Table of Contents for Summer 2010, Issue 61

Transcription

1 Summer 2010 Issue 61 Table of Contents for Summer 2010, Issue 61 MN GIS/LIS Consortium From the Chair, By Steve Benson, 2010 Chair 20 th Annual MN GIS/LIS Fall Conference Planning, By Stacey Stark, 2010 Conference Chair 2010 GIS/LIS Scholarship Program, By Chad Martini, Scholarship Chair Consortium 2009 Annual Report State Preserving Minnesota s GLO Field Notes - Project Funded, By John Hoshal, MnGeo Minnesota LiDAR Mapping Project Update, By Tim Loesch, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources 2010 FSA Statewide Orthophotos, By Chris Cialek, MnGeo Call for Governor s Commendation Award Nominations Regional Metro Orthoimagery; 2011 Planned Flights in Southern MN, By Chris Cialek, MnGeo Local..10 The City of Eagan uses GIS to Map and Help Track Diseased Tree Removal, By Tami Maddio, City of Eagan Goodhue County Publishes Historic Places Web Application, By Sarah Schrader and Alan Laumeyer, Goodhue County GIS Higher Education U of M Career Fair a Success!, University of Minnesota GIS Student Organization 1

2 MN GIS/LIS Consortium From the Chair By Steve Benson, 2010 Chair Spring Workshops: We had a successful set of GIS/LIS spring workshops at MnDOT's Arden Hills training facility on May 20th. Approximately 100 people attended an array of half-day and full day sessions. Event Grants: The Consortium offers grants to assist GIS/LIS activities or events in Minnesota such as the U of M GIS Student Organization s annual Career and Networking Fair. We can provide limited funding for printing costs, mailing costs, meeting room rental fees, food services, speaker fees and advertisements. For details and an application, click here. The Consortium started up a Facebook account last year, and membership is growing. Mike Dolbow has volunteered to keep this site active and up-to-date. Take a look when you get a chance. While this site is intended to attract and inform more GIS students and GIS professionals, the Consortium s website will continue to be the main place to go for information about the Consortium and its activities. The Consortium s Outreach Committee was responsible for setting up the Facebook page. If you are interested in volunteering on Outreach or any other Consortium committees, please click here for more information or contact a Board member. Consortium s Homepage: We continue to promote current events and hot topics, such as workshop registration, on our homepage. Please check in periodically to see what s happening Fall Conference and Workshops: This year marks the 20 th anniversary of the GIS/LIS conference, so be watching for special activities at the conference. This year's conference is returning to Duluth on October If you are interested in working on the event, or simply want to make a comment or suggestion, contact Conference Chair Stacey Stark at: slstark@d.umn.edu. Annual report: The Consortium s Outreach Committee wrote an annual report of the activities and accomplishments of the 2009 Board and members. This very interesting and informative document covers Consortium activities and recaps the conference, including listing award and scholarship recipients. It also presents a brief summary of the Consortium s budget and cost of the conference. The database committee continues to work towards building an accessible database so the Consortium can support members who are applying for GIS Professional Certification. The database will allow members to extract information about which conferences they ve attended, papers/posters delivered and other conference volunteer activities. Enjoy your summer and come and check us out on Facebook! 2

3 20 th Annual MN GIS/LIS Fall Conference Planning By Stacey Stark, 2010 Conference Chair Planning is well underway for the annual Minnesota GIS/LIS Fall conference and workshops in Duluth. This year s event is scheduled for October 13-15, 2010 at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC). Please see for more information. GIS and a Sustainable Future Friday Closing Lunch GIS professionals have much to contribute to global, regional and local challenges in water, food and energy resources, healthcare, transportation, and urban planning. At the closing lunch on October 15, we will gain inspiration for the next 20 years of Minnesota GIS from our lunch speaker, James Brew. An architect and planner from Rocky Mountain Institute, Brew specializes in sustainability through whole-system thinking / design, regenerative solutions, and creating community solutions. New! Young Professionals Mentoring Program This year we will implement a Young Professionals Mentoring Program for current students and 2009 (or later) graduates of GIS-related programs. We are looking for MN GIS/LIS members (you!) to contribute a small amount of time at the conference to talk to these young professionals. This will involve sitting with your mentee at the Opening Keynote presentation and eating the Thursday lunch together. You will be encouraged to attend these activities with other colleagues as usual, introducing your mentee. Mentors and mentees will be matched based on expertise/interest areas. (Please note, this program does not include scholarships for student mentees or discounts for mentors; however, students in the scholarship program may also take advantage of this opportunity.) If you are interested in volunteering as a mentor, or are interested in being placed as a mentee, please contact Stacey Stark, slstark@d.umn.edu. More details will be available soon. Did You Know? The DECC is Great In 2008 the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center received the Governor's "Minnesota Great Award." This recognition honors excellence in businesses that preserve our environment through innovative practices preventing pollution and waste and improving resource efficiency leading to sustainability. The DECC has worked to reduce waste, recover food when possible, increase energy conservation, improve recycling and reuse opportunities, and change purchasing practices. You will notice compostable utensils, no plastic bottles, and opportunities to compost food waste at this conference. The new hockey arena is aiming to be the first Gold LEED certified hockey rink in the nation, and is the first of its size to cut energy use by 50%. Plan to join us in Duluth for a full, engaging conference again this year! Please feel free to contact me at slstark@d.umn.edu to volunteer or to suggest ideas, ask questions, or for any other conference-related communication. 3

4 2010 GIS/LIS Scholarship Program By Chad Martini, Scholarship Chair In 2010, the GIS/LIS Scholarship Committee will again be hosting a student scholarship competition at the annual fall conference in Duluth, MN. GIS/LIS invites each qualifying school to name one Student Scholar per degree program (undergraduate / graduate). Each Student Scholar will receive the following: One free registration to the 2010 GIS/LIS conference An invitation to participate in the 2010 Student Scholarship Competition A certificate recognizing the student as a 2010 GIS/LIS Student Scholar On behalf of the GIS/LIS Board of Directors, please join the Scholarship Committee in congratulating the following students for their outstanding GIS achievements: Institution Type of Program Winner Bemidji State University Undergraduate Paul Reamer Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College Itasca Community College Community College Gail Evans Community College Scott Wirta Macalester College Undergraduate Aaron Brown Minnesota State University, Mankato Graduate Katie Leonard Minnesota State University, Mankato Undergraduate Ashley Keul St. Cloud State University Graduate Michael Campbell St. Cloud State University Undergraduate Travis Genty Saint Mary's University of Minnesota Graduate Brian Barklind University of Minnesota, Duluth Undergraduate Dave Evanson University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Graduate Margaret Voth University of St. Thomas Undergraduate Jack Westman Although the scholarship process begins in the winter, it is not always possible for schools to complete the selection process by the time the summer newsletter article is published. The scholarship committee s number one priority is to provide students an opportunity to be recognized for their accomplishments and for that reason the committee is happy to provide schools additional time to complete their selection process. For more information on the scholarship program, or to see listings of past winners, click here. 4

5 If you have any questions about the scholarship program, please contact the Scholarship Chair at or Consortium 2009 Annual Report The MN GIS/LIS Consortium s 2009 Annual Report is now online and includes the following information: Mission Statement Message from the Board Chair Consortium Highlights Financial Overview Volunteer Opportunities List of the 2009 Board of Directors Click here to view the report. State Preserving Minnesota s GLO Field Notes - Project Funded By John Hoshal, MnGeo The Minnesota Historical Society has awarded a Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grant to MnGeo to scan, index, and publish Minnesota s General Land Office (GLO) Field Notes online, thereby greatly increasing their accessibility. The field notes were created for the federal government between 1847 and 1911, prior to opening Minnesota to land sale and to European settlement. MnGeo will work in partnership with the Minnesota Historical Society, Office of the Secretary of State, Minnesota Department of Transportation, Minnesota Association of County Surveyors and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to digitize and index these exceptional documents and publish them online. The project s anticipated completion date is June 30, Contained in 1410 volumes totaling nearly 250,000 pages, the notes serve as the legal foundation for all land ownership in the state. All property titles in Minnesota ultimately rest on these descriptions. They are also uniquely valuable for historical, environmental, genealogical and legal purposes and are the only comprehensive representation of Minnesota s landscape prior to development. However, access to the actual notes has posed challenges due to their unique nature and fragile condition. This project will ensure that the public will have full access to them for generations to come. 5

6 Some of the field notes and all of the maps derived from the notes are currently available online: Selected field notes: See an earlier article about a pilot project to scan and index the notes; selected notes from Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Isanti, Pipestone and Traverse counties are online. GLO maps: Over 3,600 GLO maps derived from the notes are already available for download at and will be tied to the field notes. Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants are made possible by the Minnesota Legislature from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund created with passage of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to the Minnesota Constitution in November The grants are awarded to support projects of enduring value for the cause of history and historic preservation across the state. More Information For more information about the project, contact John Hoshal at john.hoshal@state.mn.us, or Project updates will be posted here. Minnesota LiDAR Mapping Project Update By Tim Loesch, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources The Minnesota High Resolution Elevation Mapping project got underway this spring! The first phase of the project focuses on the Minnesota River Basin and encompasses 17,000 square miles across 25 counties in southwest Minnesota (see graphic). This project was funded by the Clean Water Fund of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. The early and rapid onset of spring accompanied by flooding and persistent snow cover was a challenge for the data collection team. In all, data covering 80% of the project area was collected before crop (primarily alfalfa) and vegetation leafout forced acquisition to be halted. The remaining 20% of the project area will be collected this fall. Local partners provided critical ground condition information throughout the data collection period. Photographs of lilac bushes, trees and ground cover were taken throughout the project area and sent to the project team. These images proved to be critical pieces of information that guided the project team s decisions. 6

7 Data processing is underway and product delivery is expected to start sometime this fall. Data will be checked for consistency and accuracy prior to general distribution. The project team is currently planning the next mission scheduled for the spring of Please visit the project webpage for up-to-date details on project status FSA Statewide Orthophotos By Chris Cialek, MnGeo USDA s Farm Service Agency recently announced the names of contractors selected for summer 2010 flights over 30 states as part of the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP). Minnesota will be flown by Aerial Services, Inc., of Cedar Falls, Iowa. The imagery will be statewide, summer leaf-on, four-band, collected at 1-meter resolution, and processed using absolute accuracy procedures, which provide a higher level of accuracy than relative accuracy processes. Due to the late and unanticipated announcement of a NAIP flight this year, the state is not partnering with FSA on this project. We will receive 3-band natural color MrSID Generation 3 (MG3) compressed county mosaics. Data will begin to arrive early this autumn and will be available via MnGeo s website. It is unlikely, however, that we will be eligible to receive, at no cost, the 4-band tiled GeoTIFF products. For more information, see FSA s status maps and keep an eye on MnGeo s NAIP10 webpage. Call for Governor s Commendation Award Nominations A Governor s Certificate of Commendation is the highest award given to any geospatial project in Minnesota. Awards will be made at the 2010 annual Mn GIS/LIS conference. The project must have: 7

8 1. yielded tangible benefits and exceptional results 2. had a significant impact outside the home organization 3. furthered at least one of the goals in the guiding principles for the award The value of the product must be documented quantitatively in numbers and qualitatively with testimonials from users. Details are provided at Submission deadline is July 23, Regional 2010 Metro Orthoimagery; 2011 Planned Flights in Southern MN By Chris Cialek, MnGeo Eleven of thirteen East-Central Minnesota counties were flown this spring for highresolution 4-band digital imagery from which stereo and ortho-rectified data products will be produced. The project is being funded by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Metropolitan Council, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District. MnGeo is managing federal and vendor contracts and interagency agreements. Surdex Corporation began flying on April 7. Due to early spring weather, flights were curtailed after April 18. Data collection status: Wright, Sherburne, Isanti and Chisago counties were collected at 20-inch resolution, the nominal resolution specified by the DNR and Met Council. Anoka, Carver, Hennepin, Ramsey and Washington counties were collected at 1- foot resolution thanks to a grant from the NGA, which requires that resolution to support its 133 Urban Areas Program. Dakota and Scott counties took advantage of this regional data collection opportunity to buy up to a 6-inch resolution. Rice and Goodhue counties, which were scheduled for 20-inch resolution coverage, were not collected so will be rescheduled for Spring 2011 The state is also exercising an unsolicited option proposed by the vendor for increased horizontal accuracy. 8

9 Figure 1. The 2010 East_Central Minnesota ortho imagery project contains 13 counties. Data were collected at three resolutions. Due to early Spring weather, two counties were not flown this year and are scheduled for flights in Image processing is currently underway, including aerial triangulation (the calculation of true ground co-ordinates allowing aerial imagery to be properly aligned and georeferenced), color balancing and creation of county composite mosaics Planned Flights in Southern MN Thirty-six southern Minnesota counties will be flown next spring as the next phase of this project (see map). Informational materials are being prepared and two or three regional meetings are being planned to gauge interest in local partnerships. For more information on these projects, see the spring air photo project webpage, or contact Chris Cialek, MnGeo, at or

10 Figure 2. Anticipated data collection schedule for statewide high resolution orthoimagery collection in Minnesota. Local The City of Eagan uses GIS to Map and Help Track Diseased Tree Removal By Tami Maddio, City of Eagan The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a highly destructive pest of ash trees, has now been documented in St. Paul (May 2009), in Falcon Heights (November 2009), and in Minneapolis (Tower Hill Park, March 2010), Minnesota. Research indicates that it is very likely that EAB has infested many other ash trees in our area. This exotic beetle, introduced from Asia into the Great Lakes region in 2002, has the potential to devastate millions of ash trees in Minnesota. The City of Eagan is now proactively managing its ash tree resource to prepare for potential EAB. The City of Eagan estimates there are 4,377 publically owned ash trees within the city boundary. Within weeks of the St. Paul documented EAB infestation, Eagan Forestry developed and adopted an EAB Management Plan. Basically, the plan lays out a variety of management activities to minimize negative impacts of inevitable EAB infestations. Management activities will include chemically protecting high value ash 10

11 trees in parks and public places, removing poor quality and/or damaged ash trees in parks and public places, and replanting with non-ash tree species. In an effort to kick-start our EAB management, the city applied for and received a Minnesota Department of Agriculture 2010 Forest Protection Reserve Planning and Preparedness Grant. Funds from this grant are being used for the Eagan Boulevard Tree EAB Project. There will be no cost to Eagan residents to conduct this project. The tree removal and treatment process and the grant funds are tracked using a database linked to GIS locations of the boulevard trees. Using ArcMap, Eagan City Forestry staff can click on a tree on a map and get information on individual trees and are also able to view treated trees by area within the City. Mapping grant money distributions has been helpful in tracking where the money is going and how best to use the City s remaining resources. The forestry staff is also able to produce reports and resident letters directly from the database. This resource has proved to be extremely valuable in the management of the EAB grant project. Using GIS helps visualize the EAB distribution and assists in the planning of staff resources. The integration of the EAB database and GIS allows City forestry staff to use the same processes to track other diseased tree treatments as well as other forestry related projects. More Information For more information about Eagan City Forestry EAB efforts, contact Tami Maddio at tmaddio@cityofeagan.com or Also see an earlier GIS/LIS News article on the Minnesota Department of Agriculture s use of GIS to prepare for EAB. Goodhue County Publishes Historic Places Web Application By Sarah Schrader and Alan Laumeyer, Goodhue County GIS Goodhue County recently published a public GIS web application featuring historic places within the county including over 117 sites listed on the National Register, 63 cemeteries, and 11 additional features with local historic importance provided by municipalities or historic societies. Places include historic structures, sites and districts. County GIS staff created the out-of-the-box application using ESRI s ArcGIS Server software. 11

12 This application is helping solve a county business need to improve land use management decisions. Preserving historic features is part of the County s Comprehensive Plan, and in order to abide by the Plan s goals, county staff need to have a better understanding of where these features are located. An additional benefit of this web application is to assist citizens who are interested in history or genealogy within Goodhue County. This site will be updated with additional historic sites as more information becomes available. The public is also invited to let the county know of other sites that could be considered for listing. The web application includes basic tools to search for a specific municipality or township and range, and to search for historic features by name. A document was created for each historic feature which includes information such as the feature s location or address, status as public or private property, additional history, website links to additional resources, and pictures of the feature. The example included here shows Carleton Airport, opened by Carleton College in October 1942 and used to train students in air traffic control, meteorology and beginning flight instruction during World War II. The application also includes links to websites for the National Register of Historic Places, the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office, and local historical societies. Goodhue County staff plans to present on this project at the Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium fall conference in October For more information about this project, contact Sarah Schrader, GISP Goodhue County GIS Specialist at sarah.schrader@co.goodhue.mn.us or Higher Education 2010 U of M Career Fair a Success! University of Minnesota GIS Student Organization The University of Minnesota s GIS Student Organization (GISSO) held its ninth Annual Career and Networking Fair on March 31, This free event was held on campus at Coffman Union and provided a forum that allowed participants to network with one another, consult in resume review sessions, and discuss various aspects of GIS and its many applications. 12

13 This year hosted a range of speakers: How to Argue With Maps: Four Rhetorical Styles of Cartographic Persuasion Dr. Ian Muehlenhaus (UW-River Falls) Mapping Antarctica in the 21 st Century Brad Herried (Masters GIS, University of Minnesota) Spatial Historic Demography in the Walking City Mark Magnuson (Masters GIS, University of Minnesota) The Revolution will be Mapped: A look at Cartography in 2010 Dr. Mark Harrower (Keynote speaker, UW-Madison) The presentations provided a balanced perspective into varying applications of GIS and were very popular among our participants. The following organizations staffed booths at the event, providing information to participants and giving students, faculty and employers an opportunity to interact and share knowledge as well as experiences pertaining to GIS: American Society for Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing Best Buy CFANS Graduate Programs Eastview Cartographic ESRI GIS Rangers HDR Engineering JSA GIServices Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Minnesota Department of Transportation Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium Northmarq Saint Mary s University Telasoft U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service University of Minnesota MGIS University of Minnesota Remote Sensing and Geospatial Analysis Laboratory USGS WSB & Associates We would like to thank the GIS/LIS Consortium for providing an event grant that helped to sponsor the career and networking fair, as well as all the individuals and organizations who contributed their time and expertise. For more information about GISSO, see their webpage or contact Mike Foster at gisso@umn.edu. 13