September 2005 Newsletter
Meeting Change
The September IGIC Board Meeting has been rescheduled. The new date is Thursday, September 22 from 1:00pm-4:00pm
at the IGIC offices in the Indiana State Library, 140 N. Senate Avenue Room 306. For questions or directions,
contact us at info@igic.org.
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What Are IGIC and INGISI?
Occasionally someone asks, "What's the relationship between the Indiana GIS Initiative (INGISI) and the Indiana
Geographic Information Council, Inc. (IGIC)?" If you've wondered yourself, here's the answer:
INGISI started in 1997 as a grass-roots effort to coordinate statewide GIS. Since that time, we've kept
track of an informal "membership" that has always been open to anyone interested in Indiana GIS. There are
nearly a thousand stakeholders who stay informed through monthly newsletters and seminars, stay connected via
the listserv, benefit from statewide projects, and take advantage of the resources on the website. There are a
number of committees and projects administered through IGIC. Your membership and volunteer participation are
encouraged - and vital - to INGISI.
IGIC was established in 2001 to accommodate the need for a formally (and legally) established organization.
IGIC is the elected board of INGISI. It comprises over two dozen individuals who represent thirteen different
sectors - utilities, private industry, government, education, etc. In the larger sense, IGIC is a nonprofit
that acts primarily as a pooled technology resource, coordinating statewide GIS for Indiana. The organization
provides education, policy guidance, and technology resources to hundreds of individuals and organizations
annually. Practically, this means IGIC leads major data and research initiatives like the IndianaMap,
coordinates an annual Indiana GIS conference, directs committee activities for data sharing and standards
development, and provides outreach through seminars and workshops.
Still have questions? Comments? Suggestions? Contact the IGIC offices at (317) 234-2924 or info@igic.org for
more information or to get involved.
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Membership Survey
IGIC is considering formalizing the INGISI membership and we want to know your opinion on the subject.
Go to
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=365321272094
to take a brief survey. Let us know what's important to you.
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An Ounce of Prevention: GIS and Flooding
In January of this year much of the state experienced massive flooding. In northwest Indiana, the Allen County
Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was activated to coordinate relief and response efforts, including notifying
residents who were at risk from the flood waters.
Allen County's GIS included floodzones, addresses, roads and aerial photography, among others. What it didn't
include was contact information for the city's most vulnerable residents - those with physical or mental
disabilities who would need help evacuating. That information was provided on the spot by a group of volunteers
who had been collecting it for the past 18 months. The Volunteer Center had started building a database based on
a comment from a police officer about how useful that information would be in an emergency. When they approached
EOC staff, the volunteers wanted to know if the locations in their database could be shown on a map. Within half
an hour, the information was added to the GIS, at-risk residents living in or near flood zones were identified and
resources allocated to notify them.
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ImageMapper Review: Create Online Maps
HTML ImageMapper from Alta4 is a wizard-based extension that quickly converts any ArcGIS document into a
clickable HTML image map. Alta4 has versions of this extension for ArcGIS 9x and ArcView 3x.
After downloading and installing the 30-day demo version of the software from
www.alta4.com/eng/products_e/, I
fired up ArcGIS 9.1 and turned on the new extension. I created a simple map, then clicked on the ImageMapper button
to try it out. Without a glance at their manual (also available on their website), I could work through the wizard
with very little problem. In just a few minutes, I was able to create an HTML document that displayed a clickable
HTML map. Depending on the options I chose in the wizard, my "clicks" would bring up attribute information,
link me to other pages, email addresses, or databases. A quick glance through the manual showed me that it would
be possible to tweak some of the features that I had already used, and add a few more advanced options to create
a slicker web map.
This is a nifty, easy extension, especially for folks who aren't comfortable with HTML and prefer not to
purchase higher priced web publishing extensions or software.
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Orthophotography Update
Last month we reported that EarthData was given a notice-to-proceed to process photos for all of Indiana.
In the last month, the State signed the contract with Dewberry for quality assurance. A QA kick-off meeting
was held August 22nd in Indianapolis with representatives from EarthData (acquisition vendor), Dewberry
(QA vendor) and the IGIC Ortho Workgroup. On August 20th, Dewberry received the first delivery of 1,678
photo tiles (out of 67,000). EarthData is planning to deliver over 3,000 tiles per week until the whole
state is done.
You can follow EarthData's progress at the Project Tracker website:
www.edprojecttracker.com
Username: indiana1
Password: hoosier
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Upcoming Conferences
Get ready for the fall conference season...
Indiana Association of Cities and Towns Annual Conference
September 25-28
Fort Wayne
http://www.citiesandtowns.org/
Midwest Arc Users Group Conference
October 5-7
Bloomington
http://igs.indiana.edu/maug2005/index.cfm
Association of Indiana Counties Annual Conference
October 17-20
Indianapolis
http://www.indianacounties.org/
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New Online Metadata Tool
The Northwest Indiana GIS Forum in partnership with the Indiana Geological Survey has released the draft version
of the online metadata tool. The site was developed to assist anyone (and everyone) with producing
minimally-compliant FGDC metadata quickly and efficiently. Check out the great new user-friendly tools -
initially funded through a grant received from the EPA -
http://igs.indiana.edu/metadata/index.cfm.
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Why Geography Matters
Noted geographer Harm de Blij has released a new book, Why Geography Matters. "This is not an academic
tome or a technical book about geography," writes reviewer David Smith. "It is a friendly and accessible
reader for those who have a basic grasp of some of the concepts of geography and who want to understand
where the world is headed.
It is also an urgent call to educators across the United States to restore the study of geography to the
nation's schools. Climate change, terrorism, and massive population shifts cannot be fully grasped without
a grounding in geography that US students are not currently getting, he contends."
Click here to read the
review in the Christian Science Monitor.
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GeoSpatial OneStop Interview
Excerpt from GIS Monitor
Hank Garie, new head of the NSDI's
GeoSpatial OneStop
project, sat down recently to chat with GIS Monitor... "We are beginning to see the evolution of this
technology [GIS] to where policymakers are beginning to see that it is really useful and are beginning
to apply it to their own problems and decisions."
Click here to read the full interview in the August 4th edition of GIS Monitor.
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New Indiana Chapter of ASPRS
ASPRS (American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing) is proud to announce that on August 10th, 2005,
an Indiana Chapter of the Society was formed. There are currently more than 50 active members of ASPRS in
the State of Indiana. Prior to forming the Indiana Chapter, members could only participate in meetings and
educational opportunities offered by the Western Great Lakes Region and most of their meetings are held in
Wisconsin or Minnesota. The Indiana Chapter is open to all active members of ASPRS who live within the State.
It will represent the identical mission of the National Society and the Western Great Lakes Region, which is "to
advance knowledge and improve understanding of mapping sciences and to promote the responsible application of
photogrammetry, remote sensing, geographic information systems and supporting technologies."
"The formation of an Indiana Chapter is long overdue," said Brian Mayfield, President of the Chapter.
"This is a great opportunity to bring GIS professionals, surveyors and photogrammetrists together and focus
on a common goal - educating others and promoting the geo-sciences." The chapter will meet quarterly and will
host ASPRS-accredited workshops that count towards professional Certification and Re-Certification in a number
of fields, including the increasingly popular GISP certification. The next meeting is scheduled to be held in
early November at Purdue University.
For more information about membership in ASPRS or participating in upcoming events, please visit
www.asprs.org or contact Brian Mayfield at bmayfield@pinnaclemapping.com.
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In Brief
Historical Maps
Wayne County interactive site has added historical maps to their online offerings.
Click here to check out these beautiful 19th and 20th century images.
CAP Grant Award
Congratulations to the Northwest Indiana GIS Forum! The Forum, in partnership with the Indiana University Northwest
Library, has been awarded a 2005 FGDC CAP Grant. The funds will be used to promote and educate users on metadata.
This will allow the Forum to continue to parse and post - to the Indiana Data Clearinghouse - metadata compiled
using their online metadata tool.
Landsat Online
IndianaView GloVis(IN-Vis) data server for Landsat Thematic Mapper data now online. Go to
http://indianaview.envision.purdue.edu/glovis/index.htm
and click on Indiana. You'll see a graphical browser for the images available for download. Note that you can
use the "Sensor" menu item to select the Landsat 7, 4-5 or all Landsat holdings. You can also use the "Map Layers"
menu item to select overlays for the map.
Job Postings
Do you have a GIS position that needs to be filled? We will post your job description on our website
free of charge. Just email the specifics - including contact information - to info@igic.org.
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Free Classes
HAZUS Courses
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security is announcing the following three free courses to be offered at
the Indiana Government Center in downtown Indianapolis. If you would like to register for one or more of
these courses, please send email with your name, organization, email, title(s) and date(s) of the course(s)
you wish to register for to hazusgis@yahoo.com. Note that past experience has shown that these courses fill
quickly, so you are encouraged to reserve your seat as soon as possible.
You may also check out the Indiana Department of Homeland Security website at
http://www.in.gov/dhs/ for continuous updates about new and existing courses and locations. You are also
asked to send requests for alternative course dates and locations to Indiana Department of Homeland Security so
that they may attempt to accommodate your education related needs.
1.) Advanced HAZUS-MH Flood
September 12-14, 2005, 8:30am-4:30pm
HAZUS-MH is a powerful, ArcGIS-based risk assessment software program created by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency and distributed freely upon request. It can be used for analyzing potential losses
from floods, hurricane winds and earthquakes. In HAZUS-MH, current scientific and engineering knowledge
is coupled with the latest GIS technology to produce estimates of hazard related damage before, or after,
a disaster occurs.
This three-day course will focus on the HAZUS-MH flood model. It will help participants learn to update the
HAZUS-provided inventory with local information, gain a better understanding of the analysis options that HAZUS
provides, and interpret the information that HAZUS generates. It is recommended that participants in this
course have completed the Basic HAZUS-Multihazards course, or have equivalent knowledge, prior to attending
this course.
2.) Using ArcGIS for Emergency Management
November 21-22, 2005, 8:30am-4:30pm
This two-day, hands-on course is designed to empower emergency managers, planners, engineers, public safety
professionals, and others with the skills needed to visualize, query, and analyze information related to
disaster mitigation, response, recovery and risk management using ArcGIS. This course is recommended for
persons with no GIS experience, persons that have GIS experience in non-ESRI GIS tools, and persons that
have GIS experience in ESRI GIS tools other than ArcGIS.
3.) Using HAZUS-MH for DMA 2000 Risk Assessment
November 28-30, 2005, 8:30am-4:30pm
This three-day course focuses on using the HAZUS-MH risk assessment methodology, data requirements, and
applications to assist local communities to conduct their risk assessments for DMA 2000 and to address their
disaster-related risk assessment needs. The course will involve hands-on computer exercises using the free
HAZUS-MH software to perform tasks associated with each step of the risk assessment process.
CAD/GIS Integration Seminar
October 18, 1:00pm - 3:00pm, IUPUI University Library
The speaker for this seminar will be Bill Kimbrell with Woolpert, Inc. Bill has extensive experience with
helping GIS and CAD users bridge the gap between these important technologies. He will talk about the
different ways to integrate these technologies and will present practical, real-world examples of how this
goal can be achieved. Realizing that some people want to transition completely out of CAD into GIS, while
others need to use both technologies hand-in-hand, he'll approach the subject from both perspectives. He will
also address the issue of working with CAD-based engineering and construction companies and discuss the idea of
implementing CAD/GIS standards and guidelines. There will be ample opportunities for audience interaction
throughout the presentation.
The seminar will be held at the IUPUI University Library at 755 West Michigan Street, Indianapolis, Indiana
46202. This event is FREE OF CHARGE to participants. However, registration is required in order to ensure
that adequate seating is available, so please sign up as early as possible by sending your contact information
in an email to polis@iupui.edu or by calling (317) 274-2455. You can also register online at
The Polis Center website.
This seminar is part of the ongoing GIS Seminar Series, a partnership between The Polis Center at IUPUI and IGIC.
Watch for future announcements, including the Fall 2005 Road Show which will be held in southeast Indiana, in
the near future.
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