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In this issue...

President's Letter
Your Online Orthophotography
Web Map How-To
IndianaMap Road Shows and Seminars
2006 GIS Award Winners
In Brief

April 2006 Newsletter

President's Letter

An open letter from new IGIC President, Jim Stout

Thank you for the honor to be able to serve IGIC as president for 2006. What an exciting time for GIS in Indiana. We are coming off a wonderfully successful GIS conference - 350 attendees, with great presentations and workshops. Our thanks to the conference committee. So much dessert, so little time.

IGIC could not want for better staff. We have a treasure in IGIC's Executive Director, Jill Saligoe-Simmel. Her leadership, courage and drive continuously amazes me. Jenny Dubeansky, of course, runs the place. I know first hand her extraordinarily effective "friendly persuasion".

A special thanks goes to Alex Wernher. During his two-year presidency, IGIC became a powerhouse in Indiana, and the envy of GIS coordinating bodies nationwide. I recall Alex's calm presentation on the Indiana Senate floor to a joint committee hearing. That bill did not receive a single 'no' vote from either house. Alex, it is a true pleasure working with you.

We have work to do. GIS is a powerful tool, but only effective when the data and skills exist. Too many towns and counties don't have the GIS they need. It drags the whole state down. IGIC can help with coordination, education and data.

We need an on-going inventory of the existence and quality of GIS data, with the specific purpose of building toward a minimum basemap for all of Indiana. It is time to have a complete and accurate road centerline file with names, address ranges and routing information. In my short talk at the conference, I noted an example where taxpayers paid for four independent versions of centerlines. This has to stop! IGIC is worthwhile if all we do is push collaborations.

Many public safety, delivery and logistics applications use point addresses. A statewide spatially accurate, address database is possible, with huge benefits. A coordinated state cadastre would provide an enormous economic advantage to the state. I hope the aerial photography project will prove to be so valuable that we can convince funders of the need for continued semi-annual updates.

IGIC will continue to provide seminars and the conference. We will also make the IGIC calendar the place to go for other educational opportunities.

GIS community members have always helped each other. Let's expand those relationships. Register your contact information on the IGIC web page and encourage others to do so.

I am looking forward to working with you. Feel free to contact me (or any other IGIC Board member or staff with your ideas, comments and suggestions.

Sincerely,
Jim Stout
IGIC President

IndianaMap: Your Online Orthophotography

28 Counties Loaded, 64 to Go!

For the IndianaMap, data development is only part of the picture. Without easy access and multiple channels of distribution the IndianaMap has limited value. One critical aspect is making data available over the internet.

Indiana University is contributing significant in-kind resources to make the 2005 Orthophotography available online for viewing, data streaming, download, and long-term archive. In partnership with IGIC, and with support of a grant from the Federal Geographic Data Committee, University Information Technology Services (UITS) is doing some amazing work with the orthophotography. This is a massive data set - over 7 terabytes - and making it accessible is a monumental undertaking.

UITS prepared well for this task. They are able to make the data available online within days of it being delivered to the county. With a partnership that works, we can now see the state as never before - seamless and accurate.

For a closer look at what it takes to get the data online, see the 2006 Indiana GIS Conference presentations by Anna Radue and Nathan Eaton. Tremendous thanks to UITS and their staff for making a difference in Indiana!

Web Map How-To

One way for GIS professionals to use the IndianaMap is to load its "Map Services" directly as layers into ESRI desktop GIS software. The Indiana Geological Survey (IGS) is hosting the IndianaMap Web Map Services (WMS) in partnership with IGIC. The goal is to support Open GIS standards for platform-independent services. The instructions shown here are for use with ESRI ArcMap software. Follow the instructions below to create a connection to the map services and use the data - including the 2005 orthophotography - in ArcMap:

Fw_boundaries_govt_units - Includes past, current and future rights and interest in real property, surveys, legal descriptions, parcels, cadastral reference systems e.g. PLSS, and publicly administered parcels e.g. military/state parks/etc.
Fw_cadastral - Units of government include state, counties, and incorporated places.
Fw_elevation - Elevations of land surfaces.
Fw_geodetic_control - Reference system of monumented points and GPS control stations.
Fw_hydrography - Includes surface water features such as lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, canals, and shorelines.
Fw_ortho_imagery - Now featuring the NEW 2005 orthophotography being added as it becomes available!
Fw_transportation - Includes roads, trails, railroads, waterways, and airports; may include street center line and address range information.

After you've established the connection the first time, you can add the services to other map projects later by simply repeating steps 3, 7 and 8. Add your own data on top. ArcMap will automatically save the Map Services settings with your .mxd project file.

New to Map Services? Here is a list of some other Map Services you may find useful (insert just the URL in step 5 above). Or submit your favorite Map Service to IGIC!

Indiana Spatial Data Service at IU

Web map services (WMS) and web feature services (WFS) from Purdue University

Kentucky Commonwealth Map

AccuWeather live weather feed

Services available through the Geography Network

Back to Top

IndianaMap Road Shows and Seminars

The summer GIS Road Shows are upon us. This year, IGIC and the Polis Center will offer six free one-day events covering the 2005 orthophotography. Each will emphasize how you can use this incredible imagery in your organization. Specific topics vary by location, so be sure to check out the full line-up on the IGIC website. All events, which last from 9:00am-4:00pm are free and open to the public.

Wednesday April 19th

NW Indiana Regional Planning Commission
6100 Southport Road
Portage, Indiana 46368

Tuesday May 9th

Kosciusko County Justice Building
Basement Meeting Room
121 N. Lake Street
Warsaw, IN 46580

Tuesday May 23rd

Wayne County Government Annex
Commissioner's Chambers
401 E. Main Street
Richmond, IN 47374

Thursday June 8th

Vigo County Annex
County Council Chamber
121 Oak Street
Terre Haute, IN 47807

Thursday June 22nd

Indiana 15 Regional Planning Commission
221 E. First Street
Ferdinand, IN 47532

Tuesday July 18th

Clark County 911
Conference Room
110 N. Indiana Avenue
Sellersburg, IN 47172

Seminars

In addition to the Road Shows, there will be three half-day seminars in Indianapolis. Each will focus on one type of imagery - Orthophotography, Elevation and Color Infrared. Registration for "First Steps to Using and Creating Your Basemap" on Wednesday, April 12th.

Back to Top

2006 GIS Award Winners

Congratulations to all of this year's GIS Award winners. Follow the links below to learn more about these exemplary projects, or visit the IGIC awards page.

Economic Development

City of Indianapolis, Department of Metropolitan Development
Find it Online: Webmap-Based Property Site Finder

Education and Nonprofit

Northwest Indiana GIS Forum
Metadata Made Easy: Online Compilation Tool

Large Community

South Bend Police Department/City of South Bend
Just the Facts: Regional Crime Intelligence Unit

Small Community

City of Mishawaka
A Government that Talks to Itself

County

Noble County
How All-Purpose is Defined: Enterprise GIS

Multi-Jurisdictional Cooperation

Multiple Agencies and Organizations
Section Corner Tie Card Project

Back to Top

In Brief

Money for School

The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation announced a call for entries for their 2006 scholarship program. This is open to graduate, undergraduate, and high school students studying in fields related to geospatial intelligence. Learn more or download an application at http://www.usgif.org.

Parcel Study

The National Research Council is conducting a study on land parcel databases and have released a survey for interested parties to fill out online.

Learn on the Cheap

In recognition of over 15 years of providing quality GIS education, The Polis Center at IUPUI is offering two ESRI Authorized Introduction to ArcGIS II courses at a steeply discounted rate. The courses will be held in Indianapolis in May and July. Visit The Polis Center website for more information.

Landsat 5 Up and Running

The Landsat Project announced that Landsat 5 has returned to full operations. On March 17, 2006, the satellite experienced a problem with its radio transmitter, preventing transmission of science data to ground receiving stations. The team expects reliable operations of data transmission for the foreseeable future.

Back to Top


Online Maps Standards GIS Policy & Guides Projects IndianaMap GIS Inventory What's GIS? GIS In Action Awards Classes & Seminars Links GIS Council Membership Committees Annual Conference Funding Jobs & Internships News Calendar Contact Us Home	home > news > newsletters In this issue... President's Letter Your Online Orthophotography Web Map How-To IndianaMap Road Shows and Seminars 2006 GIS Award Winners In Brief April 2006 Newsletter President's Letter An open letter from new IGIC President, Jim Stout Thank you for the honor to be able to serve IGIC as president for 2006. What an exciting time for GIS in Indiana. We are coming off a wonderfully successful GIS conference - 350 attendees, with great presentations and workshops. Our thanks to the conference committee. So much dessert, so little time. IGIC could not want for better staff. We have a treasure in IGIC's Executive Director, Jill Saligoe-Simmel. Her leadership, courage and drive continuously amazes me. Jenny Dubeansky, of course, runs the place. I know first hand her extraordinarily effective "friendly persuasion". A special thanks goes to Alex Wernher. During his two-year presidency, IGIC became a powerhouse in Indiana, and the envy of GIS coordinating bodies nationwide. I recall Alex's calm presentation on the Indiana Senate floor to a joint committee hearing. That bill did not receive a single 'no' vote from either house. Alex, it is a true pleasure working with you. We have work to do. GIS is a powerful tool, but only effective when the data and skills exist. Too many towns and counties don't have the GIS they need. It drags the whole state down. IGIC can help with coordination, education and data. We need an on-going inventory of the existence and quality of GIS data, with the specific purpose of building toward a minimum basemap for all of Indiana. It is time to have a complete and accurate road centerline file with names, address ranges and routing information. In my short talk at the conference, I noted an example where taxpayers paid for four independent versions of centerlines. This has to stop! IGIC is worthwhile if all we do is push collaborations. Many public safety, delivery and logistics applications use point addresses. A statewide spatially accurate, address database is possible, with huge benefits. A coordinated state cadastre would provide an enormous economic advantage to the state. I hope the aerial photography project will prove to be so valuable that we can convince funders of the need for continued semi-annual updates. IGIC will continue to provide seminars and the conference. We will also make the IGIC calendar the place to go for other educational opportunities. GIS community members have always helped each other. Let's expand those relationships. Register your contact information on the IGIC web page and encourage others to do so. I am looking forward to working with you. Feel free to contact me (or any other IGIC Board member or staff with your ideas, comments and suggestions. Sincerely, Jim Stout IGIC President Back to Top IndianaMap: Your Online Orthophotography 28 Counties Loaded, 64 to Go! For the IndianaMap, data development is only part of the picture. Without easy access and multiple channels of distribution the IndianaMap has limited value. One critical aspect is making data available over the internet. Indiana University is contributing significant in-kind resources to make the 2005 Orthophotography available online for viewing, data streaming, download, and long-term archive. In partnership with IGIC, and with support of a grant from the Federal Geographic Data Committee, University Information Technology Services (UITS) is doing some amazing work with the orthophotography. This is a massive data set - over 7 terabytes - and making it accessible is a monumental undertaking. UITS prepared well for this task. They are able to make the data available online within days of it being delivered to the county. With a partnership that works, we can now see the state as never before - seamless and accurate. For a closer look at what it takes to get the data online, see the 2006 Indiana GIS Conference presentations by Anna Radue and Nathan Eaton. Tremendous thanks to UITS and their staff for making a difference in Indiana! Back to Top Web Map How-To One way for GIS professionals to use the IndianaMap is to load its "Map Services" directly as layers into ESRI desktop GIS software. The Indiana Geological Survey (IGS) is hosting the IndianaMap Web Map Services (WMS) in partnership with IGIC. The goal is to support Open GIS standards for platform-independent services. The instructions shown here are for use with ESRI ArcMap software. Follow the instructions below to create a connection to the map services and use the data - including the 2005 orthophotography - in ArcMap: 1. Open ArcMap. 2. Click the Add Data button. 3. In the Add Data dialog box, choose GIS Servers. 4. Double-click Add ArcIMS Server. 5. Enter the URL for the server: http://129.79.145.5 6. Choose framework data services (shown below) or the default All services option and click OK. Fw_boundaries_govt_units - Includes past, current and future rights and interest in real property, surveys, legal descriptions, parcels, cadastral reference systems e.g. PLSS, and publicly administered parcels e.g. military/state parks/etc. Fw_cadastral - Units of government include state, counties, and incorporated places. Fw_elevation - Elevations of land surfaces. Fw_geodetic_control - Reference system of monumented points and GPS control stations. Fw_hydrography - Includes surface water features such as lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, canals, and shorelines. Fw_ortho_imagery - Now featuring the NEW 2005 orthophotography being added as it becomes available! Fw_transportation - Includes roads, trails, railroads, waterways, and airports; may include street center line and address range information. 7. In the Add Data dialog box, double-click the http://129.79.145.5 connection to view available map services. 8. Select one or more map services and click Add to load the map services into ArcMap. After you've established the connection the first time, you can add the services to other map projects later by simply repeating steps 3, 7 and 8. Add your own data on top. ArcMap will automatically save the Map Services settings with your .mxd project file. New to Map Services? Here is a list of some other Map Services you may find useful (insert just the URL in step 5 above). Or submit your favorite Map Service to IGIC! Indiana Spatial Data Service at IU Web map services (WMS) and web feature services (WFS) from Purdue University Kentucky Commonwealth Map AccuWeather live weather feed Services available through the Geography Network Back to Top IndianaMap Road Shows and Seminars The summer GIS Road Shows are upon us. This year, IGIC and the Polis Center will offer six free one-day events covering the 2005 orthophotography. Each will emphasize how you can use this incredible imagery in your organization. Specific topics vary by location, so be sure to check out the full line-up on the IGIC website. All events, which last from 9:00am-4:00pm are free and open to the public. Wednesday April 19th NW Indiana Regional Planning Commission 6100 Southport Road Portage, Indiana 46368 Tuesday May 9th Kosciusko County Justice Building Basement Meeting Room 121 N. Lake Street Warsaw, IN 46580 Tuesday May 23rd Wayne County Government Annex Commissioner's Chambers 401 E. Main Street Richmond, IN 47374 Thursday June 8th Vigo County Annex County Council Chamber 121 Oak Street Terre Haute, IN 47807 Thursday June 22nd Indiana 15 Regional Planning Commission 221 E. First Street Ferdinand, IN 47532 Tuesday July 18th Clark County 911 Conference Room 110 N. Indiana Avenue Sellersburg, IN 47172 Seminars In addition to the Road Shows, there will be three half-day seminars in Indianapolis. Each will focus on one type of imagery - Orthophotography, Elevation and Color Infrared. Registration for "First Steps to Using and Creating Your Basemap" on Wednesday, April 12th. Back to Top 2006 GIS Award Winners Congratulations to all of this year's GIS Award winners. Follow the links below to learn more about these exemplary projects, or visit the IGIC awards page. Economic Development City of Indianapolis, Department of Metropolitan Development Find it Online: Webmap-Based Property Site Finder Education and Nonprofit Northwest Indiana GIS Forum Metadata Made Easy: Online Compilation Tool Large Community South Bend Police Department/City of South Bend Just the Facts: Regional Crime Intelligence Unit Small Community City of Mishawaka A Government that Talks to Itself County Noble County How All-Purpose is Defined: Enterprise GIS Multi-Jurisdictional Cooperation Multiple Agencies and Organizations Section Corner Tie Card Project Back to Top In Brief Money for School The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation announced a call for entries for their 2006 scholarship program. This is open to graduate, undergraduate, and high school students studying in fields related to geospatial intelligence. Learn more or download an application at http://www.usgif.org. Parcel Study The National Research Council is conducting a study on land parcel databases and have released a survey for interested parties to fill out online. Learn on the Cheap In recognition of over 15 years of providing quality GIS education, The Polis Center at IUPUI is offering two ESRI Authorized Introduction to ArcGIS II courses at a steeply discounted rate. The courses will be held in Indianapolis in May and July. Visit The Polis Center website for more information. Landsat 5 Up and Running The Landsat Project announced that Landsat 5 has returned to full operations. On March 17, 2006, the satellite experienced a problem with its radio transmitter, preventing transmission of science data to ground receiving stations. The team expects reliable operations of data transmission for the foreseeable future. Back to Top

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