The Virgin Islands was selected as a beneficiary member state to receive the results of a Geographical Information Systems (GIS-based) Flood Early Warning System (FEWS) Project as part of the regional Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) Strategy and Framework 2007 - 2012. The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) is currently implementing major Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) initiatives aimed at reducing the vulnerability of its participating states to hazard impacts. A two day GIS-based Flood Early Warning System Workshop will develop the operational Flood Early Warning Systems Protocol and to demonstrate the uses of GIS in enhancing field operations during the planning and management of flood evacuation.
- BVI Platinum
There's a little profile of David Wyatt, GIS manager for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians who was recently appointed serve on the National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC). "The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians received a Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) Award from ESRI in 2010. The Tribe was one of 125 awardees internationally from hundreds of thousands of entrants."
- The Cherokee One Feather
Ward County, ND is flying LiDAR for flood prediction and management. "The information will be made available on the county Web site when design work is complete. By clicking on an icon that identifies a certain river elevation, the areas affected would be shown on a computerized map. The data isn't guaranteed to be 100 percent accurate as it is based on modeling, but critical infrastructure can also be better monitored using the tool, Larsen said."
- Minot Daily News
The San Juan County Commission [NM] voted Tuesday night to invest $21,000 to host a training session for data providers who make detailed maps for 911 dispatchers and emergency responders.The county will be reimbursed by the Department of Finance after the training sessions, said Nancy Smith, the county's rural addressing coordinator. ...Individualized training from the company is expensive and some smaller governments can't afford it, she said.
The goal is better, standards based data from contributing jurisdictions, many of which are small and rural.
- Farmington Daily Times
Last Friday was Philly Data Camp, a hack day co-hosted by the seven Code for America fellows and Azavea. Best bit for geo:
Perhaps the most actionable of the projects was to create an API that sets loose Philadelphia-specific GIS data for developers, in a project led by CFA team lead Aaron Ogle and Voxeo open gov rep Mark Headd, who is organizing the April BCNI Open Gov Hackathon. To give a simple example of the PhillyAPI, the group created a basic application that allows a user to enter an address and get sent the locations of libraries up to one mile from their given location. To try the service, text your address, including “Philadelphia, PA” to 267-702-4999 or IM — via Jabber — .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). You’ll hear back.Easily applicable to other data sets, such as locations of police stations and polling places, the program is meant to free up the city’s 311 service and help people who have cell phones but limited or no Internet access.
“A single call to 311 costs the city $3.30,” explained Fecteau. “We’re helping to free up money and agents in the city.”
- Technically Philly
The Atlanta Regional Commission and its survey partner, NuStats, will survey 10,000 households at a cost of $2 million to determine their travel habits. It will use GPSs, some on cars and some on people. The survey is funded by ARC and the Georgia Department of Transportation. It will be used to determine future transportation projects and plans.
- Decatur Patch
...The TownStats Project, organized by The Independent Center, a non-profit public policy organization, and funded by members of The Fund for New Jersey, based in New Brunswick, and The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, which both allocated $25,000 of initial seed money to launch townstats.org, a "non-profit, non-partisan online database designed to give you access to important information on your town, its budget, and its taxes in a format that makes it easy to make comparisons with other towns," according to the website, currently in the Beta stage.
- New Milford (NJ) Patch
