February 2007 Newsletter

2007 Indiana GIS Conference

March 13-14, 2007
Crown Plaza Hotel and Conference Center
Downtown Indianapolis

Online registration for the 2007 Indiana GIS Conference is now open! Join your colleagues for two days of networking, new ideas, and fun.

Check out the full conference schedule to see all the events and sessions.

Visit the conference website for all the details.

Early Bird pricing ends February 16th, so sign up today!

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MAPPS Litigation Update

Litigation has been filed in US District Court by the Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Firms (MAPPS) to require that nearly all federally contracted mapping and GIS activities be limited to licensed surveyors or engineers.

The American Association of Geographers (AAG) has taken the lead in developing and filing an Amicus Brief opposing this attempt to exclude geographers and many others in the mapping and GIS community from receiving federal contracts related to mapping or GIS. Several other organizations have also signed onto the AAG Amicus Brief, which was filed January 24th.

AAG has also prepared a background paper summarizing some of the key issues involved in this case. The Amicus Brief and Background Paper can be viewed on the IGIC website at www.in.gov/igic/policy.

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Surveyor Tie Card Layer Available on the Atlas

A new layer showing "Surveyor Tie Cards" has been added to the interactive map on the GIS Atlas for Indiana. A "tie card" is a written description of the location of a corner of a Section within the Public Land Survey System (PLSS). The layer shows points where scanned (PDF) images of tie cards are available for viewing. Tie cards are presently available for Bartholomew, Jennings, and Newton counties. In order to access the scanned images of the tie cards, make the Tie Cards layer active, click the "Identify" tool, and click on a point of interest. When the "Query/Selection Results" window appears, click on the hyperlink in the field titled "IGS_Link." A new window showing the scanned image will appear.

This online availability is the latest milestone for the ongoing Tie Card Project, championed by the IGIC Geodetic Workgroup. Lorraine Wright of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and Gary Kent of The Schneider Corporation will be presenting on the project at the 2007 Indiana GIS Conference. The workshop, entitled "The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) GIS Framework: How It Applies to Surveyors, Assessors, Recorders and the General Public," will include instructions on using the new tie card layer, information on its limitations, and next steps for the project.

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Feeding the Masses Healthy Food

From National Public Radio

A group in Philadelphia is using high-tech mapping technologies to show that people in poor neighborhoods need more places to shop for healthy food.

In the late 1890s, the civil-rights pioneer W.E.B. Du Bois created a map of houses in a narrow strip of central Philadelphia. The map showed houses where African-Americans lived, highlighted and color-coded to indicate their class. For Amy Hillier, professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, Du Bois' map is a professional inspiration.

Hiller is trying to walk in the footsteps of Du Bois. Using a technique called Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Hillier draws maps of urban landscapes built from mounds of data - statistics on wealth in particular neighborhoods, traffic patterns, crime - anything that has a location.

Hillier's maps are turning out to be very useful for neighborhood activists such as Duane Perry, who founded an organization in Philadelphia called the Food Trust, dedicated to helping city residents gain access to nutritious, affordable, food.

Read or listen to the full story at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7097476.

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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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K-12 IndianaMap Poster Contest

The IndianaMap Poster Contest is a great way to introduce kids and young adults to digital maps and GIS. All current Indiana K-12 students are eligible to enter by submitting a computer-generated map (preferably using GIS software).

Posters should answer a question using maps. For instance:

Where are my relatives buried?
What kinds of trees are in my backyard?
Where would my family go in an emergency (fire stations, schools, hospitals)?
Where are the local churches? What denominations?

PRIZES!!!
Target gift cards
GIS prize packages
Posters featured on www.igic.org

For information on free GIS software and data available at your local library, visit the IndianaMap website. The GENI website (Geography Educators' Network of Indiana) also has resources for teachers and students interested in geospatial technologies.

Get contest details and more information

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Update on Geospatial One-Stop and The National Map

By Adena Schutzberg

The US Geological Survey had a significant presence at ESRI's Federal User Group Meeting a few weeks ago in Washington. I was invited to meet with some of both the new and seasoned staffers for an update on that agency. Overall, I'd describe the situation as unsettled, but moving forward.

Carl Zulick is the new deputy for Geospatial Information Integration and Analysis (GIIA) located in the National Geospatial Program Office. He was formerly with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and he stepped into the job back in September. I met him at NSGIC when he had been on the job for just days. Last week, he reported he'd met with his team and partner agencies and learned about what they do and how that work fits with other programs. He laughed when he noted he had to have a bigger white board installed in his office to keep track!

Zulick wants to invigorate The National Map by working with Department of Homeland Security, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and other federal agencies, the states, counties and others. There are plans in motion to modernize the technology and move to an "extract, transform, load" (ETL) process. He pointed out that The National Map may in time provide access to more than the eight base layers.

Zulick reiterated the vision he'd shared with me last fall for an integrated portal for The National Atlas, Geospatial One-Stop and The National Map. The portal would help get users to the appropriate 'channel' for their needs. I asked Zulick to comment on how the entry of Google, Microsoft and others into the Web mapping space changes what his team does. First, he noted that many of these offerings "use our data!" That, he said, validates USGS work. Second, he pointed out that the speed at which these sites offer data has provided a nice push to upgrade performance of NGPO offerings, including The National Map. Finally, he acknowledged that the USGS and others can learn from the technology behind these commercial offerings, for example using the idea of pre-rendered tiles.

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Free Elevation Data Online

New datasets have been added to the Indiana Spatial Data Portal. These datasets are available from the single file download interface, the multi-file download tool and the MDSS directory listing:

2005 Digital Elevation Model - IMAGINE and Geotiff format, 5-foot resolution

2005 Digital Surface Model - IMAGINE and Geotiff format, 5-foot resolution

2005 Natural Color Quarter Quad Mosaics - Geotiff format, 1-meter resolution

County mosaics for the 2005 DEMs are currently being created in both State Plane and UTM projections. Several counties are already available. A current list can be found by visiting http://spatialdata.iu.edu/DOQQS/inmap05/elev/cty_mosaic/.

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The Future of Satellite Imagery

Articles in the New York Times and Washington Post this month both reported reactions to a study on a potential decline in remote sensing data. Read the full report from the Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space at http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11820.html

Scientists Warn of Diminished Earth Studies From Space
By Andrew C. Revkin, New York Times

The nation's ability to track retreating polar ice and shifting patterns of drought, rainfall and other environmental changes is being put "at great risk" by faltering efforts to replace aging satellite-borne sensors, a panel convened by the country's leading scientific advisory group said.

By 2010, the number of operating Earth-observing instruments on NASA satellites, most of which are already past their planned lifetimes, is likely to drop by 40 percent, the National Research Council of the National Academies warned in a report posted at www.nas.edu.

Cutbacks Impede Climate Studies: U.S. Earth Programs In Peril, Panel Finds
By Marc Kaufman, Washington Post

The government's ability to understand and predict hurricanes, drought and climate changes of all kinds is in danger because of deep cuts facing many Earth satellite programs and major delays in launching some of its most important new instruments, a panel of experts has concluded.

The two-year study by the National Academy of Sciences, released yesterday, determined that NASA's earth science budget has declined 30 percent since 2000. It stands to fall further as funding shifts to plans for a manned mission to the moon and Mars. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, meanwhile, has experienced enormous cost overruns and schedule delays with its premier weather and climate mission.

As a result, the panel said, the United States will not have the scientific information it needs in the years ahead to analyze severe storms and changes in Earth's climate unless programs are restored and funding made available.

"NASA's budget has taken a major hit at the same time that NOAA's program has fallen off the rails," said panel co-chairman Berrien Moore III of the University of New Hampshire. "This combination is very, very disturbing, and it's coming at the very time that we need the information most."

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Classes & Seminars

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. Speakers include:

Kelly Myers�Using GIS Tools in Environmental Planning
Kelly Hrencher�Using GIS Analysis in the Vehicle Crash Record System
Krystal Cornett�Using GIS in INDOT Operations
Dereck Edwards (INDOT Consultant)�Using GIS in Reporting in INDOT's "Agile Assets" System
Joel Bump�Developing a GIS Snowplow Routing system
Bob Burns�Transportation Geocoding Needs

Using ArcMap Workshop

Wednesday, February 28th, 5:30-9:00pm
IUPUI, ICTC Room IT121, Indianapolis
Indiana University Students: FREE
General Public: $30

Thursday, March 1st, 5:30-9:00pm
IUB, Main Library, First Floor Information Commons Training Lab, Bloomington
Indiana University Students: FREE
General Public: $30

Register

ArcMap is a powerful desktop GIS application used for both GIS analysis and cartographic map production. This hands-on workshop introduces users to the ArcMap interface as they perform fundamental GIS analyses and build a complex map from scratch. Participants will learn how to display map features, edit geographic data, work with tables, query and select geographic features, and create a print-quality map layout. This intermediate workshop is designed for new or existing GIS users who want a jump start using a variety of tools and analyses available from the ArcMap application. Send questions to neaton@indiana.edu.

Prerequisites: Basic Windows Computing Skills
Instructor: Nathan Eaton

Introduction to ArcGIS for Emergency Managers
Thursday, February 8th, 8:30-4:30, Indianapolis
Friday, February 9th, 8:30-4:30, Indianapolis
Monday, February 26th 8:30-4:30, Evansville
FREE

This 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, the application on which HAZUS-MH is based.

The course provides a solid foundation of basic skills for new ArcGIS users as well as an exploration of the many powerful tools for managing, visualizing, and analyzing information that ArcGIS and its many extensions make available. The first day topics include spatial data concepts; symbolizing information, designing maps, charts, and reports using ArcGIS; and techniques for constructing both spatial and attribute related queries. The second day explores creation and manipulation of tabular as well as geographic data, understanding and managing coordinate systems, and working with ArcCatalog.

Register by sending your contact information to hazusgis@yahoo.com. Call the Indiana Department of Homeland Security at 317.232.3833 or 317.232.3831 for more information.

Basic HAZUS-Multihazards
Wednesday-Friday, February 21st-23rd, 8:30-4:30, Indianapolis
Tuesday-Wednesday, February 27th-28th, 8:30-4:30, Evansville
Tuesday-Thursday, March 27th-29th, 8:30-4:30, Lawrenceburg
FREE

This course provides students with an understanding of the multi-hazard applications of HAZUS-MH toward mitigation, response, recovery, and risk management for earthquake, flood, and hurricane hazards. It also discusses how HAZUS-MH inventory data can be applied to assessing the exposure to other types of hazards.

Recommended Participants: Anyone involved with or interested in planning for emergencies associated with flooding or earthquake events. This includes government officials, students and researchers, insurance companies, utilities and others.

Register by sending your contact information to hazusgis@yahoo.com. Call the Indiana Department of Homeland Security at 317.232.3833 or 317.232.3831 for more information.

Catastrophic Earthquake Planning Using HAZUS-MH
Wednesday-Friday, March 7th-9th, 8:30-4:30, Indianapolis
FREE

Indiana is one of many states at significant risk from large earthquakes. While these types of events are not frequent, they have the potential to produce massive economic and social losses within the state. This class will examine the impact that a catastrophic earthquake might have in Indiana. It will begin with an overview of the past history and future risk of earthquakes occurring in Indiana and the surrounding region. It will then introduce HAZUS-MH, a powerful free loss estimation tool created and distributed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A combination of lecture, demonstrations, and hands-on exercises will be used to explain how to run an earthquake analysis and interpret the output created by that software which includes maps, tables, and reports. Examples of topics that will be discussed include using HAZUS-MH to determine how specific types of buildings will respond to earthquake related stress, ascertaining the need for shelters and search and rescue teams, assessing the impact that earthquakes might have on utilities, and much more. It will also address the process of incorporating local data such as building locations into an earthquake analysis in order to improve the predications made by the model.

Recommended Participants: This course is designed to be useful to anyone that has interest in earthquake risk within the State of Indiana and the surrounding region. It is assumed that participants will have little or no knowledge of earthquake science, GIS, or engineering. However, those persons that have expertise in these areas will also derive benefit from attending.

Register by sending your contact information to hazusgis@yahoo.com. Call the Indiana Department of Homeland Security at 317.232.3833 or 317.232.3831 for more information.

ESRI Training Classes

The Schneider Corporation is pleased to host ESRI Training and Education at our Historic Fort Harrison headquarters from March 5-9, 2007 for Data Management in the Multiuser Geodatabase and ArcGIS Server Enterprise Configuration and Tuning for SQL Server training.

Data Management in the Multiuser Geodatabase
March 5-7, 2007

ArcGIS Server Enterprise Configuration and Tuning for SQL Server
March 8-9, 2007

Water, Water, Everywhere: Finding and Using Hydrology Data
April 16th, 1:00-3:30pm Indiana State Library, Room 401, Indianapolis
FREE

Register

This seminar features three speakers who will present on Indiana's hydrology data and GIS uses. Topics will include:

Obtaining and using the National Hydrography Dataset
Elevation-derived hydrography data
Indiana's streamflow-gauging network
Web-based streamflow applications
Groundwater data in GIS-based analysis
Incorporating land cover, elevation and soil data into hydrogeology models

Join Dave Nail and Scott Morlock of the U.S. Geological Survey, and Sally Letsinger of the Indiana Geological Survey to learn how you can use GIS to estimate runoff potential; analyze conservation plans; calculate groundwater flow rates; or predict how fast contaminants will move through a stream system.

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.

Project Management Methods for Making Credible Maps
Thursday, June 14th, 1:00-3:30pm, Indiana State Library, History Reference Room, Indianapolis
FREE

Register

How can you make maps that are convincing and reliable? How can you make sure that the knowledge you have is passed on accurately? What can you do if your organization's mapping guru leaves? Cele Morris of the Northwest Indiana Center for Data Analysis will guide you through data development practices for creating maps that mean what they say, with accurate, credible data behind them, providing a greater return on your data investment.

Team Navigation!� and Treasure Hunts!
Friday, July 13th, 1:00-3:30pm, Indiana State Library, History Reference Room, Indianapolis
FREE

Register

This unique presentation will engage participants in fun, practical ways of using maps as real navigation tools. It will begin with a Treasure Hunt, using a Treasure Map and a secret puzzle to find a Treasure Chest! Participants, lead by Jeff Coates of TrueNorth and Associates, will learn about:

How you can easily make accurate maps using aerial photographs available on the internet
How to read and use a topo map
Fun interactive ways to introduce maps to others
How to use map and compass together as a navigational tool
More about the family sport of orienteering
How to have a little fun actually navigating!

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