The IGIC Blog

Portion of Iowa included in Upper Mississippi River Valley Viticultural Area

2009-07-22T10:43:00.000-05:00

This marks one of those days to celebrate local geography.

As of July 22, 2009 the Upper Mississippi River Valley Viticultural Area comes into being. This viticultural area covers 29,914 square miles in the four states of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. The counties from Iowa included in this region include: Allamakee, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Cedar, Chickasaw, Clayton, Clinton, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Howard, Jackson, Johnson, Jones, Linn, Scott, and Winneshiek.

Coverage by the AP/Des Moines Register: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090722/NEWS/907220368/1001/

The listing in the Federal Register that gives an outline of the area and what makes it unique with regards to growing grapes:
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-14574.pdf

Can't get enough of that ROI.....

2009-07-07T11:36:00.000-05:00

This just up on the IGIC website, the final document and complete text of interviews for the 2008 GIS ROI study related to the flooding that occurred across Iowa.

Also, for those of you who haven't read the original GIS ROI study for the development of the Iowa Geospatial Infrastructure, that document is also hosted online.

2009 IGIC Conference Poster Session Results

2009-05-15T11:20:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the winners of this year's poster session. Thank you for all of you who contributed a map or poster to fill the exhibit hall.

Student Category:
First Place: Mr. Fei Yang of Iowa State University for "Using VGI to Enhance Public Participation in the Planning Process".

Cartographic Category:
First Place: Mr. Jim Giglierano of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey Bureau for "Surficial Geology of Cedar County, Iowa".
Second Place: Ms. Micah Cutler of Hardin County for "Iowa Falls School District Transportation Map".

Analytical Category:
First Place: Mr. Chris Seeger of ISU for "Community Walking Maps".
Second Place: Mr. Scott Larsen of UNI for "Ecological Niche Modeling of Potential West Nile Virus Vectors".

2009 IGIC Conference Exhibitors

2009-05-12T14:54:00.003-05:00

Thank you to all of this year's exhibitors who helped to make the 2009 IGIC Conference a success! We would not be able to do it without you!

2009 IGIC Conference Award Recipients

2009-05-12T14:04:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the following award recipients. Enough can not be said about the three individuals who received awards at this year's conference and what they have done to further the cause of geospatial coordination in Iowa.

The Achievement & Contribution in GIS (A member that you feel is always in the mix, always producing and trying to serve Iowa's GIS community - a member that exemplifies what we want IGIC to be known for) was awarded to Mr. Jim Giglierano of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

The Project Energizer (given to an individual identified as continually putting out ideas, mobilizing people, and seeing it through to completion) was awarded to Mr. Chris Ensminger of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

The Networking Award (given to individual that best repeatedly make the connections the group needs) was awarded to Mr. Bob Lemen with the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

(l-r: Jim, Bob & Chris)

We are a social bunch........

2009-05-04T16:09:00.000-05:00

For those of you who are into that whole social networking phenomenon, there are a couple of different routes you can use to assist in getting your IGIC fix.

The IGIC website - feel free to post your news and events on this trusted "community" driven website.
The IGIC email list - if you're new to the group and want to catch up with what have been topics of interest to the Iowa GIS community - this archive goes back 3 years
Facebook
LinkedIn (search Groups for IGIC)
We're thinking of a few other ways to keep in touch in the future so stay tuned.

2009-04-01T12:04:00.002-05:00

IGI Progress Report - 3/31/09

1) 2008 CAP Grant - Building Stewardship Capacity for Structures and Transportation
- project deadline extended 6 months until end of September
- footprint web update tool progressing - using 2006 Des Moines lidar as test data
- progress on producing of structures from lidar using lidar analysis program - large buildings easy to extract, houses and smaller structures are difficult to extract from trees

2) Statewide 2' leaf-off 4-band ortho-imagery
- no progress on creating mosaics of 17 NW counties
- Aerial Services selected as contractor for spring 2009 and 2010 flights
- About half of western project area flown in March; pilot project in Woodbury Co produces excellent imagery
- Funding for 2010 flights in eastern part of state in jeopardy due to flood recovery and economic downturn
- In March, released Request for Proposals for horizontal accuracy assessment of ortho-imagery using NSSDA criteria

3) Geocoding Project - create address points for 30-50 counties, with address validation and geocoding web services
- funding in jeopardy due to flood recovery and budget shortfalls

4) County GIS service bureau pilot project
- LGIF funding returned to state general fund due to budget shortfalls - no money for LGIF projects this year

5) IGI Outreach
- IGI talk to Central Iowa GIS Users Group on March 25
- IGI session at IGIC Conference in April - status and future plans during morning of April 22

6) Iowa 2008 Flood Return on Investment Project
- MAS has interviewed 50 persons about their flood experiences in 2008
- Developing cost/benefit scenarios for having GIS available during disasters
- project extended

7) State Agency GIS Group
- upcoming meeting April 10 at Wallace Building
- Homeland Security grant application for infrastructure funding not accepted

8) Hi-resolution land cover
- next meeting of land cover producers on April 8 in Iowa City
- proposals for Skunk River Basin land cover sent to WIRB (no go) and NRCS CIG (pending)

9) Lidar Production
- continues: contact Chris Kahle (chris.kahle@dnr.iowa.gov) for specifics

10) Hydrography Production
- DES delivered local resolution NHD for 27 HUC12s for pilot project
- DNR given training on NHD conflation tool by USGS - will reprocess pilot data to conform to NHD standards

11) Geospatial Interns
- developed proposal to hire 10-12 Geospatial Interns through DNR's Americorps program
- if funded will place interns in 10 local gov't GIS offices across state to help get data into IGI and assist local gov't with their GIS projects
- summer and one year appointments if funding becomes available

Jim Giglierano
4/1/2009

Maps Matter

2009-02-03T13:08:00.071-06:00

For those of us working with maps and GIS on a day to day basis, we know this statement to be true...."maps matter". But I'll be the first to admit that there are times when it can be a challenge to communicate how much maps really do matter.

To assist in starting this conversation, the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) has produced a series of marketing materials templates that they have provided to States to use. For Iowa, there are a total of 11 of these sheets that are available to IGIC members to use in their marketing and outreach efforts:

The templates that are posted to the IGIC website all are in pdf format and have been customized with IGIC contact information. Here is the great thing about this effort from NSGIC, they don't have to stay that way! If you would like to customize them, just let IGIC know and we'll get you a copy of a Microsoft Word document that you can customize with your own contact information, examples, text, bullets, images, etc.

Obviously a big thank you goes out to NSGIC for making these available. Now, here is the key, don't let them sit on the shelf and gather dust. Customize, print, distribute and repeat.

There have already been several instances where these items have been distributed to assist newly elected officials get up to speed on how geospatial technologies are utilized. With 11 'flavors' to choose from it shouldn't be too hard to find one that fits your needs.

IGI Progress Report - 12/30/08

2009-01-06T09:53:00.001-06:00

1) 2007 CAP Grant completed and sent in Sept 30 - good comments back from FGDC
- FGDC project website: http://www.fgdc.gov/grants/2007CAP/projects/07HQAG0043
- IGIC project website: http://www.iowagic.org/igi

2) 2008 CAP Grant - Building Stewardship Capacity for Structures and Transportation
- footprint web update tool progressing - using 2006 Des Moines lidar as test data
- no progress on production of structures from lidar
- need to work on list of attributes for transportation data - project team and road data stakeholders
- DOT working on WMS and WFS for delivering transportation data services to all users - due soon

3) Statewide 2' leaf-off 4-band ortho-imagery
- creating mosaics of 17 NW counties
- Aerial Services selected as contractor for spring 2009 and 2010 flights - see map below
- Funding for 2010 flights in eastern part of state in jeopardy due to flood recovery and economic downturn

4) Geocoding Project - create address points for 30-50 counties, with address validation and geocoding web services - DNR project team
- proposal rated #3 by IT heads - funding in jeopardy due to flood recovery and budget shortfalls

5) County GIS service bureau pilot project
- LGIF Proposal delivered on Oct 31 - waiting for results from LGIF board
- proposal says to basically hire 2 people for 2 years to get county GIS data into ICIT repository, create metadata data, plus make available state data layers to counties, like lidar contours, etc.

6) IGI Outreach
- Need to prepare demo for legislature to justify pooled tech projects, test demo in December, deliver in Jan/Feb, 3-4 minutes in length - Jon Paoli lead
- Jim talked to Iowa County Engineers GIS Committee, Dec 4 - follow up meeting set up for Jan 16 in Des Moines

7) Iowa 2008 Flood Return on Investment Project
- MAS has interviewed 30 persons about their flood experiences in 2008

8) State Agency GIS Group
- met Oct 30 at SEOC in Johnston
- forming executive or steering committee with one POC at each agency

9) Hi-resolution land cover
- land cover producers met in Iowa City, Nov 24 - discussed what we have so far in the way of production techniques: UNI, UI, ISU and DNR
- next meeting to be at the end of March 2009

10) Lidar Production
- continues: contact Chris Kahle (chris.kahle@dnr.iowa.gov) for specifics

11) Hydrography Production
- DES delivered local resolution NHD for 27 HUC12s for pilot project - DNR checking over

Iowa Geopsatial Infrastructure Progress Report - November 2008

2008-12-16T08:42:00.004-06:00

The Iowa Geospatial Infrastructure will ultimately be a community of GIS data providers, service bureaus, and connecting technology that delivers framework data layers to all GIS users across the state. We have a long way to go towards that goal, but experience with the flood of 2008 has pointed out the urgent need for better data sharing, data collection and technology assistance at all levels of government.

Every month I will try to give a snapshot of our progress as we lurch forward on various tasks and initiatives. These are the activities I am aware of - I am sure there are others that are pertinent, whether its a regional ortho data collection project, a new geospatial web service or some GIS person in the basement of his courthouse that has discovered a better way to do something useful with GIS and needs to share it. So let me know if you have something to talk about.

1) 2007 CAP Grant completed and sent in Sept 30 - good comments back from FGDC
- FGDC project website: http://www.fgdc.gov/grants/2007CAP/projects/07HQAG0043
- IGIC project website: http://www.iowagic.org/igi
- finished loading project docs on IGIC server

2) 2008 CAP Grant - Building Stewardship Capacity for Structures and Transportation
- sent in interim report
- footprint web update tool progressing - using 2006 Des Moines lidar as test data
- tested lidar analyst to produce building footprints from LAS data
- no progress on production of structures from lidar
- need to work on list of attributes for transportation data - project team and road data stakeholders
- DOT working on WMS and WFS for delivering transportation data services to all users - due in November sometime

3) Statewide 2' leaf-off 4-band ortho-imagery
- Sanborn delivered northern border fix for 17 NW Iowa Project
- creating mosaics of 17 counties
- RFP released for spring 2009 flights in western Iowa, closes 11/17 - will select contractor in December
- second Pooled Technology Funding for 2010 flights in eastern part of state - rated #1 by IT heads - funding in jeopardy due to flood recovery

4) DNR Geocoding Project - create address points for 30-50 counties, with address validation and geocoding web services
- proposal rated #3 by IT heads - funding in jeopardy due to flood recovery and budget shortfalls
- need to start thinking about process and available data
- find existing AP coverages from a few counties to look at standards
- scope out requirements
- look at MSAGs and try to geocode using existing centerline files

- who will do the work?

5) County GIS service bureau pilot project
- LGIF Proposal delivered on Oct 31
- proposal basically says to hire 2 people for 2 years to get county GIS data into ICIT data repository, create metadata, make available state data layers to counties, like lidar contours, etc., and build a pilot web mapping service with both county and state GIS framework data

6) IGI Outreach
- Met with state CIO Oct 28 - need to prepare demo for legislature to justify pooled tech projects, test demo in December, deliver in Jan/Feb, 3-4 minutes in length
- IGI talk at ISAC Fall School in November, Jim and Paula talk to Supervisors Affiliate
- Article for ISAC magazine in Nov.

7) Flood 2008 ROI
- Contract amendment with GITA completed and signed - Oct 1 start date
- Mary Ann Stewart of GITA started interviews

8) Next steps for ROI?
- CAP grant application not possible this coming year - Iowa got too many recent grants
- do we look for private funding $50k - $75k - shall we do municpalities? - need to investigate letter of inquiriy for private funding
- Economic development ROI?
- Regional gov't, NGOs, utilities ROI?

9) State Agency GIS Group
- met Oct 30 at SEOC in Johnston
- discussed flood experiences
- forming executive or steering committee with one POC at each agency

10) Hi-resolution land cover
- next land cover producers meeting at Iowa City, Nov 24 - what we have so far in the way of production techniques: UNI, UI, ISU and DNR

11) Statewide Lidar Production
Sanborn Status map from last May Preliminary map - some areas may change later as processing proceeds.

Lots of things going on: stay tuned.
Jim Giglierano
james.giglierano@dnr.iowa.gov

Rebuild Iowa Advisory Commission Issues 120-Day Report to Governor Culver

2008-11-19T14:44:00.001-06:00

For those that may have missed it, the Rebuild Iowa Commission issued its final report on Monday, November 17, 2008 to the Iowa Legislature on how Iowa should continue to respond to natural disasters.

The final report includes a list of 12 recommendations for responding to Iowa's long-term recovery, with potential strategies for implementing the recommendations. The list of recommendations:

Provide individual services and guidance;
Make housing a priority;
Provide incentives for Iowa’s struggling small businesses, micro-enterprises, and non-profits;
Invest in infrastructure;
Create sustainable funding options for local and state rebuilding efforts;
Invest in local emergency management agencies for the central coordination function and work in all areas of emergency management;
Enact policies to make communities sustainable and protect Iowa’s quality of life and cultural heritage;
Lead and support integrated, regional recovery planning;
Enact policy to address floodplain and watershed management;
Complete floodplain mapping for the entire state;
Formalize the Rebuild Iowa Office and recovery responsibilities;
Lead communications efforts to educate Iowans on recovery efforts and planning for future potential disasters.

For a full read of the recommendations and the strategies they outline, the Commission's final report is available online from the Rebuild Iowa website.

After reading the recommendations and the final report, is there any input from IGICians out there on the role geospatial coordination could and should play in making these recommendations a reality?

GIS Inventory (powered by Ramona) version 2.0

2008-10-24T10:15:00.000-05:00

The nationwide GIS inventory tool formerly known as Ramona has seen a release of version 2.0. This version was released back on October the 14th and has seen several improvements and modifications.

The latest version of NSGIC 's GIS inventory tool includes a few upgrades and improvements, including faster and more dependable web-hosting, enhanced tools for both the users and the state-level administrators, and improved integration with the federal government's Geospatial One-Stop (GOS). There are a few cosmetic issues addressed as well, including a new design and color scheme.

Ramona is produced by the National States' Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) as a tool for states and their partners. Its primary purpose is to track the status of GIS in US state and local government to aid the planning and building of Spatial Data Infrastructures. Ramona is designed to work in concert with Geospatial One-Stop, and was prepared by NSGIC under award NA04NOS4730011 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.

For those of you here in Iowa who haven't visited the Iowa node (http://ia.gisinventory.net ) in some time, feel free to take this opportunity to check back in and learn more about the inventory tools available. For new users, an account is free and simple to setup. Here in Iowa we had an initial rush of users sign-up but that number has stagnated a bit over the last year or so. Either way, if you need some assistance with the site or have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact Brad Cutler for assistance.

Additional information about RAMONA is available online: About RAMONA

Eastern Iowa GIS Day 2008

2008-10-08T14:26:00.001-05:00

Eastern Iowa GIS Day 2008 was held on October 6 - 7, 2008 at the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center (GBPAC)) on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa.

This year's Conference kicked off on October 6th with a LiDAR workshop attended by 25 people. Attendees were treated to a full day of learning the "ins" and "outs" of LiDAR with specific focus directed at the Iowa LiDAR Project. Also highlighted was the recently developed "GeoLite" ArcGIS extension developed by the GeoTREE Center. This extension allows the user to process and analyze LiDAR data. For further details on GeoLITE: http://www.geotree.uni.edu/GeoLITE.aspx

Full Eastern Iowa GIS Day festivities kicked off on Tuesday, October 7th at the GBPAC. Over 175 attended the Conference that placed a spotlight on "Geospatial technologies for natural disaster management." Before breaking out for presentations, the attendees were treated to three keynote/invited speakers that spoke to their experiences in dealing with geospatial technologies in hazard response.

A total of 18 breakout presentations were offered to pick and choose from. The range of topics were primarily focused on usage of GIS technologies in response to flooding, tornado, and natural hazard related issues in keeping with the conference theme. Presentations and video of many of the presentations will be posted shortly after the conference on the GeoTREE website: http://www.geotree.uni.edu/gisday2008/default.aspx

Make your plans for 2009. Next year's Eastern Iowa GIS Day does not have a date scheduled as of yet but plans are to shift the conference location to the south in 2009. Keep an eye on your email inbox for further details as they become available.

Des Moines Register Editorial Praises GIS and Use/Collection of LiDAR in Iowa

2008-09-08T09:52:00.007-05:00

The Des Moines Register Editorial section on Monday, September 7, 2008, praised the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) for having the initiative and foresight to invest $6 million in the collection of LiDAR. They highlighted the need for this type of elevation data to allow accurate updates to Iowa's flood plain maps. It was a great way to highlight the importance of this type of data.

Ensure maps of Iowa's flood plains are updated - editorial

Next to that editorial was another one highlighting the use of LiDAR technology in flood prevention in Iowa. David Croll, GIS Coordinator for the City of Johnston, was interviewed regarding his use of LiDAR in protecting a residential area in Johnston during the June 2008 flooding.

How technology can help prevent flooding in Iowa - editorial

What a wonderful way to start a Monday morning - postive feedback on GIS and related technology!

The Role GIS Played in Emergency Response During 2008 Iowa Floods

2008-08-11T14:32:00.006-05:00

Roughly 54 people attended the Eastern Iowa GIS Users Group meeting on July 17, 2008 at the Wickiup Hill Outdoor Learning Center just outside Cedar Rapids. The afternoon session focused on the use of GIS during and after the recent flooding events. Rick Havel, GIS Coordinator for Johnson County, Iowa, and Jason Siebrecht, GIS Coordinator for Linn County, Iowa, started the discussion with their recent experiences. Quickly others joined in with comments about their own experiences, questions about what others did or learned, and ideas about what might be needed in the future.

Here are some interesting points that were raised:

GIS staff generally have not been included in training exercises and the emergency operations center when used.

Printing maps during the flooding was a problem in several instances. Either there were problems with hardware "talking" to each other (i.e. lacking the proper printer driver on a laptop), or problems due to the sheer volume of paper maps needed.

Current aerial photos are extremely important in order to see exactly what is where. Outdated photos have items that are shown but no longer there, or are missing new structures.

LiDAR data was extremely helpful.

GIS can be used during the actual response, but is also useful for damage assessment after a disaster.

River gauges were helpful in monitoring activity and estimating water levels. Historical river level data was imperative during the flooding. Knowing what the water level was in the 1993 flooding and which roads were closed at that time helped to estimate which roads might close this time.

Simple directional maps were critical to assist out-of-town responders.

Many expressed an interest in collaboration during future disasters. GIS professionals in an area that is unaffected by the disaster are interested in getting to that area to assist, or assist remotely if that is possible.

The need for a data inventory (who's mapping what) and a data repository seemed clear.

All in all it was a very lively and exciting discussion. It sounds like relationships between emergency management/response and GIS professionals will be built. Clearly there is a need for accurate, current data and a means to share that when needed. The ICIT Data Repository and IGIC's proposed IGI should accomplish the goal of sharing the data. Now to get an inventory done and documented and get current, high resolution for all of Iowa... We'd be ready for next time. (Here's hoping next time never comes.)

IGI Business Case Executive Summary

2008-06-26T16:25:00.002-05:00

In case you missed it or haven't subscribed to the IGIC email list, below is the Executive Summary of the IGI Business Case that has been being compiled over the last 15 months or so. Much work has gone into this business case and we wouldn't be anywhere near where we currently are without the dedicated efforts of the project lead: Jim Giglierano with the Iowa DNR. Thanks so very much for all that you've done.

The goal of this project was to develop a business plan for the creation of the Iowa Geospatial Infrastructure (IGI), Iowa’s contribution to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure. The strategic plan to be used by the Iowa Geographic Information Council (IGIC) to guide this effort will be completed in-house. However, IGIC received outside assistance from GITA to provide expertise and education for completing the business plan, business case, and financial analysis to support the strategic plan. This combined effort will facilitate the implementation of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure by assessing the needs of local entities that are not currently using geospatial technology, as well as those trying to maintain existing investments, and further support and promote the creation of high quality local datasets compatible with the IGI.

Successful implementation of a statewide LiDAR project has shown that creative solutions can be achieved to fund major GIS projects. IGIC desires to leverage its experience of using a revolving loan fund to meet the needs of building a statewide geospatial infrastructure. The desired general direction for creation of the IGI is to evolve a nontraditional distributed governance and funding model.

Iowa decided to implement the ROI analysis methodology for multi-agency projects that GITA developed in 2006-2007 for the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC). GITA also provided the single agency financial analysis methodology developed over the past five years as a major ongoing research project.

Financial analysis for the project was conducted through a process of GITA delivering training to IGIC members in a series of meetings, webinars, training sessions, and follow-up consulting. Considerable effort was dedicated to determining scope for the project, described by the following business case description:

“This project will focus on development of Iowa spatial data infrastructure, including hardware, software, communications, training and other services, focused on the development and delivery of the seven NSDI framework data layers. Data will be collected and maintained by counties, cities, state and Federal agencies, and others and provided as a seamless statewide data collection. The data will be publicly available through the Internet. Coordination and technical assistance will be provided by a cooperative agreement between agency partners. A public awareness campaign will be conducted to attract participation in the project and use of the data. We will do a 20 year analysis for this study.”

IGIC ultimately determined that the project would focus on nine data layers. The first seven layers are those of the NSDI Framework Layers – Geodetic Control, Orthoimagery, Administrative Boundaries, Cadastal, Transportation, Elevation, and Hydrography. Over the course of the project, it was discovered that it would be beneficial to the business case and the constituents to add an additional two layers – Address Points and Building Footprints. Although this project is unusual in attempting a broad and simultaneous analysis of many complex data issues, it is the conviction of IGIC that a holistic approach to the envisioned IGI project will best capture the realizable costs and benefits of such a program. It is also the conviction of IGIC that an analysis of the entire envisioned program is necessary for presentation to legislative bodies and other decision makers.

The multi-agency financial analysis incorporated spreadsheets describing costs and benefits for all 99 counties of Iowa, 11 state agencies, three utilities plus Iowa One Call, and consulting firms. Many additional organizations were interviewed during the project but not all were able to provide quantifiable benefits at this time. The 20 year analysis shows Net Present Value of $280M and Return on Investment of 25.01%. Sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the effect of a delayed implementation of GIS over 20 counties and the effect of Imagery for the Nation contracting capabilities not being available. Neither of these analyses showed severe detriment to the project. However, sensitivity analysis on the effect of a county attempting to implement GIS in standalone mode, not using the resources of IGI, showed that such a project may have difficulty breaking even.

Development of costs for the IGI focuses on three major areas: the cost of establishing service agencies to provide for the GIS needs of county and state agencies, the cost of adopting GIS for the 20 counties with no program, and the cost of participation in the IGI for organizations already invested in GIS to some extent. Analysis of benefits was by far the most time consuming and challenging portion of this project. The GITA resource formally interviewed 90 entities and created spreadsheets with applicable cost and benefit information. Iowa DNR provided additional interviews, as well as conducting and attending many meetings and outreach discussions with potential participating organizations in Iowa.

Analysis of strategic benefits shows many areas which may become quantifiable as they are studied over time. These include: data accessibility, timeliness, data quality, depth and breadth of data, and fostering equitable distribution of resources. Two areas in particular emerged as providing great strategic and tangible benefits and need for further study. Economic development benefits to the state from availability of geospatial data are enormous. In the case of counties without GIS, the strategic benefit of moving proactively to attract new business through adoption of GIS could signify the type of attitude shift that is required for low-growth areas to take charge of their future. Emergency response staff at the county and state level are just beginning to reap the rewards of GIS capabilities. The majority of these organizations do not currently have a means to track benefits during a natural disaster or other type of unique emergency. It will be necessary to work with them over time to devise methods for measuring the changes brought to their processes through use of geospatial technology.

Mapping and Disasters

2008-06-12T07:54:00.024-05:00

If anyone has any other links to Iowa flooding related maps, please leave them in the comments.

Iowa Flood Map from the Des Moines Register

Iowa DOT Travel Information

Johnson County Road Closings
University of Iowa Flood Map (Google Map via Cedar Rapids Gazette)

City of Des Moines Road Closure Map
Map of 500 Year Floodplain (Pdf map from Des Moines Register)

Ames and Story County Road Closings (Google Map)

Downtown Cedar Rapids Floodplain Map
Map of 500 Year Floodplain (Google Map from KCRG-TV)
Flood affected areas from City of Cedar Rapids (via KWWL-TV)
Cedar Rapids Flood Map (Google Map via Cedar Rapids Gazette)

Mapping the Aftermath of Parkersburg (Flash based map)

NASA Earth Observatory with before and after images of recent flooding in Iowa.

Data tagged as "iowa-floods" on Finder!

Some aerial photos taken of Cedar Rapids during the height of the flooding,

In the Aftermath of Disaster

2008-06-09T08:45:00.007-05:00

Spring weather in Iowa packs a potent punch. This year's unusually severe weather, including the tornado that struck Parkersburg and New Hartford and flooding in Ames illustrate the potential of geospatial data and tools to help save lives, limit damage, and reduce the costs of dealing with emergencies. Maps, data sets, tools, procedures and policies as well as the personnel to interact with them have played a crucial role in dealing with this spring's weather events.

Damage assessment is required after any disaster. Thanks in part to geospatial technologies, in these cases it was done more quickly and more accurately resulting in faster filing for federal assistance and more accurate dollar figures. In Butler County, the County Assessor worked with the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division (HSEMD) to make sure they had access to their digital assessment data where it was combined with post-tornado images from Civil Air Patrol (CAP) to speed and streamline damage assessments in Parkersburg and New Hartford. Black Hawk County sent their assessment data as well, and both sets of information were used to assist Mid-American Energy in determining which customers needed their billing suspended during this tragedy.

The City of Ames and Story County have both utilized geospatial technologies to support decisions made during recent flooding events. In the City of Ames, Geographic Information System (GIS) Coordinator Ben McConville was stationed in their Emergency Operations Center (EOC) throughout the flooding providing mapping related support to aid decision making and streamline flood response activities. As the flooding status changed for the area, up-to-date road closure maps were generated and that information was sent to City departments and others to make them aware of the changing circumstances as quickly as possible. GIS was also utilized to quickly generate contact lists for properties threatened by the floodwaters, rather than looking up potentially affected properties in a phone book and contacting property owners in a traditional manner. This allowed business and property owners to respond much faster to the flooding and resulting consequences.

During the same recent flooding event, Lori Morrissey, Story County Emergency Management Coordinator, worked hand in hand with County staff in using GIS to assess the impact of flooding. Utilizing assessment data of ownership and value, maps were quickly generated showing properties that were destroyed and those with major damage. These maps were a crucial tool during the verification tour with staff from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as the County worked to acquire Federal assistance for those impacted.

Jon Paoli, GIS Coordinator for HSEMD was in the State EOC during and after these events. He states the some of the value of GIS in this way, "It allowed us to get close to real damage assessment numbers to the Federal Government so we could get declared more quickly... more accurate data leads to more accurate funding."

In the weeks and months to come, hopefully the severe weather will be minimal. But if it does strike in areas of Iowa that have geospatial tools, rest assured that those tools will be used to react quickly, assist with decision making, and provide accurate assessment data to the authorities.

Article on using GIS in Davenport for flood issues

2008-05-01T09:22:00.002-05:00

Article in the Quad City Times "Rain looms as river recedes" that discusses recent rising river issues with the Mississippi River and the response. This clip is towards the bottom of the article and talks about how GIS is being used by the city to improve response and planning.

Davenport Public Works Director Dee Bruemmer said flood fighters are now waiting for the river to fall and then cleanup will begin.

If rain is minimal, she said, then Modern Woodman Park and Rhythm City Casino could be open Monday. Heavy rains are likely to cause a couple of days delay.

The earthen levee built on River Drive between Iowa and Perry streets will remain until the river dips below 17 feet, Bruemmer said.

She said that fighting the flood has gone smoothly for city crews because of both the city’s flood plan and the Geographic Information System the city used to plot the course of the river as it rose.

“In 1993, we had an old paper map with red lines that we drew on it,” she said. In 2001, she added, they used a topographical map with red and green lines.

Now, the city has a computerized 3-D program that shows where flood water will be when the river rises to a certain level.

Kevin Jones, GIS coordinator for the city, uses the program to make real time decisions on where levees and pumps and sandbags need to be as the river is rising.

“It gives us an idea of how big the sandbag or earthen levees need to be,” Jones said.

According to the National Weather Service statistics, a crest of 19.24 feet puts the flood of 2008 in eighth place among the top 10 crests of the Mississippi River at the Quad-Cities.

Iowa GIS News Update

2008-03-18T08:06:00.000-05:00

[igic] GIS Inventory/Ramona Workshop at MAGIC
[igic] CIAO Change of Date & Training Opportunity from ESRI

[igic] GIS Inventory/Ramona Workshop at MAGIC
Monday March 17, 2008 1:52 PM CDT

[igic] CIAO Change of Date & Training Opportunity from ESRI
Monday March 17, 2008 1:23 PM CDT

FGDC March Newsletter now available

2008-03-12T21:10:00.001-05:00

Spatially Speaking March edition now available


Spatially Speaking March edition now available	Top
Wednesday March 12, 2008 9:20 AM CDT

Iowa GIS News Update

2008-03-06T11:55:00.001-06:00

GIS Manager Position Available with the City of Des Moines

Thursday March 6, 2008 8:42 AM CST

Iowa GIS News Update

2008-03-06T09:09:00.001-06:00

2008 ISAC Spring School
2008 NE Iowa Surveyor's Conference

2008 ISAC Spring School
Wednesday March 5, 2008 1:42 PM CST

2008 NE Iowa Surveyor's Conference
Wednesday March 5, 2008 1:35 PM CST
This year's conference will focus on how surveyors and GIS professionals are working together as they survey, plat and record property boundaries. Specifically, you will see how surveyors using RTK GPS, can localize into your County's coordinate system (usually State Plane) and then give you a digital survey that can open directly into your GIS system. We will also discuss how the digital cadastre was created for Winneshiek County and the inherent difficulties in maintaining a continuous...

Iowa GIS News Update

2008-03-05T15:51:00.001-06:00

[igic] MAGIC early registration to end

[igic] MAGIC early registration to end
Wednesday March 5, 2008 10:54 AM CST

Iowa GIS News Update

2008-03-04T22:38:00.001-06:00

Grant allows for update of countys aerial photography
Iowa Association of Regional Councils
GIS, Flood Insurance Among Topics for Iowa County
Supervisors - East Iowa Herald


Grant allows for update of countys aerial photography

Tuesday March 4, 2008 2:56 PM CST

Iowa Association of Regional Councils

Tuesday March 4, 2008 11:58 AM CST

GIS, Flood Insurance Among Topics for Iowa County Supervisors - East Iowa Herald

Thursday February 21, 2008 3:12 PM CST
East Iowa Herald GIS, Flood Insurance Among Topics for Iowa County Supervisors East Iowa Herald, IA - Feb 21, 2008 The database, also known as a Geographical Information System or GIS, will be capable of providing highly detailed information to the county, the residents ...