Current Status

April 23, 2003

We've added some new items to the news section (http://www.nd.gov/gis/news/) or click on the News link on the left) of the GIS web site that you might want to check out. In the news section you will not there are two new Hub Explorer maps - the Missouri River corridor map and a map containing hydrologic unit boundaries (a work in progress). The Legislative Map has been updated to include a new button named "Web Link" that allows one to click on a legislative district to get a list of representatives, each name is linked to their web pages. The Commerce Department application is now live; it is the first phase of an application to be used by companies interested in expanding their business to North Dakota. You can see it at http://www.growingnd.com/ then clicking on the Mapping/GIS link on the left.

The "GIS in North Dakota" section of the web site has been expanded (Resources - GIS Activities). If you can think of other appropriate links to be added to this section (http://www.nd.gov/gis/resources/gisnd/) please let us know. The links that are already there are the result of people asking for a link. If interested, all we need is the text for the link and the URL that should be used by the link. This should be a place to put links to North Dakota GIS maps, data and consulting services.

Feel free to check out the minutes from the GIS Technical Committee to get the latest happenings. You can go to this by clicking on About NDGIS - Committees - GIS Technical Committee - Meeting Minutes. Or go to http://www.nd.gov/gis/about/gistech/minutes/index.html.

A new section titled, "New and Updated Data Information" has been added to the web site. You can navigate to this by clicking on Maps and Data - Data - New and Updated Data Information or go to http://www.nd.gov/gis/mapsdata/data/datainfo/. This is simply a place to indicate data that is new or updated as of a certain date. New information will be added to this part of the web site as new data is added or data is updated.

Data Extraction - at the risk of sounding like a broken record, this has been keeping me busy for some time but we are very close now. The main remaining tasks are load testing and waiting for the vendor to fix a couple of bugs in the FME software that we are using. This tool will work by going into the web-based Hub Explorer and clicking on a Data Extract button. A form will come up in which you can select: a) extent of data, b) data format (shapefile, coverage, DXF, etc.), c) data coordinates (UTM, state plane, etc.) and d) layer or layers you wish to download. You then enter your email address which will be used to notify you when the extraction is ready for you to download. The other way this tool will work is to go to the web-based Metadata Explorer, search for your data, and when found click on a link to bring up a form where you specify a) data format and b) data coordinates, then enter your email address. The software that we are using supports only vector data at the current time, but software vendors will be working on a raster downloading component in the future. I don't have a firm release date yet, but once data extraction is available, I plan to send a note out containing some instructions to the listserv.

Geocoding - I've been investigating this a bit by looking at data from multiple vendors and getting a feel for rural/metro issues, data accuracy, attribution, price, and overall usability. My current plans include a possible purchase request for geocode data and to make geocoding available on some (all?) Hub Explorer maps. In the short term a person could type in their address to locate a point on the map rather than having to zoom in on it. There are a number of other applications that I will be investigating. I suspect some state agencies may be interested in developing applications that utilize geocoding.

Devils Lake flood risk assessment project - This has been completed for some time now. We are waiting to get the final word from the ND Division of Emergency Management for the public release of this web site.

Funding - the legislative session is not yet finished so things could still change but at this time both the House and the Senate have reduced the GIS budget. These reductions will impact the GIS initiative but the core components (data storage, hardware/software maintenance, my position) are still OK at this time.

Top

Back

Print Friendly Version