MWR Geospatial News
Summer 2008
GPS swap page (NPS only)
LizardTech GeoExpress 7 now available (NPS only)
2008 GPS for Fire Mgmt & ICS course materials online
2009 GIS for Incident Mgmt. course
ArcGIS 9.2 Service Pack 6 (for those holding off on v9.3)
ArcGIS 9.3 available (but still awaiting the "keyless" version )
Map of the Quarter:
Maximum extent of Wisconsin glaciation
GIS TIP: To add good looking hillshade to your map, color the DEM used to make the hillshade and set its transparency to something like 50%. Leave the hillshade of the DEM in greyscale and place it under the actual DEM layer.
Midwest GeoFact: Harney Peak, located in Black Hills National Forest, is the tallest point in the NPS Midwest Region. It is 7,242 feet or 2,207 meters.
Erratum: Mike Gossett (OZAR) pointed out that our "geofact" in the Spring '08 newsletter was incorrect. In investigating, we discovered there are several "national scenic river" designations in the official park boundaries shapefile found on the NPS Data Store.
Included are:
National Scenic Riverway: Ozark
National Scenic River: Niobrara, St. Croix
National River and Recreation Area: Mississippi
National River: Buffalo
National Recreation River: Missouri
Ozark, Niobrara and St. Croix all have "NSR" designations and total to 207,271 acres for the MWR. When the "geofact" was collected, only those units with a "UNIT_TYPE" = "National Scenic Riverway" were selected and only one unit, Ozark, has that unit type.
This just goes to show how data attribution can affect our summarization of data.
Did you know... You can find recommended GIS workstation configurations on the MidwestNet intranet site. For additional configurations for mobile units, "3D GIS" and more are on the Midwest IT Sharepoint. Contact Doug Wilder if you need access or info.
GLKN Hires RS Specialist
Alan Kirschbaum was recently hired as a GIS/Remote Sensing Specialist for the I&M Great Lakes Network. Alan will be working on implementation of the land cover monitoring program. Alan earned his MS in Forest Science from Oregon State. He has worked with some of the western Networks to develop land cover monitoring programs so understands park needs and interests in this field. He has been conducting field work at Voyageurs National Park the last few weeks as the Network begins to implement the program.
SLBE and VOYA Air Photos
Last year, the Great Lakes Network funded paired, spring and fall aerial photo flights for Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Similar imagery was captured for Voyageurs Nat'l Park on 5/24/08. A digital mapping camera, rather than a traditional film-based camera was used with the advantage of capturing both RGB (true color) and CIR (color infra-red) imagery, in 24 bit color. Imagery is at 1:12,000 scale with a ground pixel resolution of 0.15m, (6”). These products were acquired in support of vegetation mapping on-going at six parks in the Network. The images have tremendous value for other programs, as well as providing a set of new, high-resolution imagery. Imagery will be ortho-rectified and will be made available to the park soon. You can see samples of the spring and fall images on the MW Geospatial website (select "Imagery").
Training: Spring into GPS...
Fall into GIS
The Midwest Geospatial Support Center will be conducting fall GIS training in late Nov. in Madison, WI. The 3-day course will cover beginner to intermediate material with a focus on practical applications of NPS tools. Trainees can expect to leave with a custom map completed. Visit the Midwest GIS training page to read a draft syllabus and sign up for the course. This training represents the second part of MW Geospatial's "Spring into GPS, Fall into GIS" training cycle.
Midwest Fire Mapping
This past spring and summer, as fires (wildland and prescribed) burned in midwest parks, fire staff have filled out NPS Wildland Fire Report Forms. Info from the forms is entered into the Wildland Fire Mgmt Info system. Location of ignition (and related metadata) is entered. In June, Kathie Hansen presented "Back to Basics, Lat/Long Formats and Fire Reporting" at the annual MWR Fire Mgmt. meeting. Park staff can be a big help in collecting fire data. Many parks, like VOYA, have procedures for reporting fire info that involve park fire and GIS staff as well as regional fire staff. This is a great way to ensure accurate and precise data are collected and made available to park management. Email Kathie Hansen (Kathie_Hansen@nps.gov) if you'd like to learn how to collect basic fire data.
GPS Trade-in expires 9/18!
The current Trimble Trade-in offer that will expire for some models on 9/18/08. Qualified trade-in units include older, outdated GPS receivers like the Geo3 or early GeoXT CE systems and the TSC-1, TSCe dataloggers. Savings can exceed $1000. Log on to the sharepoint for more information.
NPS Data Store "overhaul"
The NPS Natural Resource Program Center is conducting a business needs analysis in preparation for a redesign of the Data Store and NatureBib. The new design will conform to the Integration of Resource Management Applications (IRMA) initiative. Stakeholders are currently being sought to participate in the planning process. Contact Brent Frakes (Brent_Frakes@nps.gov) if you are interested in putting in your two cents.
Service: Remote Installs
MW Geospatial continues to offer a wide range of geospatial consultation services as well as direct assistance to get you up and running with your GIS and GPS software. While the new "keyed" version of ArcGIS (9.3) is available to NPS employees, we are awaiting arrival of the "keyless" ("single-use") version for distribution. Via remote desktop software, we can perform installations of the keyed or keyless (as soon as we get it!) for you as well as perform a system check to be sure you're ready for some GIS analysis. Contact Reese Hirth (Reese_Hirth@partner.nps.gov) or Doug Wilder (Doug_Wilder@nps.gov) for more information or to request assistance.
New Regional Wall Map
MW Geospatial is in the final stages of completing a new wall map focusing on the Midwest Region. The map is being built with cartographic files from the general NPS Wall Map provided by Harpers Ferry. You can find additional new, page size regional maps of the I&M Networks, UTM Zones and more on the MW Geospatial website.
Trimble GPS Consolidated Buy
Tim Smith (NPS GPS Coordinator) has compiled budget account numbers submitted for the consolidated buy into a single purchase order. Participants in the bulk purchase can expect new software codes in the coming weeks. The NPS is the first DOI agency to organize and execute a consolidated Trimble purchase. You can read more about it on the GPS Support page. The bulk purchase is planned to occur each year in June so if you missed out on the cost benefits this year, you can plan for next round in June 2009.
Enterprise GIS for the Midwest
This past June, MW Geospatial consulted with Resource Information Management - GIS Enterprise project personnel on "best specs" for servers to host a regional GIS dataset. Quotes were generated and submitted for an Omaha-based server to act as a hub in a federated architecture for the Midwest. Hardware and software installation is expected to be complete in the first quarter of FY09 with application configuration and data loading to follow. Data will be served as "map services" and accessible via web mapping applications with built-in base imagery and stewardable by the parks via desktop ArcGIS.
Government Flood Response
Representatives from the USGS, USACE, DHS, NPS and several midwest states recently conferenced to discuss mechanisms for quickly sharing data and data products during emergencies. The discussion focused on lessons learned from the June 2008 flooding in the upper midwest. Establishment of a network of data processors and preapproved contracts were suggested as mechanisms to provide rapid mapping services.
Park GIS Conference Calls
Each month (roughly every second Thursday), GIS-minded employees in the NPS hold a conference call that's open to anyone. You can join the call by dialing 877-989-1671 (code 894050). Topics range widely but are always engaging and you can expect to come away better informed about GIS goings on in the Service. Contact Ben Zank for more info.