The UGRC Geospatial Podcast
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Episode 15 - Reflecting on 30 years in Geospatial- A conversation with Matt Peters - former UGRC Director, traveler, geographer, and avid cyclist.
Recorded 08/12/2024
Former UGRC Director Matt Peters shares his 30-year journey from office intern to director, emphasizing that successful careers are built on relationships and communication. He also discusses his favorite travel experiences and his retirement plan to bike across America. -
Episode 14 - Wildlife Tracking and Monitoring in Utah- A Conversation with Blair Stringham of Utah's Wildlife Migration Initiative.
Recorded 05/25/2024
Greg Bunce, Matt Peters, and new co-host Denise Peterson interview Blair Stringham, program manager for the Utah Wildlife Migration Initiative created in 2017 to identify and preserve wildlife corridors. Blair explains how GPS collars and satellite tracking monitor species including mule deer, elk, moose, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn, providing near real-time location data. The initiative's findings drive collaborative projects with UDOT to build wildlife crossings that reduce vehicle collisions while keeping migration routes open for future generations. -
Episode 13 - Air Quality in Utah- A Conversation with Lexie Wilson of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality.
Recorded 10/20/2023
Greg Bunce and Matt Peters interview Lexie Wilson, an environmental scientist at the Utah Division of Air Quality with a background in atmospheric science and meteorology. Lexie explains the difference between winter PM2.5 inversions and summer ozone pollution, both heavily influenced by Utah's unique topography. The conversation covers air quality monitoring using regulatory instruments and non-regulatory sensors like PurpleAir, plus photochemical modeling that uses UGRC's land use data to simulate air quality and inform policy decisions. -
Episode 12 - Water in Utah- Part 3 - Deidre Beck from DEQ's Division of Drinking Water on the importance of securing safe drinking water in Utah.
Recorded 04/21/2023
Greg Bunce and Matt Peters conclude their three-part water series with Deidre Beck from DEQ's Division of Drinking Water, who explains how the division regulates public water systems to ensure safe drinking water for Utah residents. Deidre discusses source protection zones around wells and springs, emergency response using GIS for natural disasters, and the new lead and copper rule requiring water systems to inventory service lines by October 2024. The conversation highlights how GIS is essential for managing over 2,000 public water systems across the state. -
Episode 11 - Water in Utah- Part 2 - Lee Eschler from DNR's Division of Water Rights on water allocation and monitoring in Utah.
Recorded 02/24/2023
Greg Bunce and Matt Peters interview Lee Eschler from DNR's Division of Water Rights about water allocation in Utah, including how PLSS section corners are critical for locating and transferring water rights. Lee explains the current moratorium on new water rights for streams flowing into the Great Salt Lake and how the division manages nearly 400,000 points of diversion using GIS technology. The conversation covers the ongoing adjudication process that creates a legal snapshot of active water rights to improve water management across the state. -
Episode 10 - Water in Utah- Part 1 - Aaron Austin from DNR's Division of Water Resources on Utah's water supply.
Recorded 11/22/2022
Greg Bunce and Matt Peters interview Aaron Austin, GIS Manager at DNR's Division of Water Resources, who describes the evolution from clipboards and quad maps to satellite data for water-related land use mapping. Aaron discusses the collaborative effort to build the popular water supplier boundary layer used across state agencies and explains the division's role in secondary water metering with House Bill 429 funding. The conversation covers the Great Salt Lake water budget and how GIS helps the division manage Utah's water resources during an ongoing drought. -
Episode 9 - Lynda Bell from NOAA-NGS on datums, the National Spatial Reference Frame, and the PLSS.
Recorded 10/25/2022
Greg Bunce and Matt Peters interview Lynda Bell, Southwest Regional Geodetic Advisor for NOAA's National Geodetic Survey, who supports Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Lynda explains the importance of the National Spatial Reference System in defining latitude, longitude, height, and orientation, and discusses the upcoming 2022 reference frame as NAD 83 transitions to more accurate datums. The conversation covers her Utah visit to work on PLSS monument preservation at Temple Square and the USGS/UGRC Great Salt Lake Causeway project measuring water levels. -
Episode 8 - Bert Granberg from WFRC and the role of the MPO.
Recorded 08/15/2022
Greg Bunce and Matt Peters interview Bert Granberg, Analytics Director at Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC), one of four Metropolitan Planning Organizations in Utah created by the Federal Highway Act of 1962. Bert explains how MPOs make regional transportation policy decisions and recommend funding priorities for local governments, UTA, and UDOT. Jake Adams joins to discuss WFRC's housing inventory map project, which uses analytics to understand growth patterns and inform transportation planning along the Wasatch Front. -
Episode 7 - Next-Generation 911 and the Role of Geospatial Data (a conversation with Tina Mathieu from the Weber Area Dispatch 911).
Recorded 04/11/2022
Greg Bunce and Matt Peters interview Tina Mathieu, Executive Director of Weber Area Dispatch 911, who has 30 years of experience in emergency communications. Tina explains why geospatial data is the backbone of Next Generation 911 systems and how local and state agencies collaborate to maintain accurate address and road data for emergency response. She walks through the journey of a 911 call from placement to routing to dispatch, highlighting how working relationships and data quality directly impact public safety. -
Episode 6 - The Utah Department of Health (covid-19 and outbreaks).
Recorded 11/22/2021
Greg Bunce and Matt Peters interview Nancy Arbon from the Utah Public Health Laboratory and George McEwan, IT Director at the Utah Department of Health, about technology and GIS during the COVID-19 pandemic. They discuss how human relationships remained critical despite increased reliance on technology, and how the pandemic strengthened collaboration between local and state health departments. The conversation covers data standardization for aggregation, privacy and security concerns when visualizing health data, and how GIS became essential for deploying social services and testing resources across the state. -
Episode 5 - We're all in this together (a smorgasbord of news and happenings from around the state).
Recorded 08/09/2021
Greg Bunce and Matt Peters cover a smorgasbord of Utah geospatial news, starting with UGRC's new logo and the completion of statewide 6-inch Hexagon imagery flights. They discuss the revitalized GISAC council, Next Generation 911 updates, and how GIS plays a critical role in election systems and redistricting using 2020 Census data. The episode also touches on the National Address Database, SGID data tiers, and the importance of standardization in geospatial data management. -
Episode 4 - Kate Staley from SITLA talks SITLA.
Recorded 05/28/2021
Greg Bunce and Matt Peters interview Kate Staley from SITLA, the State of Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, established in 1994 to manage trust lands granted at statehood. Kate discusses how these lands generate revenue for public education and other institutions through leases, sales, and mineral rights, having generated nearly $2 billion since 1994. The conversation also covers SITLA's popular Land Ownership GIS layer and how they consolidate disparate trust land parcels for better management and development. -
Episode 3 - The Survey Corner with Sean Fernandez.
Recorded 04/30/2021
Greg Bunce and Matt Peters launch a new recurring segment called the Survey Corner, featuring Utah State Surveyor Sean Fernandez. Sean explains why the State Surveyor position exists and how it supports the Lieutenant Governor's office with boundary changes, assists county surveyors, and helps maintain critical GIS layers like municipal and county boundaries. The discussion highlights the essential relationship between surveying and GIS, particularly for parcels and PLSS data that form the foundation of Utah's geospatial infrastructure. -
Episode 2 - Buck Ehler at the Utah Department of Natural Resources.
Recorded 04/30/2021
Greg Bunce and Matt Peters interview Buck Ehler, GIS Manager at Utah's Division of Wildlife Resources, who shares his journey from learning GIS on ArcInfo Workstation at Utah State to managing geospatial operations across a 500+ person organization. Buck introduces the Wildlife Migration Initiative, tracking 26-27 million location points from collared animals across dozens of species using satellite networks and Google Cloud Platform. The program uses BigQuery and Wildlife Tracker 2.0 to help biologists visualize and analyze animal movement patterns in real-time. -
Episode 1 - News from the state GIS office.
Recorded 03/19/2021
In this inaugural episode, Greg Bunce and Matt Peters trace Utah's pioneering GIS history from the 1980s through the transition from AGRC to UGRC, explaining how the State Geographic Information Database evolved from centralized repository to federated services. They discuss major milestones including Next Generation 911 implementation, GIS-powered election systems, statewide 6-inch imagery acquisition, and the relaunch of GISAC. This episode sets the stage for the podcast series while covering key 2021 updates including new 2020 Census geographies and 75% LiDAR coverage across the state.