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Workshop to Build Regional GIS By Brad Butman February 1999 in this issue:  previous story | next story At the workshop: The GIS team working on their laptops and sharing the computer projector for viewing each other's progress. On December 8-9, 1998, an ad hoc group of federal and state governments, academia, and industry met in Woods Hole to build a GIS library for studies on Massachusetts Bay. The attendees included EPA, NOAA and their consultants, USGS, the National Undersea Research Center-North Atlantic and Great Lakes, Genwest System, Inc., Science Applications International Corp (SAIC), Polaris Imaging, and Berger and Associates. The goal of the 2-day workshop was to create a Library of GIS layers, published on CD-ROM, that could be readily accessed by anyone concerned with knowing the state of knowledge on contaminants and the potential resources affected in Massachusetts Bay. This was envisioned as a pilot project of modest scope. As a first step in building a comprehensive GIS library, the focus of this workshop was to compile existing data in GIS format, not to develop new data sets or to search out data sets not already in use by the participants. Thus, data included on the CD are principally digital data from the working archives of the participants and their institutions. The data sources are documented so that the data can be referenced and properly credited by those who use them. Participants brought data on laptops that were networked together in the conference room (thanks to the Woods Hole Field Center computer group and Chris Polloni). A draft CD was available for participants at the end of the 2-day meeting and will be a USGS Open-File Report entitled, "A Marine GIS Library for Massachusetts Bay: Focus on Disposal Sites, Contaminated Sediments and Sea Floor Mapping." The meeting was chaired by Brad Butman and John Lindsay (NOAA). Chris Polloni and Laura Hayes developed an Access database for compiling the metadata for all contributions and led the effort, along with George Graettinger and Tom Simon (NOAA), to organize and publish the contributions from the participants. This focused workshop could be a model for rapidly compiling and distributing GIS coverages for other coastal areas. in this issue:  previous story | next story

February 1999 Mailing List: Sign up to receive monthly email updates: in this issue: Cruise News: R/V Gilbert cover story: USGS Showcased at State Park Dedication Lecture: Lake Tahoe Beyond Science NAS/NRC Review—Menlo Park Regional GIS Workshop Tom Chase Memorial Japanese Gas Hydrate Researchers Visit Wetlands Lecture Pat McCrory Visit St. Pete Video Week Arrivals & Departures—Menlo Park Arrivals & Departures—Woods Hole New Book by John C. Behrendt February Publications List

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