Microsoft generates 125 million building footprints using AI and deep learning
Crossposted from GIS & You
By Greg Babinski
King County GIS Training Program partner Eric Pimpler of Geospatial Training Services has authored a fascinating article about a building footprint dataset which Microsoft has generated from Bing aerial imagery using artificial intelligence, deep learning and computer vision. The dataset comprises footprints of 125 million structures across all 50 states. This data is available for download via GitHub free of charge in the open standard GeoJSON format.
Bing computer-generated building footprints for the U.S. Capitol and vicinity.
(Esri World Imagery basemap)
Heads up! Geospatial Training Services will be teaching two specialty GIS classes at the King County GIS Center in Seattle during the last week of November. For more information and to register, visit:
- Introduction to Programming ArcGIS Pro with Python – Nov. 26-27
- Introduction to the ArcGIS API for Python – Nov. 30
Share this:
Featured Job: Rideshare Services Representative (Vanpool Accounting)
Closing: 07/26/18 11:59 p.m. (GMT -8:00)
Salary: $33.32 – $40.28 Hourly
Location: King Street Center, Seattle, WA
Job Type: Career Service, Full Time, 40 hrs/week
Department: Transportation – Transit Division
Job Number: 2018JI08333
Description: Metro Transit’s Rideshare Operations (RO) programs offer King County commuters ridesharing services consisting of several popular High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) transportation options beyond traditional fixed route transit service, including vanpools, vanshares and carpools. This position is one of a team of 5 Rideshare Services Representatives (Vanpool Accounting) in Rideshare Operations who manage the accounts of 1600 vanpools (each representative carries a workload of about 320 vanpools). There is long-term and frequent interaction with the vanpool riders who handle the payments.
Contact: For more information, contact Sr. HR Analyst Josh Isgur at 206-477-7641 or Josh.Isgur@KingCounty.gov.
Learn more about this position or all available jobs.
Share this:
Social Media Spotlight: King County, WA on LinkedIn
King County is one of the best places to work in Washington and one of the state’s largest employers. With more than 14,000 dedicated employees, we are changing the way government does business and delivering vital services for more than 2 million residents.
Join more than 16 thousand others; check out King County on LinkedIn today and follow us!
Share this:
We’ve got a #PicturingTrails winner!
Crossposted from King County Parks Plog
By Gabriel Avila-Mooney, Communication Specialist for the King County Regional Trail System
We’re super excited to announce the June winner of our #PicturingTrails photo contest! Meryl Schenker took this photo on the Preston Snoqualmie Trail and got 69 likes! She also met all the criteria for the contest (pays to read the rules and regs!) since she took the shot from one of our Regional Trails.
Preston Snoqualmie Trail, King County Parks, “Picturing Trails” by Meryl Schenker.
We can’t wait to give her the prize of an S-Zone Camera Bag, an REI Camp Blanket, a Klean Kanteen Water Bottle, and a pair of tickets to see Willie Nelson at the Concerts at Marymoor!
Want to be our July winner? Go to PicturingTrails.com and follow the steps to win! We’ll award our July prizes to the image that meets all the criteria and has the most likes.
So get out there, visit a Regional Trail near you, snap a photo on your phone and enter to win!
Share this:
Pet of the Week: Loki
Crossposted from Tails from RASKC
There’s nothing low key about Loki, our Pet of the Week!
This young boy is a spirited cat with a fun-loving personality, so he’s one of our “Rambunctious Red” pets. With all that youthful energy, Loki is a very active cat who loves to play! A couple of his favorite pastimes include chasing lasers and playing with ping pong balls. He is also full of surprises and he will keep you on your feet.
Loki enjoys being around people, but he can play a bit rough sometimes, so he would do best with a cat-savvy family that can give him lots of exercise. He does best when he has lots of places to explore and fun ways to get all of his energy out.
Loki seems to do well with other cats that have a strong personality like his. He would do best with a slow introduction to any other cats in his new home.
Loki is litter box trained, neutered, current on vaccinations, and microchipped. His adoption fee includes a certificate for a free veterinary exam and 30 days of free pet insurance through Trupanion.
Loki is available at our Eastside Pet Adoption Center inside Kirkland Petco. You can learn more about him, or any of his adoptable friends, at KingCounty.gov/AdoptAPet.
Share this:
KCIT deploys new tool to protect data and systems
KCIT has now deployed a new security tool that will help protect the entire King County network from cybersecurity attacks. The new tool will operate behind the scenes, helping to protect our data and systems from both external and internal cyber threats.
This deployment should affect neither your computer nor your day-to-day business operations. If you are blocked from a work-approved website or application, either submit a Help Desk Ticket to HelpTicket@KingCounty.gov or escalate the issue through your technical support group.
Share this:
Training Spotlight: Igniting Employee Development
Tuesday, July 24, 12:30 – 4:30 p.m.
People leaders (supervisors, managers and directors) are key to creating a culture of respect where all employees are inspired to grow, thrive and serve! According to the engagement survey, employees are looking for more development opportunities – this workshop for people leaders will support employees to do just that! Empowering individuals to reach their full potential to do their best work for the people in our community is critical to continuous improvement and equitable workplace efforts.
Igniting Employee Development will help you support Investing In YOU goals to build a workplace where employees have the tools and support to innovate, achieve career goals and do their best work for King County as a Best Run Government.
Learn more and register on Eventbrite before the session fills up!
Share this:
Pretrial, probation and parole supervision week July 15-21
Crossposted from American Probation and Parole Association
Shared by Michelle Mihail, King County Superior Court Juvenile Probation Counselor
The American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) recognizes the nearly 100,000-strong members of the community corrections and supervision workforce for your dedication to and influence on the justice system. Each year during Pretrial, Probation, and Parole Supervision Week, we make an extra effort to acknowledge your compassion, strength and determination. You make a difference, even though over the past two decades, caseloads have grown exponentially, exceeding five million people at their peak; and resources are still minimal.
There does appear to be a great deal of attention and focus on our industry, and there is a move afoot to shift the way others – policymakers and the public alike – think about the best ways to enhance public safety and improve justice system outcomes.
Public safety is important to everyone! As an industry, we must be more visible so people will recognize the significant role pretrial, probation, and parole practitioners play to enhance the safety of our communities. APPA is working to ensure all our external stakeholders are aware of the valuable contribution our industry makes in this area. We hope you are also ensuring the voice of our industry is heard!
For far too long, community corrections/supervision professionals have been relatively quiet, fearing we would do more harm than good to our work if we spoke about our occupation externally. We now know it is our responsibility to speak up about what is needed or required to make progress that will make a difference for every American.
Share this:
PeopleSoft Outage, 3 p.m. Friday, July 20 to 6:30 a.m. Monday, July 23
To allow for system maintenance, the PeopleSoft system will not be available this weekend, beginning at 3 p.m. Friday, July 20 until 6:30 a.m. Monday, July 23. During this planned outage, the PeopleSoft team will apply vendor updates and maintenance. This work will begin on Friday, July 20 at 3 p.m. and is scheduled to be completed by 6:30 a.m. on Monday, July 23. The system will not be available for access by any County staff during this outage window. An email communication will be sent to all County staff when the system becomes available. We realize that this outage impacts PeopleSoft users. We appreciate your understanding and support.
Share this:
Parks Specialist Anthony Haapasaari awarded Polish Armed Forces Medal
Anthony Haapasaari is a Parks Specialist with King County Parks’ South Trails Crew, and he recently received the Polish Armed Forces Medal during a visit to Seattle by Major General Cezary Wiśniewski, Defence Attaché at the Embassy of the Polish Republic in Washington D.C.
Pictured from left to right: Cross of Polonia Restituta recipient Mr. Andrzej Mroz, Assistant Defense Attaché at the Embassy of the Polish Republic Lieutenant Colonel Karol Sobczyk, Anthony Haapasaari, Shaan Haapasaari (Anthony and Kristin’s son), Defence Attaché at the Embassy of the Polish Republic Major General Cezary Wiśniewski, and Kristin Haapasaari (Anthony’s wife).
“Receiving this award was a very humbling experience,” said Haapasaari. “It recognizes the work I have been doing at public events and military ceremonies here in Seattle and Vancouver, Canada to commemorate and increase awareness and appreciation of the heroic – yet little known – contributions of the WWII Polish Armed Forces to Allied victory in Europe during WWII. I also work to increase awareness of the significant assistance the Polish Armed Forces have provided to the United States in both Iraq and Afghanistan since the start of combat operations after 9-11, and I provide support to the last of our Polish WWII veterans and their widows in the Seattle area as a volunteer “military attaché” for the Polish Honourary Consulate in Seattle.”
“The Polish Armed Forces Medal was established in 1999, to recognize civilians and military personnel abroad for their effort to support Poland and – in this case – Polish and U.S. cooperation, in the tradition of the Polish armed forces,” said Lieutenant Colonel Karol Sobczyk, Assistant Defense Attaché at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington D.C. “In recognition of that, the Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak decided to award Anthony Patrick Haapasaari with the Polish Armed Forces Medal.”
The Polish Minister of National Defence Coin (left), the Polish Armed Forces Medal (center) and the Defense Attaché for the Embassy of the Republic of Poland Coin.
“On behalf of the Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak, I present you with this Polish Armed Forces Medal,” said General Wiśniewski. “I think that building relationships between nations is not about our leaders and officials only, but about the people. So, with this medal, we would just like to thank you for your dedication, your commitment, to the U.S. Polish people. Building relationships is important for us because we don’t have a consulate here, there’s no embassy in each town, but you just take this role and spend a lot of time and money just to build relationships between Poles and Americans. That’s really important from our perspective. So, thank you very much.”
Haapasaari is a member of the Polish Riflemen’s Association (Związek Strzelecki), a group founded by Marshall Józef Piłsudski during the First World War to fight for Polish freedom. Związek Strzelecki is considered the first Polish military force of the 20th Century and, today, most of its members are teens, young adults, and veterans who train to perform as a reserve force for the Polish Army. To the best of Anthony’s knowledge, he is the only member in the U.S. He began working with Parks in 1985 as a seasonal employee while in college, and has been a full-time employee since 1991. “I enjoy being a public employee and working in nature every day,” added Haapasaari. “Working on the Cedar River Trail and Green to Cedar River Trail in Southeast King County, I meet people from all over the world and – as my own father was an immigrant from Poland – it is especially important to me that our immigrant population feel welcome at our King County Parks facilities.”
Anthony Haapasaari (left) after receiving the Polish Armed Forces Medal from Defense Attaché at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland Major General Cezary Wiśniewski.
Employee News 