Northwest Indiana
GIS Forum
Meeting Notes
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Meeting Location: Indiana University Northwest
Members in
Attendance:
Tanika
Bell, Lake County Surveyor's Office;
Jeff Leonhard, Pictometry; Joy Marburger, National Parks Service;
Elizabeth McCloskey, US Fish & Wildlife; Becky McKinley, Hammond
Sanitary District;
Jennifer Mojica, Lake County HIDTA;
Cele Morris, IUN/NWI Center for Data &
Analysis; Dan Niksch, City of Crown Point
Engineering;
Tim Sutherland, IUN; Peter White, Pictometry
Abbreviated Meeting - Pictometry Presentation - Digital Oblique Aerial
Imagery
Local Implementation
Becky McKinley has been preparing the
City of Hammond
Master Address File in conjunction with the US Census Bureau Local Update of
Census Address (LUCA) program. She advises that the ESRI website
provides some interesting tools to help prepare the address data for this
program.
Additional licenses of ArcGIS 9.2 software are being sought for general
computer lab usage at Indiana University Northwest. Access to
the Library GIS lab can be difficult at night and on weekends. The
possibility of using student technology fees for extra annual licenses is
being investigated. The Data Center has been working on a
project with the East Chicago Local Epidemiology and Outcomes Workgroup.
They have been providing demographic information, East Chicago maps and geocoding addresses for a final report.
The City of Crown Point has created approximately 150 layers of data to
date. GIS projects include sidewalks, and storm water catch basins. A Storm Water Advisory Board has
been formed to begin working on a water main project.
The National Lakeshore is
working with a post doctoral student from the University of Wisconsin on a
project studying historic landform changes. A variety of digital
geospatial layers, including roads and buildings, will be created by the
post doc for the National Park. A number of historical USGS
topographical maps have been recently scanned and georeferenced.
A detailed study is scheduled to begin this spring to identify vegetation
and includes a buffer around the Park.
In conjunction with the Lake Michigan Coastal Program, the US Fish and
Wildlife Service is investigating water quality issues specific to
septic system failures.
Lake County anticipates delivery of parcel data in May. They
are checking quality of the data they have already received. Work
continues on MS4 drainage issues. A general use point address file is
being created. Greg White is the new manager of GIS activities for the
county.
NWI GIS Forum Activities
Training
Becky will be conducting a training session in the near
future. Ten ArcGIS 9.2 manuals remain for those on the waiting list.
She will talk with Kevin Miller at IDEM about the possibility of training in
the future. Contact
for information about future training.
Visit the ESRI
website for any additional free webinars currently available.
Lake Rim GIS Update
Work to upgrade the Lake Rim GIS interactive mapping
website is underway. The Indiana Geological Survey is coordinating
testing and development of an updated Arc IMS viewer. Appropriate
datasets are being acquired and prepared for loading. All data on the
site will include metadata. The addition of local datasets is highly
desired. Anyone interested in participating by providing datasets is
encouraged to contact
or
.
Administration
Due to changes in Indiana Geological Survey hardware
and software, the Online Metadata Tool is not currently functional.
The IGS advises that they hope to be able to upgrade the Tool to provide a
more user friendly interface by the end of December. Metadata training
sessions will be scheduled once the Online Metadata Tool is operational.
Meeting notes will continue to be posted to
the NWI GIS Forum website as soon as possible after meetings (click on
Minutes).
Resource links were recently checked and updated/removed where necessary.
Please contact with any comments or input on the website.
IGIC Report
The annual
Indiana GIS
conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Indianapolis on
February 19 - 20, 2008. To date, there are approximately 300
registered for the event.
Cele Morris was elected to the Board of Directors of
IGIC as a representative for local and regional GIS Consortia.
Becky McKinley now rolls off the board. Thanks to Becky for all of her
time and effort with IGIC.
Jim Sparks has been named the new Indiana State
Geographic Information Officer. He will be responsible for
coordination of GIS implementation between state and local entities.
See the
IGIC website for GIS
educational opportunities available each month.
Next Meeting: Next meeting:
Thursday, May 8, 2008, at Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning
Commission, Portage, Indiana.
Presentation:
Jeff Leonhard and
Peter White, Pictometry Intelligent Oblique Imagery.
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