Jack Csokmay, a Geographic Information Management System Specialist 2 in the Ohio Dept. of Transportation District 6, has been with the agency two and a half years. He didn’t know when he took the job what he was really in for.
“When I first walked into the interview, I was expecting it to be about making maps of some sort for ODOT,” said Jack, who has a degree in geography and prior experience in mapmaking.
But there was one bullet point on the application that he thought was a little strange. “The application said something like, the applicant should be willing to hop on an airplane,” he said. “It was just one bullet point. I thought it was just anecdotal. And then they asked me: ‘Do you get airsick?’ And I told them ‘no’,” he laughs at the memory. And the rest is history.
Turns out Jack’s job is indeed map making, but from a 4,000-foot view in a Cessna or a helicopter. “I had no idea when I took the job that it was basically as an aerial photographer,” said Jack. “I love it!”
His typical day is far from typical. An ODOT pilot from the Don Scott airfield in Columbus will call him and let him know they’re going to have good weather. That’s when Jack jumps into action. He will have already laid out a flight plan and a corridor base that they’ll be flying over and photographing. It could be a large area involving major intersections and highways or it could just be a slip on a hill, based on the needs of the agency.
“Once we are over the target area, the camera kicks on and starts to take photos. It’s automated. In the air, I have to make sure the camera is firing,” he said. After the images are complete, Jack then stitches them together to make one large photograph. And then he starts building 3-D models, called terrain models.
It is these terrain models that are then delivered to ODOT districts where they are shared with project managers, surveyors and others involved with infrastructure planning.
In December, Jack visited OCSEA’s downtown Solidarity Headquarters to show support for the OCSEA Bargaining Team. He said he did it because he wants to get more involved with the union and because he realizes the power that members fighting together can have. “Over the last few years, I became more aware of the value of labor and who gets things done. I’ve noticed that unions get things done,” said Jack. Now, armed with information about his union, he’s starting to reach out to members in his chapter about things that are happening, and things folks should care about.