By Meaghan Lee
It’s that time of year again! The 2026 WAGISA Conference is just around the corner and we here at The Summit Scoop are excited to tell you more about it. From May 19th - 21st, GIS gurus, data nerds, and cartographic artists from all over Washington will gather in Bellevue at the Meydenbauer Center. EP Events has helped make this a year for the books! Here are some of the things we think you’ll enjoy.
Our keynote speaker is none other than the Executive Director for OpenStreetMap US - Maggie Cawley! Maggie will join us to share her experience in working with the world’s largest crowdsourced map along with her background in sustainability, urban planning, and education. You can read more about her here.
The first day of the conference is our workshop day. You can choose to learn about Drone Mapping, Experience Builder, GIS Management, and more! These are half or full day workshops to gain hands on and real-world knowledge of the GIS industry. Read details of each workshop and register individually for them here.
Are you a student or young professional? You can register for the Young Professional Special Interest Group Workshop, where you’ll get to network and gain insight into landing in a GIS career. Do you have a poster, app or script you’d like to share? Submit to the poster contest by May 12th to show it off! You can also apply for a student scholarship by May 10th to attend the conference at a discounted price. Come join us!
Everyone loves learning about the newest trends in GIS, and that’s where our vendors shine! Don’t just come to their tables for the swag, come to learn about ways you and your organization may be able to partner with folks in advancing your GIS capabilities.
And if none of this has convinced you to attend the conference, here is something that might entice you. You can ride the world’s first light rail across a floating bridge! Our conference venue, the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, is located right next to the Bellevue Downtown Light Rail Station, where the new 2 Line, known as the Crosslake Connection, opened in March. So, whether you come into the conference from the west or want to take a ride into Seattle after hours, you can join in history!
Would you like a sneak peak of some of the presenters this year? We thought you might! We spoke with folks who will be presenting and asked them what inspired them and what they are looking forward to at this year’s conference. Read ahead to hear from Heather and Michael.
Heather Spalding, Pacific Education Institute
Presentation: Building Statewide GIS Career Pathways to Agriculture and Natural Resources
Have you attended the WAGISA Conference before? If so, what keeps you coming back?
Heather Spalding: I attended WAGISA last year for the first time (2025). I'm interested in how GIS skills are transferrable between a variety of agriculture and natural resource (ANR) careers. These skills also connect with a variety of careers in other industry sectors. As Career Connect Washington's ANR sector leader, WAGISA is a great way for me to learn about different ways to apply GIS and grow career pathways for future generations.
What inspired you to present at this year’s conference?
HS: I'm working with industry, K-12, tribes, and postsecondary institutions like colleges to build a set of Career and Technical Education courses that will be available to school districts across the state. The courses will provide high school students with opportunities to connect with local employers and build hands-on career-related knowledge and skills so that they are prepared to enter the workforce in the coming years. WAGISA's presenters demonstrate the variety of GIS applications in public and private jobs and inspire me to think creatively about how we can support career readiness across Washington.
What are you most looking forward to at the conference this year?
HS: I'm looking forward to presenting with Daniel Cuevas, GIS consultant for our pathway process, and Jeffry Rhodes, math and science teacher at Riverview School District. We will provide an overview of Employment Security Department data that highlights top GIS jobs and the skills needed to succeed in this field. We'll also provide examples of successful career-connected learning initiatives that integrate GIS into existing courses and get students outside in the field with local GIS and ANR employers.
Is there anything else you’d like attendees or the WAGISA community to know about you or your presentation?
HS: We are looking for industry feedback to make sure our career pathway is responsive to the needs of the GIS professional community. Results will be shared with our statewide GIS course writing team at the end of May, and we plan to submit a follow-up proposal for WAGISA 2027 to present the pathway that has been developed.
Heather Spalding enjoying Kartoffelknodel in Nuremberg Christmas Market, Germany
Michael Lowry, Washington State Department of Agriculture
Presentation: Estimating the Climate Resiliency of Washington Dairy Farms
Have you attended the WAGISA Conference before? If so, what keeps you coming back?
Michael Lowry: I attended for the first time last year. I really enjoyed seeing what other Washington GIS folks were working on, learning about areas within the GIS field I was less familiar with, and picking up helpful tips and tricks.
What inspired you to present at this year’s conference?
ML: While working on this project, I’ve learned a whole lot about dairy farms, weather, climate change, programming, and GIS. There is so much that can be conveyed that it seemed a clear choice to present. On top of that, it’s work that I’m proud of and that has the potential to help dozens of dairy farmers in Northwest Washington.
What are you most looking forward to at the conference this year?
ML: I’m looking forward to seeing the great work that Washington GIS experts have accomplished over the past year!
Is there anything else you’d like attendees or the WAGISA community to know about you or your presentation?
ML: This presentation should be a good fit for anyone who wants to learn more about Python in GIS. The data analysis and report generation for this project were done almost entirely with code. It won’t get too technical, but I will talk about what the code accomplished, which libraries I used, and some lessons I learned.
This is not, in fact, Michael Lowry. It is a dairy cow.
There’s still time to register for the conference. Browse our website to find more information on planning your trip, convincing your boss to pay for your attendance, and scoping out the schedule as presenters are announced. We can’t wait to see you in a couple of weeks!
