Louisiana Remote Sensing and GIS Workshop

I have just returned to the office from the 26th annual Louisiana Remote Sensing and GIS Workshop. The Workshop rotates among locations in Lafayette, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. It was my second year to attend this event.

Many of the sessions had direct relevance to the GIS implementation in Iberia Parish. Some of the most important ones concerned statewide GIS data initiatives, which will provide Iberia Parish GIS with free, high-quality data. The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development is working on a statewide roads layer, which will be complete later this year. The work is in a quality control phase at this time. This layer will be topologically correct, and will be delivered to us for ongoing maintenance. The presentation emphasized that the layer contains all roads, not just state roads. We can use this as a foundation layer, and modify it as roads change.

GOHSEP, the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness reported on the 2010 aerial photography project. This imagery has all been flown, and is in quality control. The first completed segments will be released this summer, with all of it complete by the end of the year. This high-resolution imagery will update the 2008 data we already have, and will be a valuable asset going forward.

There is a consortium currently working on a Louisiana Structures project for several coastal parishes. Iberia Parish is not part of the project at this time, but I will be in contact with those directing the project to find out how we can be included. This project is focused on identifying critical infrastructure for disaster preparedness, including hospitals, schools, gas stations, stores, etc.

The workshop also offered great opportunities to meet GIS managers and analysts from other parishes and agencies.

Examples of Web Mapping

Web mapping has become easier with the introduction of Adobe Flex, Microsoft Silverlight, and Java application programming interfaces (APIs). The programming framework is a free download, and the website can be created using data on a GIS server. Some of the sites below use this simple framework, while others include more custom programming.

The small City of Westerville, Ohio has a GIS web site that features several map products. They use the strategy of using only one theme per map.

Closer to home, both Lincoln Parish and Terrebonne Parish also have public map sites. These map sites follow the all-inclusive model, leaving it to the map user to turn desired layers on and off.

Lafayette Parish law enforcement has a public web site where users can search for a variety of incidents. The first screen is a tutorial of the site, and the other tabs lead you through building the query.

While providing information to the public is an important use of GIS, the same technology can be used for in-house viewing on a password-protected intranet.

Iberia Parish GIS Advisory Board meeting

The next GIS Advisory Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 20, 10:00 am, Parish Council Chambers.

The Draft GIS Implementation Plan was sent to each member or designated representative. Presentation and discussion of the implementation plan will form the meeting agenda.

Before the meeting adjourns, the members in attendance should propose action items for the next meeting.