Public Works - Public Works Group Blog

April 24, 2023April 23, 2023

Using AI to Generate Images for Public Works – Post 2

water color sketch of a water valve — AI-generated image of a water valve

In the first post on this topic I introduced the Midjourney AI tool which can be used to generate images. In this post, I’ll talk about a few more image generating tools I have tried. The first is Canva. This tool is fairly easy to use; however, you will need to make a free account to access it.

If you decide to try Canva and visit their site, you will find a lot going on there because Canva does a lot more than just generate images from text. To find the AI tool on their site, you can click “Apps” and when the next screen comes up look for “Text to Image.” Once you click that a box pops up asking if you want to use this in a new design or existing design. You can click “use in a new design.” If you do this, you’ll see they offer a drop down with a long list of items from which you can choose. When I am creating an image I usually want a 512 x 512 pixel image, so I choose “Custom Size.” If you make this same choice, you can indicate your image size and then click the button “Create New Design.”

screenshot of the Canva text to image app — Screen shot of the Canva Text to Image App

Next, you should see a screen like the one shown in the image above. There is an area on the right with the blank canvas and a small input area where you can type the description of what I want. Initially I tried “a person putting their garbage can at the edge of the road.” For the style I left it at “None.” After a short time, the image below is what it generated which wasn’t quite what I had hoped for. A person is only in one of the images, and the can is actually in the road.

Four images of a blue garbage can sitting in the road. One image has a woman in a red shirt and black pants crouching down near the can. — AIi-generated image of a garbage can along a road from Canva

So I tried again this time choosing the “Dreamlike” style. The images generated were a little closer to what I was looking for, but the person was a small child in two of them, and the one with an adult did not look realistic. Here is how it came out:

four images showing garbage cans in the road. A small child in standing near a can in two of them while a woman is near one in another — AI-generated image of a garbage can from Canva

After not really getting what I was looking for I tried a different image. This time I typed “a stream winding through a field of grass and trees.” I left the style at “none.” The image generated which I included below turned out close to what I had envisioned. Although if I wanted to use this to illustrate a stream in my area, I would need to try again and add text to indicate no mountains.

four images showing a stream winding through a field of grass with some trees. Three images have mountains in the background and the remaining one has a waterfall. — AI-generated image of a stream from Canva

Another image generating AI often talked about is DALL-E 2. This AI is brought to you by OpenAI – the same organization which offers ChatGPT. Just like with Canva, you will need an account to try out DALL-E 2. Once you log in, this is how the site looks:

Screen shot of the DALLE2 site — DALL-E 2 Website

In the prompt line I typed in the same text I tried with Canva: “a person putting their garbage can at the edge of the road.” DALL-E 2 generated four images, the same number produced by Midjourney and Canva. What I really like about the images generated by DALL-E 2 is they download with a DPI resolution of 300. The other tools download at a smaller size, and I always have to bring them into my image editing software to upsize them. Also, almost all of the images generated by DALL-E 2 were close to what I was looking for. I added below the one that I thought was best.

image of a brown garbage can at the side of the road with someone's arm resting on top of it. There is a car in the background. — AI-generated image of a garbage can by DALL-E 2

And just for fun, here’s another image I generated on DALL-E 2 a while ago using the following text: “a red fire hydrant van gogh style,”

an image of a red fire hydrant — AI-generated image of a fire hydrant by DALL-E 2

Of the two tools discussed here, I had better results with DALL-E 2. Plus there is the added bonus of not having to process the images in an image-editing software to get them to the resolution I need. Both were free to use, although Canva has some terms of use you may want to check out if you are using the images you create on their site for work.

March 20, 2015

Check us out over on the Cadalyst CAD Speed Blog!!

I was excited to be interviewed last month by Cadalyst and even more excited today to find the interview featured over on their CAD Speed blog. It was great to share what is going on in the industry particularly as it relates to CAD. We talked about the latest trends and offered information about the Public Works Group and our mission. Check out the interview here:

Expert Interview with Pam Broviak on CAD and Public Works Departments

August 24, 2013

Unconference Session to be held at 2013 APWA Congress

This year when the APWA Congress opens up in Chicago the week of August 25th, there will be a new type of session offered to attendees called a Public Works Camp. This event is held in an unconference style where the "presenters" serve more as hosts and the "attendees" create and drive the session. Because our local branch, the APWA Fox Valley Branch, has been holding similar events over the last few years, members of the branch's education committee, myself included, will help serve as hosts. We look forward to participating in this type of session at the Congress and hope other attendees discover the same value we have found in offering this type of educational experience. And we encourage everyone attending the Congress to stop by the camp on Monday and/or Tuesday from 10 am to 10:50 am to check it out and participate!

For those who are not familiar with a camp or unconference style session, here is some background information:

Specifically tailored for the public works community, the Public Works Camp is an unconference focused on exploring ideas, lessons learned, best practices, industry standards, regulations, and patterns that can be implemented within and shared across the profession.

The camp has several primary goals:

To bring together people from the public and private sector who are either interested in or working in the public works field to share perspectives, insights, ideas about the public works profession and industry.
To share best practices, particularly those focused on increasing sustainability, effectiveness, and efficiency.
To foster communities of practice and advocacy on the role of our profession in our world.
To offer educational opportunities that are innovative, fun, and effective and build on more traditional methods.
To create outcomes that participants will act upon after the event is over.

The format allows for a more informal atmosphere in which people can bring up the issues or ideas that matter most to them. They can also obtain feedback or information from other professionals who share those same concerns. The end result is a more intense educational experience than is usually found in more traditional presentations.

April 8, 2013April 8, 2013

Using Social Media to Communicate Emergency Response

Yesterday Dave Lawry and I presented Using Social Media to Communicate Emergency Response at the 2013 APWA North Amercian Snow Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was fun to give the presentation with Dave because he had some interesting first-hand experiences with implementing social media as a communication tool, particularly during snow operations. His stories came from when he was serving as the Director of Public Works for the city of Elgin in Ill. – some of what they had done has been covered by this blog over the years.

About a year or so ago, Dave moved on to take a position with Chastain and Associates. But even though he is no longer with a city, he continues to encourage and help others in local government with figuring out how best to implement the use of social media. Today Dave led a roundtable discussion at the conference to further explore the topic and share thoughts. He sent me an email and said, "The followup round table was well attended today with two from the class yesterday wishing to continue the discussion. My table was full." Even though I would have liked to attend, I had to return to Illinois because of other commitments so missed the discussion, but I am sure based on the questions we got yesterday it was helpful and informative.

Fortunately I'll be able to work again with Dave in the Fall when we discuss Social Media and Public Works at the 12th Annual Public Service Institute on Oct. 8, 2013, in Effingham, Ill. Our presentation will be given as part of IPSI – a leadership and management program held each year for one week in Illinois. The entire program, which focuses primarily on public works, spans a three-year time period. Last year was my first year of training, and I plan to return this year not only to help Dave with the social media session, but also to go for my second year as a student. As anyone who has attended will tell you, the highlights of the program are Lewis and Mary Bender – the two incredible people who are responsible for organizing and hosting the whole event. Lew also teaches most of the sessions. If you haven't gone yet, I highly recommend you consider going. Just meeting Lew and being able to learn from his years of wisdom makes it all worth it by itself. But the added benefit is you'll also be able to network with and learn from other public works people from all over Illinois. It's really one of the few training opportunities we have for learning how to manage in the unique setting in which we all work. And I'm sure as part of our session at IPSI, Dave and I will be able to further explore the use of social media as a communication tool during emergencies. (Note that I am no longer with the employer shown on the schedule – I've since accepted a position with another governmental agency.)

But for now, you can view the presentation we gave yesterday here:

Using Social Media to Communicate Emergency Response from Pam Broviak

July 23, 2012

Get Your Public Works Questions Answered Here!

Have you ever had a question about something related to public works? Sewers, roads, water, garbage, engineering, GIS, general government, or anything else related to what we do? Well, we're trying out a new service that would allow anyone to post or answer a question related to public works. Maybe you work in the field and just want to know what others are doing or perhaps you are a citizen or developer and are looking for some general knowledge. Either way you can now click on over to the Public Works Group Answers page and start asking away. Or if you work in public works or government and like sharing your knowledge, feel free to jump in and help out.

We'll be evaluating how useful the service is over the next few weeks. So if you have any opinions about it, the comment box is below!