igic.org

Contributed by: Randy Fusaro, Chief, National/State Geographic Partnerships Branch

The Census Bureau announces publication of the “Proposed Urban Area Criteria for the 2010 Census” in the Federal Register of August 24, 2010, available on the Federal Register’s website at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/. The Census Bureau is seeking public comment on these proposed criteria. Comments, suggestions, or recommendations regarding the criteria should be submitted in writing, no later than November 22, 2010, to Timothy Trainor, Chief, Geography Division, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC 20233-7400.

The Census Bureau’s urban-rural classification is fundamentally a delineation of geographical areas, identifying individual urbanized areas of 50,000 or more people and urban clusters of at least 2,500 and less than 50,000 people; “rural” encompasses all population and territory not included in urban areas. The Census Bureau’s urban areas represent densely developed territory, and encompass residential, commercial, and other non-residential urban land uses. Additional information about the Census Bureau’s urban-rural classification is available on the Census Bureau’s website at http://www.census.gov/geo/www/ua/urbanruralclass.html.

The proposed urban area criteria for the 2010 Census as well as summaries of the proposed changes, are available on the Census Bureau’s website at
http://www.census.gov/geo/www/ua/2010urbanruralclass.html.

Changes proposed for the 2010 Census include:
· Use of census tracts as analysis units in the initial phase of delineation
· Potential return to a maximum jump distance of 1.5 miles (the distance was increased to 2.5 miles in the Census 2000 criteria).
· Use of land use/land cover data to identify territory containing non-residential urban land uses or land cover that restricts urban development, such as marshland and wetlands.
· Lowering the minimum number of enplanements (departing passengers) from 10,000 to 2,500 to qualify airports for inclusion in urban areas.
· Elimination of the central place concept.
· Requirement that, in addition to at least 2,500 total population, an area must contain at least 1,500 persons residing outside institutional group quarters to qualify as urban.
· Splitting urban agglomerations of 1,000,000 or more population based on metropolitan statistical area boundaries, or, in New England, along metropolitan New England city and town area boundaries.

For further information about the Census Bureau urban-rural classification, or the proposed criteria for the 2010 Census, please contact Vincent Osier, Chief, Geographic Standards and Criteria Branch, Geography Division, U.S. Census Bureau, via e-mail at vincent.osier@census.gov.

We appreciate everyone's continued support of the 2010 Census. We will have census takers continue to go door-to-door until July to make sure everyone is counted. As the 2010 Census begins to wind down, attention will turn to the data released to the public, including sending overall population counts to President Obama that will be used to reapportion Congress. We encourage organization and constituents to review the schedule of releases for 2010 Census Data Products. The schedule can be viewed at http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/c2010products.pdf.

Contributed by: David Nail, United States Geological Survey, USGS Geospatial Liaison to Indiana

The USGS is in the process of producing new digital US Topo maps for the State of Indiana. These new map are being produced using eight current GIS data layers available from The National Map (TNM). The new US Topo maps for Indiana are the 7.5-minute map series at 1:24,000 scale in GeoPDF format. Other map series include the 30 x 60-minute maps at 1:100,000 scale, and 1 x 2-degree maps at 1:250,000 scale.



The original USGS digital topo maps (or Digital raster graphics maps - DRG) were produced from 1995 to 1998 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) by scanning the USGS's printed quadrangle maps. Development of this new generation of "US Topo" digital maps began in 2009. USGS uses eight data layers from TNM to publish the new GeoPDF maps. The layers include an orthophoto image layer from the National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP), transportation data of interstate and U.S. highways from the Census Bureau, geographic names from the Geographic Names Information System, contours, hydrography, a United States National Grid shown on 1,000-meter grid lines, and the metadata contained in the map border and collar information. The NAIP photography program acquires complete coverage of the 48 contiguous states every three years; thus, USGS will generate new US Topo maps every three years to follow the NAIP cycle. The 2010 US Topo maps for Indiana contain the 2009 NAIP imagery.

Click Here to go to the USGS map store site and download new GeoPDF Topo Maps of Indiana for FREE!



Be sure to turn on the [Show US Topo and "Digital Maps - Beta"] layer to see where new maps are already available. Until all of the new US Topo maps are produced for Indiana, the old DRG map are still available for download in the GeoPDF format, but there is only one layer in these files (the DRG layer) and only limited GeoPDF functionality is provided.

To view a brief summary of the 125 year history of USGS Topographic Mapping Click Here.

Contributed by: Katharine Springer, State Data Center Coordinator, Indiana State Library

I am happy to announce that The Compass Product series has been cataloged and will be shelved and ready for use in the Indiana State Data Center on the Ready Reference shelves. These handbooks are all about understanding and using the American Community Survey, the Bureau’s annual survey of population characteristics. They are very useful – both for direct patrons use, and to use ourselves.

Here are the seven titles that are available:
- What State and Local Governments Need to Know (purple)
- What Federal Agencies Need to Know (brown)
- What PUMS Data Users Need to Know (dark pink) PUMS=Public Use Microdata Sample
- What Congress Needs to Know (turquoise)
- What High School Teachers Need to Know (red)
- What Researchers Need to Know (indigo)
- What General Data Users Need to Know (green)

I recommend the last two titles. These guides are easy to spot – with huge compasses on the covers.

The guides are also available in PDF on the Census Bureau’s website, here: http://www.census.gov/acs/www/UseData/Compass/handbook_def.html

USGS's The National Map (TNM) Viewer is part of their National Geospatial Program (NGP).

This new platform provides both visualization and download services, and is based on the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA)'s Palanterra x3 platform. Click here to open the NEW TNM viewer.

Contributed by Phil Worrall, IGIC Executive Director

Communities and organizations across Indiana [including IGIC] directly benefit from a strong relationship and financial support from the USGS through their National Map Partnership program. The most visible and valuable components of this program to Indiana are the USGS Geospatial Liaison and Partnership Programs.

The Reason I'm writing this article now is that in the PRESIDENT'S PROPOSED 2011 BUDGET WE ARE AT RISK OF LOOSING THIS VALUABLE SUPPORT. A proposed $3.5 million dollar cut in USGS's FY2011 $1.1 Billion dollar budget will bring one of USGS's MOST SUCCESSFUL OUTREACH PROGRAMS EVER TO A STOP!

In the past, Indiana shared a USGS liaison with Ohio and Michigan, but in 2007 the USGS recognized the value and importance of this partnership program and appointed David Nail as USGS's full-time Geospatial Liaison for Indiana. Since then, David has worked closely with IGIC, State and local governments, and higher education in Indiana to help bring in nearly $850,000 in grants dollars to directly support the development of geospatial data and programs across Indiana.

In each case these contributions either helped us do something we could not have otherwise done, or helped us leverage other funds to make projects happen. And specifically for IGIC, without any permanent base-level funding, these grants have KEPT IGIC IN BUSINESS! Below is a detailed summary:

Since 2007, David has helped bring $847,700 in USGS/FGDC/NGA funds to Indiana:

Fiscal Year 2010 Highlights (as of 3/3/2010) Total Funds - $85,000
o Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Cap #7 grant support for the Indiana Geographic Information Council - Framework Data Exchange through Automated Geo-Synchronization – $50,000 [just awarded last week]
o USGS Partnership funds to Purdue University for Floodplain boundaries created from NRCS SSURGO soils data - $25,000
o USGS Partnership funds to Vanderburgh County/City of Evansville, IN for orthoimagery acquisition - $10,000

Fiscal Year 2009 Highlights Total Funds - $191,500
o Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Cap #7 grant support for the Indiana Geographic Information Council - Grant support for Road centerlines, boundaries, addresses and documentation of BP for Indiana's implementation of a statewide data sharing initiative - $75,000

o Partnership funds to the Indiana Geographic Information Council $25,000 - Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) corrections on 24K National Hydrographic Dataset (NHD) streams and lakes

o Partnership funds to the Indiana Geographic Information Council $62,500 - HAZUS, Essential Facilities Structures - Essential Facilities for 89 counties, maintenance, interface and documentation

o Partnership funds to the Indiana Geographic Information Council $29,000 - Local-Resolution NHD - Agreement to complete Local-Res for 1 Catalog Unit (CU) in 2010. Eight additional CU’s will be completed in 2010/2011 and delivered to USGS

Fiscal Year 2008 Highlights Total Funds - $123,200
o Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Cap #2 grant support for the Indiana Geographic Information Council - Best Practices in Geospatial Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) - $100,000

o Partnership funds to the City of Fort Wayne – USGS/NGA $23,200 for 6inch orthoimagery for Allen County/City of Fort Wayne

Fiscal Year 2007 Highlights Total Funds – $448,000
o Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Cap #3 grant Fifty States Initiative - $50,000

o Partnership funds to IMAGIS (Indianapolis Mapping and Geographic Infrastructure System) - USGS/NGA $85,000 for 6inch and 1ft orthoimagery for the Indianapolis urban area

o Partnership funds to the Indiana Geographic Information Council - $25,000 for National Hydrography Data (NHD) stewardship investigation and NHD training

o Partnership funds to the Indiana Geographic Information Council - $288,000 for Address Integration Pilot

Since 2007, David has actively supported GIS development and education across Indiana:

Memberships & Committees
o Indiana Geographic Information Council (IGIC) Board Member -- Federal Representative
o IGIC Education Committee - Member
o IGIC IndianaMap Steering Committee and Chair of GIS inventory subcommittee - Member
o IGIC GIS Response Corps Committee - Member
o IGIC Waters Workgroup - Member
o Great Lakes Regional Height Modernization Consortium – Member
o Indiana Silver Jackets – Member
o Indiana Geological Survey’s Geologic Mapping and Advisory Committee - Member

USGS Science Support
o Flood Inundation Mapping Meeting with Indiana Water Science Center
o Data discovery and support to the Indiana Water Science Center for elevation and imagery data

Workshop Support
o NHDGeoEdit and Conflation tools workshop 6 state attendees participated in the use of NHD editing and conflation tools 9/2009 - Indianapolis, IN

Major Presentations
o USGS Collaboration with Purdue University presented Geospatial activities, FGDC, and TNM, 3/2009
o Indiana NHD Stewardship Activities Update NHD Conference, 4/2009
o FEMA Region V - Region Interagency Steering Committee Meeting presented USGS Emergency Operations and the International Charter Program, 6/2009
o History of the National Map and the U.S. Topo at Indiana Geographic Information Council Board meeting, 12/2009