EOM April 2005 > THE INTERVIEW

Adena Schutzberg

2. When you present a sharing opportunity, one key benefit is cost reduction. What are the other ones?

Several things happen when collaboration works. Multiple agencies in a region work from a common base layer of data. This can be very beneficial in large-scale projects that involve the participation of multiple agencies. It gives them the tools to make better decisions and solve problems together (Figure 2).

In addition, of course, collaborative projects minimize duplication of effort and spending. A subtle part of that collaboration involves obtaining grant funding. In nearly all cases, grant requests are more successful for a collaborative effort with multiple agencies working together on common goals and projects.

Collaboration also reveals peoples' strengths. To have a successful collaboration you need a few good leaders, visionaries, good technical writers, good politicians, good lobbyists, and a few people with a lot of patience. Finally, I think one of the keys to success is also a key benefit: to collaborate one must communicate. Without a reason to come together and talk, people do not do so.


Figure 2 The flooding in January 2005 in California may mean an estimated 24 million dollar loss of revenue in Ventura County. A single, common landbase helped many agencies work together in response efforts.

3. Can you share some of the more interesting requirements that potential partners have suggested? Did they make it to the final agreement? Do most agreements, after all is said and done, look similar?

There are commonalities in all regions and there are also very specific needs. The key is to find some common ground and then there has to be compromise. One specific thing can be the time of year when a project is done; leaf on vs. leaf off is also a big one. The other ones are resolution, accuracy, and cost (Figure 3).

While some requirements make it to the final agreement, some potential participants may not. There can be players who choose not to participate because they feel that their needs are not being met and want something different.

But the goal is for a core group to move forward anyway. It's been my experience that when a project is successful, more players join the next time.


Figure 3 The City of Sanger, California chose 3' resolution to gather information on, among other things, pavement crack locations.

4. Where are we in the continuum in 2005 between each town or county "flying their own" area and nearly every local government being part of a data collection partnership? How well is the spark catching fire?

There will be a mix of smaller levels of government "going it alone" and participating in consortia in 2005. There are cities, towns and counties that are very sophisticated in their use of GIS and have sustainable budgets for yearly, and bi-yearly data acquisition. They use the data on a day to day basis for multitudes of applications and reasons and it's become a critical resource.

For me it is very rewarding to be able to help small cities or unpopulated counties that have no GIS at least get up and running with an orthophoto base layer through collaboration. Otherwise, there would be no way to get this done.

Overall I expect to see more collaboration this year, in part because there are good models to follow. Many more partnerships were formed in 2004 than in past years, and there are some that have been together for 6 or 7 years.

Sustainability has to be looked at, you can do it [capture imagery] once, you may have grant funding or a core group with budgets, but will you be able to maintain and update it the next time? And the next (Figure 4)?

Figure 4 Ventura County was prepared for flooding and mudslides. The county updates its orthos and other critical layers yearly. The GIS is sustainable and is part of the annual budget. During the mudslides in La Conhita first responders used 1-foot imagery, just a month old, to determine where to dig for survivors.

5. You have what many would argue is a non-traditional geospatial sales job. What skills are particularly valuable in your work? Do you think being a woman in this role makes a difference?

I would say that I do most of the things that others do in business development and sales in this industry, it's that I have a different philosophy of doing it. This career started for me from a goal and vision I had for our GIS collaborative group, Channel Islands Regional GIS Collaborative, CIRGIS.

When I started with AirPhotoUSA six years ago, I had never done business development or sales. I came from a very large consulting firm where I worked as a senior cartographer for 21 years. In 1996 I went out on my own, consulting and working part-time. I did volunteer work with the Ventura County Wetlands Recovery Project which involved historical research and lobbying. After two years on the Ventura Citizens Outreach Committee, writing a visioning plan for the city with 28 others, I learned to think out of the box and took away valuable leadership skills.

I worked in Ventura County in 1997, doing part-time work for the California State Coastal Conservancy. There was a great need for a common aerial orthophoto base because of all the watershed and environmental work on the coast. This is when the CIRGIS collaborative started. The goal was to bring together players from Ventura and Santa Barbara County, and the Channel Islands. I participated in these meetings on a regular basis and became one of the voting members. After a year of meetings and no consensus I decided that something needed to happen sooner, rather than later, as we were all getting burnt out on all these meetings and nothing was coming to fruition.

I sought out a company that could do this and happened across JR Roberston, the president and founder at AirPhotoUSA. I worked with him to pull together a group in Ventura County to purchase 1-meter resolution in 1998. I then went on to help neighboring Santa Barbara County. I was able to really create the position for myself with the company so it is a unique position. I have been able to see the end results of many of the government agencies' use of the data and the applications. It is all really valuable to the public that they serve.

I believe that it comes more naturally for women to work together with others. They also tend to be good at communicating, bringing people together, providing a balance, and multi- tasking. But I believe men and women who have a passion, dedication, and are determined to make a difference with vision, direction, and action can succeed.

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