A RIS Odyssey

By Vivian Ackerson

Transcript

1. The evolution and future needs of TPWD’s Resource Information System Vivian Ackerson GIS Lab Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
2. What is RIS? ž  Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) developed the Texas Wildlife Action Plan, listing one of the major goals as “developing an integrated GIS database of fish, wildlife and water data to ensure decisions are based on sound science and the best available data.” ž  RIS is funded through the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) State Wildlife Grants (SWG) Program.
3. What is SWG? ž  The State Wildlife Grants Program provides federal grant funds for developing and implementing programs that benefit wildlife and their habitats, including species not hunted or fished. Priority is placed on projects that benefit species of greatest conservation need. ž  Grant funds must be used to address conservation needs such as research, surveys, species and habitat management, and monitoring.
4. To meet this goal, RIS provides the following: ž  Customized Ecological Web Applications ž  Spatial Data Solutions ž  Georeferenced Imagery ž  Automate spatial processes ž  Data capture, processing, sharing, and delivery ž  Ecological data analysis ž  Historical OrthoPhoto Project (HOPP)
5. In other words (or pictures)…
6. The Evolution of RIS
7. In 2001: A Space Odyssey the monolith represents an important step in human evolution. We will be looking at how RIS has evolved in terms of functionality and data presentation and what the future holds (follow the monolith!)
8. RIS Prologue… In the beginning there was the Internet. Then came Internet Mapping. Water Data Access (WDA) was developed in 2000 by contractors using ESRI’s ArcIMS to allow access to historical aquatic resource data from the Coastal and Inland Fisheries Divisions.
12. In The Beginning… ž  Did not like “black box” of WDA ž  2002 TPWD GIS Lab secured SWG funding to establish RIS ž  Develop web sites in-house with help of contractor – technology transfer ž  VJW Enterprises, Inc., wptc, Inc. ž  Also began working on HOPP
13. First applications -- Catch Rate and Endangered Species by County ž  Catch Rate by Minor Bay is a redo of WDA ž  Originally used ESRI’s ArcIMS 4.0 and ArcSDE ž  Catch Rate displays catch rates of several important fish species in Texas coastal waters by year for either a species of interest or for a bay of interest. ž  Endangered Species application provides the public with county level information in map and report formats for species of special concern in Texas. ž  Recently upgraded (uses Google Maps)
18. Google Maps, SQL Server Spatial, ASP.NET Membership ž  Started using SQL Server 2008 Spatial and Google Maps in 2008-2009 ž  Also incorporated ASP.NET Membership system to provide security for data entry and data viewing
19. Tarpon Observation Network ž  Populations have decreased since the 1940s and 1950s. ž  Anglers can enter observations and upload photos which greatly aids in the management of this species by providing information on when, where and at which life stages tarpon use Texas waters. ž  TON has been helpful in revealing otherwise unknown behavior about juvenile tarpon and their nursery environment as well as how far up river juveniles travel.
22. Tarpon Observation Network
23. Also pictures! People get excited about data and mapping when they can show off!
24. ASP.NET Membership System Users only need to register once but can access multiple applications to enter and view data.
25. Seamless integration between applications
27. Widgets and Portlets and Bears, Oh My! And Silverlight and Yahoo too! ž  Artificial Reefs application allows the public to locate and query offshore artificial reefs along the Texas coast. ž  provides documentation for each reef site including maps, sonar, and a few reefs have video
31. Lesser Prairie Chicken Application ž  Provides an interactive map for collecting, visualizing, and reporting LPC sightings ž  Viewing this map is available to all application users. Registered users including TPWD Biologists, landowners, and citizen scientists can add information to the application by entering observation data. ž  A good example of a highly-customized application
33. LPC Application puts data “through the ringer” ž  Data are collected, entered, validated, reviewed, and and verified. ž  Impersonation ž  Flagged for further review if within a polygon or assigned certain attributes if within a certain radius of a feature
36. Texas Ecological Systems
37. HOPP Project Provides georeferenced historical imagery of all TPWD properties and areas of special interest through the Historical OrthoPhoto Project (HOPP)
38. What we use:
39. The Future of RIS ž  HTML5 and CSS3 ž  Mobile apps: 77 Billion - the number of mobile apps expected to be downloaded annually by 2014 according to International Data Corporation (IDC) (from Forbes Magazine September 10, 2012) ž  Design for mobile apps first – how do you do this for highly customized apps?
40. Start small….
41. GIS and the Cloud The New Age of Cloud Computing and GIS By Victoria Kouyoumjian, Esri IT Strategy Architect
42. BIG Data
43. Remember HAL? “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
44. THANK YOU!!