30/04
Written By: Rick Hill, Assistant Director, Technical Services Indiana Geological Survey, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
History
IndianaMap began in 1999 as the “Southwestern Indiana GIS Atlas,” a cooperative project involving the Indiana Geological Survey (IGS), Bernardin Lochmueller and Associates, Inc. (BLA), and the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT). The IGS was contracted to gather geologic and other spatial data from numerous state and federal agencies and other public sources, and enter it into a GIS system for analysis by BLA, INDOT, and others. The data, together with detailed metadata for 173 layers, were distributed to the public on CD-ROMs that were provided to 26 county libraries in southwestern Indiana and as an Interactive Mapping Services Web site, named the “GIS Atlas of Southwest Indiana.” The Web site soon became very popular.
In 2003, the Indiana Geological Survey submitted a proposal to INDOT to expand the Atlas to include GIS data covering the entire state. The contract was approved, the project moved forward, and a new Web site named the “GIS Atlas for Indiana” was created. In 2009 the Indiana Geographic Information Council, the State Geographic Information Officer, the IGS, and INDOT agreed to rebrand the GIS Atlas for Indiana to “IndianaMap.” Typically, IndianaMap serves about 12,000 unique visitors every month, including representatives of businesses, consulting firms, government agencies, academia, and the general public.
IndianaMap Technology
IndianaMap and its predecessors were developed by the staff of the IGS and is a custom JavaScript application using ESRI’s Internet Mapping Services. IndianaMap accesses more than 230 GIS layers from three sources—the Indiana Geological Survey SDE Database, University Information Technology Services SDE Image Database, and ESRI’s Geometry and Geocoding Services.
Additionally, IndianaMap Internet Mapping Services and Web Mapping Services are also available and include: Indiana Historical Aerial Photos, Framework-Government Boundaries, Framework-Cadastral, Framework-Elevation, Framework-Geodetic Control, Framework-Hydrography, Framework-Orthoimagery, and Framework-Transportation.
Updates
IndianaMap is updated the first Tuesday of the month (TFTOTM, pronounced “tuff-toe-tum”) as newer data become available. Many of the data stewards that contribute to IndianaMap contact the Indiana Geological Survey to make arrangements to provide updated GIS layers. As GIS layers are updated, so are their metadata. Nearly all the GIS data that have metadata are available for download.
Staffing for IndianaMap
There are numerous staff members from the IGS and University Information Technology Services, Indiana University that maintain, develop, and update applications, databases, high-performance networks, disk farms, servers, metadata, and numerous data sets for IndianaMap and associated mapping services. Job positions such as Oracle Database Administrators, SQL Database Administrators, SDE Administrators, System Analysis Programmers, Server Administrators, High-Performance Network Administrators, Web Administrators, and more all contribute to the successful operations of IndianaMap.
The Future
IndianaMap is currently being rewritten by the staff of the IGS as an ESRI ArcGIS Server application using Microsoft’s Silverlight development platform. There are many challenges that must be considered and addressed as part of a full application rewrite—things such as image caching, design, layer management, features, and performance, just to name a few. In addition, other IndianaMap products and services are being discussed to broaden the use and availability of Indiana’s GIS data.
History
IndianaMap began in 1999 as the “Southwestern Indiana GIS Atlas,” a cooperative project involving the Indiana Geological Survey (IGS), Bernardin Lochmueller and Associates, Inc. (BLA), and the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT). The IGS was contracted to gather geologic and other spatial data from numerous state and federal agencies and other public sources, and enter it into a GIS system for analysis by BLA, INDOT, and others. The data, together with detailed metadata for 173 layers, were distributed to the public on CD-ROMs that were provided to 26 county libraries in southwestern Indiana and as an Interactive Mapping Services Web site, named the “GIS Atlas of Southwest Indiana.” The Web site soon became very popular.
In 2003, the Indiana Geological Survey submitted a proposal to INDOT to expand the Atlas to include GIS data covering the entire state. The contract was approved, the project moved forward, and a new Web site named the “GIS Atlas for Indiana” was created. In 2009 the Indiana Geographic Information Council, the State Geographic Information Officer, the IGS, and INDOT agreed to rebrand the GIS Atlas for Indiana to “IndianaMap.” Typically, IndianaMap serves about 12,000 unique visitors every month, including representatives of businesses, consulting firms, government agencies, academia, and the general public.
IndianaMap Technology
IndianaMap and its predecessors were developed by the staff of the IGS and is a custom JavaScript application using ESRI’s Internet Mapping Services. IndianaMap accesses more than 230 GIS layers from three sources—the Indiana Geological Survey SDE Database, University Information Technology Services SDE Image Database, and ESRI’s Geometry and Geocoding Services.
Additionally, IndianaMap Internet Mapping Services and Web Mapping Services are also available and include: Indiana Historical Aerial Photos, Framework-Government Boundaries, Framework-Cadastral, Framework-Elevation, Framework-Geodetic Control, Framework-Hydrography, Framework-Orthoimagery, and Framework-Transportation.
Updates
IndianaMap is updated the first Tuesday of the month (TFTOTM, pronounced “tuff-toe-tum”) as newer data become available. Many of the data stewards that contribute to IndianaMap contact the Indiana Geological Survey to make arrangements to provide updated GIS layers. As GIS layers are updated, so are their metadata. Nearly all the GIS data that have metadata are available for download.
Staffing for IndianaMap
There are numerous staff members from the IGS and University Information Technology Services, Indiana University that maintain, develop, and update applications, databases, high-performance networks, disk farms, servers, metadata, and numerous data sets for IndianaMap and associated mapping services. Job positions such as Oracle Database Administrators, SQL Database Administrators, SDE Administrators, System Analysis Programmers, Server Administrators, High-Performance Network Administrators, Web Administrators, and more all contribute to the successful operations of IndianaMap.
The Future
IndianaMap is currently being rewritten by the staff of the IGS as an ESRI ArcGIS Server application using Microsoft’s Silverlight development platform. There are many challenges that must be considered and addressed as part of a full application rewrite—things such as image caching, design, layer management, features, and performance, just to name a few. In addition, other IndianaMap products and services are being discussed to broaden the use and availability of Indiana’s GIS data.
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