applications across various industries.

My favorite project was our work with DRMP’s Tampa Engineering Department on the Hillsborough County Critical Culvert Inspection project because our involvement with the project as a GIS team started out small and grew exponentially throughout the timeline of the project as we realized how much we could do to make the project run smoothly and streamline the workflow for our engineers and field staff.

I have two career highlights for the year. The first is receiving the American Public Works Association (APWA) Young Professional of the Year award at our West Coast Branch yearly banquet, and the second was attending the ESRI User Conference in San Diego, Calif., one of the largest and most prestigious conferences for GIS in the world.