NC OneMap, Local State and Federal Geographical Date Available to Download FreeTim Johnson, Director for the NC Center for Geographic Information and Analysis Tim Johnson, Director for the NC Center for Geographic Information and Analysis. Tim provided the Board with the history of CGIA and what they do here in the state and how the NC 911 Board helped to fund the fly overs that helps to create the NC OneMap database. All the counties in NC have access to this information via the internet through CGIA. This access allows for the ability to make more informed decisions within the municipalities. The NCGICC is the North Carolina Geographic Information Coordinating Council who oversees CGIA. CGIA allows for the following to be viewed within the system:
This information was gathered and documented through metadata, the data is shared data between local, state, and federal agencies, develops ways to share cost of data creation, and provides support to help in the decision making process throughout the public sector. Tim discussed the project funded by the NC 911 Board to provide Orthoimagery of the entire State of NC which consisted of the City of Durham who had the idea to get the grant, which was funded by NC 911 Board, the grant was for $12.3 million, included all 100 counties in NC, flights begin in early 2010, the imagery to counties began in Spring 2011, there are 59,000 “tiles” with a 6-inch ground resolution. This project was refreshed in November of 2010 to include, enhancements that can be achieved in the short term by NC OneMap staff, implement those enhancements that were identified, specify requirements for system enhancements, and identify funding sources for priority investments. This evolved into the NC OneMap Geospatial Portal, which is defined as presenting information from diverse resources in a unified way. This resource can be found at: NC OneMap Geospatial Portal: data.nconemap.com - search for i.e., “imagery” or at ArcGIS.com - search for “NCOneMap imagery”. Tim stated that access to the NC Geospatial Data is very user friendly once all the images have been gathered into one location for the user to identify their specific need. Tim stated that during Hurricane Irene the images were used to show the vast devastation to the area, since there were images of locations prior to the Hurricane hitting the coastal regions of NC. Tim stated the next steps in NC OneMap evolution are to consolidate data logically into map services, to create a new map viewer for the user, and to have auto-notification of partner-maintained map services to the user. Chairman Brinson is also on the Board for NC OneMap and stated that the ability to download data free to all State and Local Municipalities was very beneficial using the example of the recent flooding with Hurricane Irene. |