December 2006 Newsletter
Letter from IGIC President Jim Stout
Wow, have IGIC and Indiana GIS seen an action-packed 2006.
- Delivery of the 2005 aerial photos (and elevations, and color infrared); and with the tremendous effort of
Indiana University-UITS, posting it to the web
- Indiana Department of Transportation's road centerline file - giving us a feel for how valuable a comprehensive
IndianaMap will be
- Purdue's successes with IndianaView
- Development of the State of Indiana GIS Center of Excellence
- A great 2006 statewide annual conference
- IGIC Board expansion to include representatives of both the Governor and Lt. Governor (at their request)
- Coordination of the state universities into the Coalition of Universities for Spatial Information Sciences
(CUSIS) and their work to achieve a high-speed presentation of multiple web map services
- Continued fine work by the Indiana Geological Survey on the GIS Atlas for Indiana; plus Indiana's own local
representative with the U.S. Geological Survey (welcome Dave Nail)
- Successful collaborations with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security
- Completion of coordination and planning grants for the Federal Geographic Data Committee
- Substantial progress on the surveyor tie-card posting project,
creation of a museum quality GIS exhibit, population of the (award-winning) Ramona inventory,
and many other projects
- Numerous training classes, seminars, forums, and networking opportunities
- Upcoming legislation for the IndianaMap with strong support by senior legislators, State agencies,
the private sector, and universities
It has been an honor to serve as president this year. First, thanks to the many volunteers who have contributed
to IGIC's mission. A special thanks to Alex Wernher, past president, who recently left Indiana to work at ESRI.
Our best to you and your family.
How can we ever express our appreciation to Jenny Dubeansky for her hard work, integrity, organizational skills,
and being a really fun person? Spaciba.
I have said it often, but it is still true, we have a gem in Jill Saligoe-Simmel. All the time she worries,
plans (schemes?), writes, convenes, teaches, advocates, pleads. So smart, dedicated, fearless; so pleasant
to work with. Her NSGIC award for "Outstanding Service to the Nation" barely starts to convey her value to us.
You may ask, "How can I help IGIC move forward with the IndianaMap and all the great educational opportunities,
networking, coordination, standards and promotion of GIS?"
Become a member. Your annual IGIC membership gets you a members-only conference rate, free admission to the GIS
Seminar Series, many professional networking and development opportunities, a vote for IGIC leadership, and much
more. Most importantly it supports an organization that adds enormous value to the GIS community in Indiana.
Your support is key to IGIC's success.
Happy holidays, everyone!
Jim Stout
IGIC President
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Nominations for the IGIC Board of Directors
Translate your dedication and enthusiasm for GIS into action - serve as a board member of the Indiana Geographic
Information Council. To nominate yourself or someone you think could be a real asset, fill out
an
online nomination form. Deadline for submissions is January 22, 2007.
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Grant Opportunities
Fire Prevention and Safety Grants
The Department of Homeland Security, Office of Grants and Training has announced that funding is available
for the Fire Prevention and Safety Grant. Applications accepted December 4, 2006, through January 12, 2007.
There are two program activities under this year's offering:
- Fire Prevention and Safety
- Firefighter Safety Research and Development
GIS technology is strongly applicable and eligible under the risk assessment requirement as well as for both
activities above.
Get more information.
Federal Emergency Management Agency 2007 Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grants
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced that funding is available for the Pre-Disaster
Mitigation (PDM) grants. It is important that sub-applicants provide a draft proposal to their primary
applicant for review approximately six weeks in advance of this deadline. Applications are due February 5, 2007.
Development of risk assessments for multihazard mitigation plans, including GIS and other mapping activities, may be
submitted as part of a planning sub-application. Mapping activities must not duplicate eligible mapping activities
available under any other federal program or agency.
Get more information.
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GIS Awards
Every year IGIC honors outstanding GIS projects and programs across the state. Know of a project that has made a
positive impact? Are you feeling particularly proud of one of your own accomplishments? Projects large and small
in all topic areas are eligible. Send in a nomination form - you can spread the word and possibly win an award for
yourself! Visit the
awards pages for more information.
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Free Classes
Advanced HAZUS-MH Flood Modeling
Monday-Wednesday December 18-20, 2006 8:30am-4:30pm
FREE
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security is sponsoring a HAZUS-Multihazards course at the Indiana State Emergency
Operations Center in Indianapolis. HAZUS-MH is a free application developed by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency. It gives users the ability to conduct scientifically-based assessments of risk from floods, hurricanes,
and earthquake hazards.
This Flood Modeling course will provide in-depth instruction and hands-on exercises that develop the skills needed to
effectively use HAZUS-MH for modeling the impacts on communities from riverine and coastal flooding. It includes a
detailed review of the methodologies used to compile the extensive out-of-the-box inventory that is provided with HAZUS.
It also discusses techniques for updating the inventory, which is largely composed of best available national data sources,
with more accurate aggregate and site specific local data. Of particular importance, it identifies those inventory
elements that should be given updating priority in order to produce the best possible loss estimates.
It is recommended that participants of this course complete the Basic HAZUS-Multihazards course and that they have
skills equivalent to those taught in the Introduction to ArcGIS for HAZUS-MH Users Course.
Register by sending your complete contact information to
hazusgis@yahoo.com.
Introduction to GIS
Friday, January 26th, 1:00-3:30pm, Indiana State Library, History Reference Room, Indianapolis
FREE
Register
This seminar will introduce the power of geographic information systems (GIS) technology in a way that is clear and
meaningful to participants regardless of their technical background. The session is geared toward decision makers
interested in answering questions like 'What does GIS offer to the constituency that I serve?' and 'How can I
acquire and apply this technology in the most efficient and productive manner possible?'
Dave Coats, Associate Director of The Polis Center at IUPUI, will address these questions. He'll offer a wide range
of examples illustrating how GIS can be applied to understanding and managing community needs and challenges.
Keep it Moving with Maps: GIS Analysis in Transportation
February 16th, 1:00-3:30pm, Indiana State Library, History Reference Room, Indianapolis
FREE
Register
Presenters from the Indiana Department of Transportation will demonstrate innovative uses of GIS tools in
the areas of planning, operations support and environmental impact. GIS experts will demonstrate how basic,
out-of-the-box tools can be used to streamline analysis, manage costs and expedite project completion.
Geo-Spatial Technologies in the K-12 Classroom
Thursday, May 3rd, 4:30-7:30pm, Indiana State Library, History Reference Room, Indianapolis
FREE
Register
Are you looking for ways to incorporate orienteering, GPS, GIS, aerial photography or satellite imagery into your
classroom? Join us for a quick journey through successful lessons and activities from educators throughout the state.
Connections to Indiana Academic Standards, resources, and organizations will be offered. Food will be provided, and
professional development points are available.
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What Do Weather Bugs Want to Know?
The National Weather Service is gathering information on how best to make GIS data available to the public…
"The NWS recognizes the need to systematically provide geospatial information in a consistent fashion and with
operational reliability. We are seeking comments from users on the provision of geospatial information by the
NWS. We will use these comments to help us allocate resources in a way that best meets highest priority user needs.
Specifically, we seek input on what classes of information are most valuable (e.g., radar, temperature, winds,
hurricane track), preferred formats (e.g., shapefile, OGC compliant), and types of access (e.g., ftp download,
map/feature service). Please be a specific as possible. For instance, the NWS provides temperature information
in a number of ways - if particular temperature data are important, please identify them."
Provide input
Download weather data
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In Brief
New Atlas Layers
On the
GIS Atlas for Indiana, 4 new layers have been added to the interactive map: mile markers, ramps, and roads
and ZIP-code tabulation areas from the Census Bureau's 2005 TIGER datasets.
Functionality has also been enhanced. You now have the option of saving a map as a JPEG image file, and
improvements have been made to the "Zoom to Location or Area" tool to include more cities, towns, and places.
Aerial Photography Quilts
A Washington, D.C. artist is using aerial photography to create digital quilts. See his take on Indianapolis at
www.nikolasschiller.com/blog/index.php/archives/category/location/indiana/indianapolis
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A Continent of GIS
European Environmental Policy
Brussels, November 2006 - The INSPIRE directive - Infrastructure for spatial information in Europe - has been
agreed on by the European Parliament and the Council in Conciliation. INSPIRE will strengthen the knowledge
base for environmental policy and make it more accessible to citizens, stakeholders and decision-makers. The
directive will cover a very wide range of spatial data ranging from basic mapping information, such as
geographical names and administrative units, to key environmental information such as emissions, environmental
quality and location of protected sites. At present, this type of data is not always available, nor is it always
consistent enough for designing and implementing environmental policy. The new directive sets obligations on what
the public authorities of the Member States do with the data they collect. It was proposed by the
Commission in 2004 but some Member States had difficulties with provisions requiring their public authorities to
take a more open approach to the data they hold. The directive will now be formally adopted early next year and
the Member States will then have two years to transpose it into national law.
For more information on how INSPIRE is addressing metadata, data sharing, costs and portal challenges,
visit
http://www.ec-gis.org/inspire
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Freeware for the Holidays
Over the past several years, Professor Bruce Ralston of the University of Tennessee has written a number of programs
for use with Census data. In addition to TIGER translators, there are programs for extracting tables from Census
Summary Files, and one program for creating shapes from DLGs. All of these are now freeware, available for download
from the Tennessee Electronic Atlas. The programs, user manuals, whitepaper, and TGR2SHP source code can be found at
http://tnatlas.geog.utk.edu/downloadfree.htm.
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Red Hot Green
The Division of Forestry at the Indiana Department of Natural Resources oversees the Classified
Forest program, which contains over 475,000 acres of private forest land. With only 18 district foresters to
assist the thousands of landowners enrolled in the Classified Forest program, it can be difficult to increase
enrollment while maintaining quality of service.
Adding to the challenge, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), which provides grant money for the State's stewardship program,
established a new set of criteria. These new standards must be met in order to maintain funding levels.
Indiana was part of the second group of states to participate in the U.S. Forest Service's Spatial Analysis Project
(SAP). The goal of the project was to determine where to focus money for enrollment into stewardship programs. Also,
a GIS layer showing the locations of forests already enrolled in the Classified Forest program was required.
Since the SAP had an obvious spatial component, GIS was the primary tool for meeting the USFS requirements. Purdue
University was contracted to digitize the locations of current classified forests, as well as begin creating the 12
data layers that were combined to determine stewardship potential.
The Division of Forestry also hired a full-time GIS coordinator, allowing for completion of this project. Once the
12 data layers were completed, the 18 district foresters along with a Forest Stewardship Committee ranked the layers
based on importance. The 12 layers were then weighted based on the voting results and combined into one forest
stewardship potential map.
The final output map had a range of values from 0 (lowest stewardship potential) to 1 (highest stewardship potential).
Using the Natural Breaks method, the map was broken into low, medium and high potential categories. The highest values
were then targeted as areas where the Division of Forestry should focus their efforts to enroll private landowners into
the Classified Forest program. Additionally, it allowed Forestry to see how well current enrollment matched up with the
potential map. This showed that 78% of the acreage enrolled in Classified Forest fell into areas that had High Stewardship
Potential despite just 15% of the state falling into the High rating.
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A Government that Talks to Itself
The City of Mishawaka was striving to implement GIS on a citywide level. At the beginning, most department
heads were doubtful or concerned that GIS was too difficult or expensive. Typical interaction between or
within departments was limited to conversations or looking at paper diagrams and information. The challenge
was to have all departments keeping their geographic information in the same digital formats.
The GIS Director cultivated departmental GIS coordinators, who were then equipped with software, training, server space,
hardware, and if necessary, consulting services. Consultants helped design extensive databases for the GIS, linking
electric, water, and storm/sewer systems. Using the GIS, these three departments now have accurate GPS data, and are
able to seamlessly transfer it to each other, and the Engineering Department.
The Redevelopment, Planning, and Street Departments are now using GIS on a daily basis. The Fire Department is also
working on specialized maps for Fire and EMS vehicles, and the Police Department has begun work on crime mapping and
analysis.
Any employee can go into the GIS and locate certain properties or areas. A map can be quickly printed out (or simply viewed)
which includes high-resolution aerial photography and City data so that discussions with citizens are more informed. Other
intelligent maps are used to communicate with the public in an intuitive, visual way. GIS-generated maps have been provided
to the County Prosecutor, the City Clerk, and department heads, as well as other outside organizations.
Duplication of effort and outdated data methods are gradually being eliminated, making City government more efficient.
The GIS has improved intra- and inter-departmental coordination, streamlined workflows, sped up access to information,
and enabled more informed decision making.
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