I N D US T R I A L SU PP O RT SE R V I C E S SPEC I A L SEC T I O N
The Gist of GIS
Geospatial data provides vital insight for industry By Isaac Stone Simonelli
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rom checking on an Amazon package to firing up the Garmin to head out to a favorite bend of a remote stream, geospatial data provides layers of information vital to people’s everyday lives and the industries that employ them. Given its role in the world, it should come as little surprise that geographic information systems (GIS) is one of the five fastest growing technologies in the public sector. “The reason that it's growing so fast right now is because it’s embedded in our daily business operations,” says Alaska’s State Geospatial Information Officer Leslie Jones. “We use the tools to automate workflows, to increase efficiency, and improve our communication. But, most importantly, we use it to make data informed decisions.”
Essential to Industry GIS is used in Alaska for economic development, education, health, public safety, human services, infrastructure management, zoning, election redistricting, disaster preparedness, and more, Jones explains. Unlike static, printed maps, GIS maps often have built-in, real-time features, providing the most up-to-date information possible to interested parties. This makes them particularly powerful for emergency situations. Part of Jones’ role with the state is to coordinate across government, public, private, tribal, and academic sectors to address Alaska’s geospatial deficiencies. These deficiencies are 32 | August 2021
defined as areas where data is needed by various stakeholders to make data driven decisions but are lacking. Jones is also the executive director for the Alaska Geospatial Council (AGC), which is a coordinating council for state, local, federal, private, academic, and tribal stakeholders in Alaska, focused on spatial data priorities and initiatives. The council consists of eleven different technical working groups focused on tackling a variety of issues from wetlands to transportation to help shore up the geospatial deficiencies of the Last Frontier. By creating the state’s first geoportal, Jones and her team have created a one-stop shop for geospatial data and maps that are managed by local, state, and federal organizations. While the site does not host the data or the maps themselves, it does offer users a direct link to the resources managed by different agencies. “You're getting it straight from what we call the authoritative source,” Jones says. “It really improves data quality, where you know you're getting the most accurate, up-to-date information to make a decision.” While there are various maps already constructed and available on the portal, such as a map of Alaska’ Environmentally Threatened Communities and the “Alaska Interagency Coordination Center Dashboards,” data layers can also be accessed and downloaded by companies and the public. “Users can access public data that is available in the portal and then layer
their proprietary information on top of that to make data driven decisions,” Jones says. “That’s the beauty of the portal—we're now eliminating the need for someone to make a phone call to an agency, request the data, and wait for them to respond to that data request— that’s cost savings.” Access to this data is important to many of the clients of Resource Data, an Alaska-based IT company that specializes in providing GIS solutions. “Both the State of Alaska and the Bureau of Land Management, as well as other agencies like the USGS, have data that’s really important for industry,” says Dan Rathert, a senior project manager and senior analyst at Resource Data. “We access them all the time, whether it’s downloading data or using data directly from the open portal services.”
Challenging Geography One map of particular importance for the public is the Alaska High Resolution Imagery (50cm resolution), which can be used as an incredibly detailed base map for additional layers to be added. A base map is the foundation for custom maps to be created in a GIS. The imagery web mapping services are publicly licensed to be used as a base map. However, only federal and state organizations are licensed to use the "raw" data, which is not licensed for commercial use. “People across all sectors get really excited about the high-resolution imagery when they see that they have the ability to pull this layer into their map, overlaying their proprietary information
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