Active Alert List

LGC ALERT DEC11A

In 2010 James Armstrong, Richmond County Director for Planning and GIS, who also serves as the Local Government Committee (LGC) representative to the Statewide Mapping Advisory Committee (SMAC), suggested to the LGC that the Geographic Data Content Standard for Water Distribution and Sanitary Sewer Systems, originally adopted by the GICC in 1997, was out-of-date. The LGC asked James to raise the issue before the SMAC.

The SMAC established a working group to make recommendations for updating the standard. James chaired the committee, which included Chris Butts, Moore County; Jeff Cooke, City of Goldsboro; Ray Kurtiak, City of Gastonia; Rob Bailey, City of Charlotte; Mike Mull, Town of Cary; Sarah Sheldon, Town of Wake Forest; Kathryn Brewer, Metropolitan Sewage District of Buncombe County; and Trey Cleaton, City of Salisbury. In addition, CGIA received helpful comments on draft revisions from SMAC members as well as Julie Haigler Cubeta of the NC Rural Economic Development Center; Bliss Kite of the NC Public Utilities Commission; Jessica Godreau of the NC Public Water Supply Section; and Wayne Francisco, GHD Consultants.

The SMAC submitted a revised standard to the GICC, which adopted the standard on Nov 9, 2011. To read the revised standard, go here.

This effort represents a wonderful example of the leadership of the LGC and the critical role that local governments play in statewide geospatial data and GIS coordination activities.

Another important outcome is that the process convinced the SMAC to establish the Working Group for Standards, a permanent committee that will guide the development of standards for adoption or endorsement by the GICC. One of the working group’s charges is to review previously adopted standards that may need updating to reflect changes in technology, methods or practices in North Carolina.

A second outcome was the recognition of the value of preparing a best practices document as a companion to adopted standards. The practices documents offer a set of recommended practices to promote consistency in geospatial representation and data content to support regional analysis and planning, and statewide data sharing.

CGIA, with support from James and the working group members, prepared the Practices for Mapping Water and Sewer Areas and Facilities. To read this document, go to the url cited above.

Additional best practices documents will be prepared at a later date.

LGC ALERT SEP11A

A company called LightSquared is seeking a waiver from the Federal Communications Commission to take the radio spectrum used for satellite communication and use it from a ground based transmitter to develop a nationwide broadband wireless network. The plan poses the potential of significant interference to GPS reception across the country.

The Coalition to Save Our GPS has a web site that fully explains the threat to GPS users.

The Local Government Committee of the NC GICC encourages you to submit a letter of concern to Congressman Ralph Hall, Chairman of the House Science Committee. He will chair a meeting on this issue on September 8 so time is short. You can send the letter by email to Leslee Gilbert, the congressman's staff person on this issue.

A sample letter is on the Coalition to Save Our GPS web site. You may want to edit the letter to fit your agency.

LGC ALERT JUN11A

The Statewide Orthoimagery Project, conducted under a grant by the NC 911 Board to the City of Durham, is nearing completion. The Working Group for Orhophotography Planning (WCOP) has prepared a Business Plan for Orthoimagery in North Carolina to guide future ortho acquisition efforts. For information about the WGOP and a link to the business plan, see here.

The Local Government Committee is represented on the WGOP by Chris Koltyk, GIS Director for Moore County, and Jerry Simmons, GIS Administrator for Pender County. Chris and Jerry request that you submit to them any comments about the project, the deliverables, the data quality and especially ideas on plans for future projects so that they can share the ideas with the WGOP.

Send your comments to:

Chris Koltyk
Jerry Simmons

LGC Alert DEC09A

You may be aware that the State, through a grant from the NC 911 Board, plans to acquire orthophotography for all 100 counties during the 2010 flying season. The imagery will be collected digitally at a resolution of 6-inches. CGIA will distribute county imagery to each county, at no cost, and will make it available for download through NC OneMap. A description of the project and a list of FAQs is available at http://www.nconemap.net/NCOrthos/tabid/425/Default.aspx.

Please inform the 2010 statewide orthoimagery project by answering a few questions about your use of orthoimagery for your GIS operations and coordination. Return your answers to Jeff Brown of CGIA.

Thank you for your help!

Do you get requests for TIF image tiles from outside of your GIS operation? Yes, other departments Yes, engineering or site planning firms Yes, other _______ No

What compression ratio do you prefer for your image tiles? 10 to 1, 20 to 1 (lossless), 40 to 1, 50 to 1 (most compressed), other___

Do you or your colleagues use a mosaic of your compressed imagery in your work?

If yes, what is the compression rate?

Do you distribute a mosaic of your compressed imagery to the public? If yes, what is the compression rate?

LGC Alert SEP09A

The Local Government Committee of the NC Geographic Information Coordinating Council (GICC) represents the local government GIS community on issues related to GIS and geospatial information. The LGC is looking for volunteers to serve on various subcommittees or working groups. Specifically the LGC anticipates making appointments in the near future to the committees described below.

If you are interested in serving, please notify both Julie Stamper, chair of the LGC, and Tom Tribble, staff to the LGC. Thank you!

GIS Advisory Team – The “A Team” provides recommendations and technical guidance to the LGC regarding issues of concern to the local government GIS community. The “A Team” serves as a primary link between the LGC and the GIS community. Members review proposed technical standards or policy documents and submit their comments to the LGC. There are no meetings. All communication is accomplished by email. The number of requests annually rarely exceeds four.

Statewide Mapping Advisory Committee – The SMAC is a committee of the Geographic Information Coordinating Committee (GICC). The purpose of the SMAC is to work with data content standards, consolidate statewide mapping requirements, and seek financial support for cooperative programs. It advises the GICC on issues, problems, and opportunities relating to base and image mapping programs and information. Membership is approximately 15 and is listed on the website. The LGC appoints two members to the SMAC and anticipates an opening in the near future. The appointment is for 2 years. The time commitment is significantly greater than for the A Team. The SMAC meets 4 times a year in Raleigh. In addition, the SMAC members typically join the LGC meetings by phone (4 times a year, 2 hours).

Stream Mapping Advisory Committee – Referred to as the Stream group because the acronym is the same as the SMAC. The Stream group oversees the effort to develop a statewide, local resolution surface water database. The data are complete for 19 counties in WNC. Committee members will attend committee meetings in person or by teleconference. Meetings are usually held monthly when data contractor(s) are in production, and bi-monthly or quarterly when not in production. Members will also participate in the development and review of issue papers. Issue papers are created to document programmatic or technical directions resolved by the stream mapping advisory committee. Development of issue papers usually happens as an extracurricular activity to committee meetings.

Alert ID - SEP08A

The Local Government Committee of the NC Geographic Information Coordinating Council (GICC) seeks comments from the local government GIS community on the draft final report of the Archives and Long Term Access ad hoc Committee. The draft final report was presented to the GICC at its August 13 meeting.

To find out more about geospatial preservation efforts in NC, visit:

The LGC wishes to thank the many members of the local government GIS community who responded in June of this year to the 2008 NC Local Government GeoArchives Survey. Your answers were of great value to the Archives and Long Term Access ad hoc Committee in preparing the final report. Please review the report and submit your comments to both Julie Stamper, chair of the LGC, and Tom Tribble, staff to the LGC . Please send your response no later than Friday Oct 10.

Alert ID - JUN08A

The Local Government Committee of the NC Geographic Information Coordinating Council (GICC) would like to encourage our colleagues in county and municipal government to complete the online 2008 NC Local Government GeoArchives Survey. You will recall that the recently adopted Data Sharing Recommendations, developed at the urging of the local government GIS community, included a recommendation that we as a community “establish archive and long term data access strategies.”

This survey is part of a NC-based multi agency partnership with the Library of Congress to examine the current state of digital preservation of geospatial data. The project aims to address preservation of constantly changing geospatial data such as cadastral, zoning and land use. These “at risk” layers are often overwritten when changes are made and are thus lost for long term use and historical analysis. This survey is a follow-up to a similar, initial geo-archives survey launched in 2006.

Please take 15 minutes to share your knowledge about your locality’s experience with the retention and archiving of geospatial data by Wednesday June 25th.

To find out more about geospatial preservation efforts in NC see:

North Carolina Geospatial Data Archiving Project (project website)
GICC’s Archival and Long Term Access Working Group: includes several local government representatives.
Results of the 2006 Local Governments GeoArchives Survey

Please contact Alec Bethune (alec.bethune@ncmail.net) at the NC Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (CGIA) if you have any questions or technical issues.

Alert ID - NOV07B

The Public/Private Partnership Working Group of the Geographic Information Coordinating Council has been exploring opportunities to enhance cooperation between the public and private sectors in the development and use of geospatial information. At the November GICC meeting, the working group submitted a final report. Dempsey Benton, the GICC Chair, asked that GICC members and the various standing committees review the report and submit comments.

The Local Government Committee (LGC) is seeking your comments. Please submit your comments to both Colleen Sharpe, chair of the LGC(colleen.sharpe@ci.raleigh.nc.us), and Tom Tribble, staff to the LGC (tom.tribble@nc.gov). Please send your response no later than Wed Dec 12.

A strong relationship between the NC GIS community and private sector users and developers of geospatial data offers the promise of benefits to the local government GIS community. Please take this opportunity to make your voice heard.

Alert ID - NOV07A

The Local Government Committee of the NC Geographic Information Coordinating Council (GICC) would like to make the GIS community aware that NOAA’s Coastal Services Center (CSC) is providing *free* GIS/planning services and training to coastal counties across the country. The CSC defines “coastal” fairly broadly. In NC, it includes most of the counties east of I-95.

The link to their website is www.csc.noaa.gov. Besides coastal management classes, they offer Intro to ArcGIS, and GIS for Managers among others. If conducted at their Charleston, SC facility, the training is provided at the cost of materials.

Click here for a report on the results of a survey that was conducted as part of an outreach effort between the CSC and the National Association of Counties (NACO). The survey was forwarded to NC coastal counties through the LGC. It exams the issues coastal counties face and how they are using GIS.

Alert ID - OCT07

Last year, the Local Government Committee (LGC), in a formal report to the NC Geographic Information Coordinating Council, expressed concern about the frequent requests for copies of locally produced geospatial data from many different state and federal government agencies. Duplicative requests for data pose a burden on local government agencies with limited staff and computer resources.

Local government representatives have been serving on an ad hoc committee charged with developing recommendations for alleviating this problem. In early September, the draft “Recommendations for Data Sharing Guidelines” was distributed to the LGC GIS Advisory Team and to the local government GIS community through the various listservs.

The LGC wants to thank all of you who replied. We received an unprecedented number of comments, all valuable and constructive.

Click here to see the summary comments that the LGC returned to the ad hoc Data Sharing Committee. We’re sure that many of you will see your comments reflected in the summary.

Thank you again for getting involved in this important issue.

Alert ID - NOV06A

The Local Government Committee of the NC Geographic Information Coordination Council (GICC) would like to make the GIS community aware that the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences (NCDA&CS) has received 7 counties of the NAIP orthophotography (leaf on) in Compressed County Mosaic (Mr. Sid) format from USDA and they are available on the NCDA&CS website. They are True color and 1 Meter resolution. The counties received are Forsyth, Guilford, Hoke, Montgomery, Randolph, Rockingham, Scotland and Stokes. They will be located in the 2006 directory. Imagery for all the counties is available in the 2004 and 2005 directories. The ftp site address and login userid and password are posted below:

ftp://ftp.ncagrgis.com/FTPWebsite/GISData/NAIP

Username: NAIP
Password: NAIP2006

Imagery for the remaining counties will be made available when it is received from the USDA. Currently, NCDA&CS is requesting $225,000 from the North Carolina State Legislature to fund NAIP partnership program each year.

Alert ID - SEP06A

The Local Government Committee of the NC Geographic Information Coordinating Council (GICC) would like to urge our county and city/town members to complete the on-line NC OneMap GIS Inventory. A critical reason to participate is that the inventory will be consulted when any cost share opportunity for local government becomes available.

Currently 50 counties, 26 cities, 7 state agencies, and 3 lead regional organizations have completed the inventory and listed 1,400 unique data sets (including helicopter landing sites). Hurricane season comes around each year (about now), and a robust inventory is a strategic asset for North Carolina. Won’t you join your neighbors?

Please choose “Yes” to be included in the “GIS Contact Directory” when answering Q-19 in your User Profile. As we populate the NC OneMap GIS Inventory, its directory and data discovery tools will become invaluable to you as a user and creator of data. As you fill out the data inventory, please take a few moments to add a tiny abstract (max 256 characters) for each data layer inventoried. The text box is located directly below the drop-down selections you pick for each “Framework” or “Other” data layer. This abstract can describe the data set in more detail and indicate multiple sources or processes used to create the data, or other important information. Another incentive - Completing this inventory gives you a “starter block” of metadata.

Using the NC OneMap GIS Inventory: It is not necessary to log-in as a “registered user” to use the directory or status maps to discover North Carolina data. The status map, data theme selections, and directory search are on the home page, nc.gisinventory.net. Select any data theme from the menu, then use the “I”dentify tool to click a highlighted city/county on the status map, and it returns all data listing information for that location. Try it on any “Framework” or “Other” data theme - you will immediately see the value of this tool!

Thanks for your time and participation in an important statewide effort that will benefit all of us.

Questions? Contact Tom Tribble (919.754.6593).

Welcome to the North Carolina Geographic Information Coordinating Council