Interior Secretary Kempthorne Names Members of National Geospatial Advisory Committee
01/29/2008
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today named 28 individuals to serve on the new National Geospatial Advisory Committee. The Committee will provide advice and recommendations on federal geospatial policy and management issues and provide a forum to convey views representative of partners in the geospatial community.
“Geospatial information and technology help many programs ranging from wildlife conservation to weather prediction to national security,” said Secretary Kempthorne. “This committee will help provide advice and perspectives from a broad range of our partner organizations as we continue to develop new ways to utilize geospatial information for the benefit of the public.”
Geospatial data and products, including maps, simulations, and databases, are invaluable tools in the effective management of utility infrastructures, transportation, energy, emergency management and response, natural resource management, climate analysis, disaster recovery, homeland defense, law enforcement, protection planning and other civilian or military strategic issues.
Members of the National Geospatial Advisory Committee named today represent the varied interests associated with geospatial programs and technology.
THE NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Members representing Private Sector, Nonprofits, and Academia:
Sean Ahearn, Hunter College, City University of New York; Allen Carroll, National Geographic Society; David Cowen, University of South Carolina; Jack Dangermond, Environmental Systems Research Institute; Kass Green, The Alta Vista Company; David Maune, Dewberry; Anne Hale Miglarese, Fugro EarthData, Inc.; Charles Mondello, Pictometry International; Kim Nelson, Microsoft Corporation; Matthew O’Connell, GeoEye; John Palatiello; Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors; G. Michael Ritchie, Photo Science; David Schell, Open Geospatial Consortium; and Christopher Tucker, IONIC Enterprise.
Members Representing Governmental Agencies: Rizwan Ahmed, State of Louisiana; Timothy M. Bennett, NativeView; Michael Byrne, State of California; Donald Dittmar, Waukesha County, WI; Dennis Goreham, State of Utah; Randall L. Johnson, Metropolitan Council, St. Paul, MN; Randy Johnson, Hennepin County, MN; Jerry Johnston, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Barney Krucoff, District of Columbia; Timothy Loewenstein, Buffalo County, NE; Zsolt Nagy, State of North Carolina; Jay Parrish; State of Pennsylvania; Gene Schiller, Southwest Florida Water Management District; and Steven Wallach, U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
Statistics show the chances of a kidnapped child being returned home safely are best in the first three hours. After that, the odds plummet.
But thanks to software donated to the Utah Child Abduction Response Team (CART), the chances for a happy ending have gotten better. The program provides clues, pinpoints suspects and narrows the search in seconds.
Lt. Jessica Farnsworth of the Utah Attorney General's Office, who heads CART, said this state-of-the-art mapping program can cut hours off a search.
"It's like having all the legwork done at the beginning," she said.
Making the donation particularly welcome is the fact that CART - which is made up of employees of law-enforcement agencies that offer support services to local police looking for a missing or kidnapped child - has no budget of its own to purchase equipment.
The software, which costs $10,000, was donated by ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc.) in Redlands, Calif. The gift includes technical assistance by the company, which develops geographic information system (GIS) technology.
Russ Johnson, ESRI director of public safety, said the company donates to organizations serving the public and helps them expand their good work.
Paul Murphy, spokesman for the AG's Office, said that work includes whatever it takes to find a kidnapvictim.
"They realize this is an important issue," he said of ESRI officials. "When a child is taken, all the stops are pulled out."
CART is activated when an Amber Alert is sounded. Some or all of the nearly 50 experts can be deployed to help in the rescue effort.
Among their duties are analysis, search and rescue, phone-tip operation and coordination of volunteer searchers. Some team members knock on doors in the neighborhood to find possible witnesses, while others gather film from surveillance cameras at businesses in the area.
And now, ArcGIS, which combines aerial maps with databases, is part of the team.
"The software gives us the opportunity to visualize the crime scene," CART analyst Bill Fossmo said.
So far, the software has not been activated, a fact Fossmo attributes to the success of Amber Alert, which launches an intense search as soon as police are informed of a missing or kidnapped child.
However, the analyst likes having the technology on hand for the day it's needed.
"We're very grateful," Fossmo said.
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Not so long ago, only a select group of users could take advantage of GIS tools and applications. The general public barely knew what GIS was, let alone knew how to use it. Today, the Web allows GIS data to be distributed via ever-evolving avenues, from the practical - traditional GIS services made available online - to imaginative applications like Google Sky, a Web-based, 3-D map of the universe.
Citizens, businesses and governments are finding new ways to reap the benefits of this revolution in how location data is understood and depicted. Data once found exclusively in GIS circles is appearing in common, everyday tools.
Some people wonder if these emerging applications should be considered GIS at all. Has the combination of location data and the Internet created something altogether new? How can government use new mapping tools to not only enhance citizen service, but also improve internal efficiency? And how do traditional GIS applications match up against the new kids on the block? These are just a few of the questions that have arisen in what may well be the golden age of GIS.
The Utah Geological Survey has published a new digital map that shows areas where landslide hazards may exist throughout Utah.
The map, a cooperative project of the Utah Geological Survey (UGS) and the Utah Division of Homeland Security, took 18 months to develop, the UGS said.
The idea is to help landowners and city and county governments identify areas requiring more-detailed research before development.
"Landslides have caused significant economic loss in Utah, and the exposure to landslide hazards increases as development continues to expand into landslide-prone areas," said Richard Giraud, senior UGS geologist, according to a statement.
UGS is charging $19.95 for the map, which is available at the Natural Resources Map & Bookstore, 1594 W. North Temple, Salt Lake City (801-537-3320 or 888-UTAHMAP; geostore @utah.gov). The map can also be viewed on the UGS Web site at http://geology.utah.gov/online/m/m-228.pdf .
