Travis Acklin Wins TxGIS Hero Award at TxGIS Day in Austin

 

By Shane McDaniel, CIO for the City of Seguin

Travis was hired in December 2021 to lead the city's transition to enterprise GIS. From the early beginnings of learning the Seguin technology environment, building relationships, and starting up a GIS program citywide, Travis has excelled every step of the way. He met with every city department to discuss GIS, brought ideas to the table for how GIS could benefit them, and in several instances created templates to visually show departments real time examples. Processes were established for internal city employees as well as for citizens to engage directly with him for city GIS needs. Thousands of GIS requests have been made by staff since Travis started. A few of the GIS maps he created have gone viral on the city's social media channels, and Travis has spoken at both the Rotary and Chamber clubs.

From transitioning the remnants of the old GIS data and established processes internal to Utilities and Planning, to building rapport so that citywide staff is comfortable reaching out to him for all their GIS needs, Travis's approach to managing GIS for the city has essentially been perfect. His quick turnaround time has benefited the city in multiple ways with grants optimal response/drive times for physically locating fire stations, and assisting Utilities in kicking off their GIS based work order software implementation. Travis has made GIS a strong function of IT in support of the city.

Travis's easy going and seasoned approach to working with people is a decidedly strong attribute. In GIS, much like IT, you work with all city employees and sometimes in stressful situations. Travis has endeared himself with all levels of staff exceptionally well. He doesn't get stressed by the sheer number of requests, instead choosing to prioritize appropriately and communicate well what all he has on his plate when it comes to juggling requests.

Travis Acklin

Travis's approach is ideal when it comes to fostering teamwork. Being the first dedicated GIS resource the city has ever had, even IT staff will ask him questions, and he will take the time to show them various aspects of how GIS works. GIS and IT are closely related, and much work was done between Travis and the IT team to build up the GIS infrastructure. Travis has brought with him new and more efficient ways to manage data and needed processes for GIS. He has helped other city staff learn the new ways of working with the data to save them time spent on tasks. It has been a wonderful transition for the city in so many ways.

When Travis was hired and we began what we termed as the "GIS Roadshow," we purposefully sought to show all the departments the power of GIS. The primary function of doing so was to establish relationships with the individuals deemed by each department as someone that may need to work with Travis directly for GIS. This approach created a foundation for city staff to see Travis's GIS abilities and get to know him a little bit, as well as how to create a ticket and to reassure city staff they can call, email, or just swing by his office with any and all their GIS requests. Travis has done extremely well in inserting himself as the top GIS resource for the city. It has been an amazing process to witness, and I could not be more thrilled with the outcome.

By leading the initiative to sign an enterprise agreement with Esri, Travis helped save an estimated 140k for the seven additional GIS servers that were added to the city's technology enterprise, which in turn allowed him to create the Seguin Open Data portal and the 30 interactive maps, 33 static maps, and 16 infographics hosted on the site. The city's GIS portal is expected to hit over 120k page views in its first full year of existence.

Travis helped the city attorney with GIS aspects of the redistricting effort. He won a CompTIA Public Technology Institute Solutions Award for cities under 50k for his work. He has presented the city's GIS presence to the mayor, council, CM, and deputy CM. In an effort to raise awareness, the mayor even proclaimed last year’s National GIS Day as the official GIS Day for the City of Seguin! Travis has hosted an educational session for Esri, the leading GIS technology provider in the world, for his work on behalf of Seguin. Bear Metro updates used to come twice a year, but because of Travis address updates are now automated and pushed out every week. My personal expectations for GIS have been far exceeded. Travis has been an exceptional resource for the city, and I for one cannot wait to see what he has up his sleeve next! Congratulations Travis!