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Volume 10, Number 2 Summer 2006
DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY908 Michaelian Office Building148 Martine AvenueWhite Plains, NY 10601
Articles and graphics in this newsletter prepared by: David Blake, Xiaobo Cui, Ana Hiraldo, Cindy Louie, Deborah Parker, Ilir Tota, Sam Wear, and Tong Zhou.
http://www.westchestergov.comWestchester County GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
is published by the Westchester County Department of Information Technology
Andrew J. Spano, County Executive
Andrew J. SpanoCounty Executive
Dr. Norman J. JacknisChief Information Officer
Sam WearGIS Manager
Department of Information TechnologyGeographic Information Systems
GIS
EEEE OOOO GGGG RRRR AAAA PPPP HHHH IIII CCCC
NNNN FFFF OOOO RRRR MMMM AAAA TTTT IIII OOOO NNNN
YYYY SSSS TTTT EEEE MMMM SSSS
Dr. Norman J. Jacknis, Chief Information Officer
Countywide Base Map Update ContinuesCountywide Base Map Update ContinuesNew orthophotography online with planimetric and contour data development on schedule
Westchester County's extensive 100-scalecountywide planimetric datasets obtainedthrough the New York State DigitalOrthoimagery Program (NYSDOP) arenearing completion. Datasets includeedge of pavement, building footprints,hydrology, street centerlines, and drive-ways, originally developed from spring2000 aerial photography. In addition, thecurrent project has been expanded toincorporate previously unmapped streetfeatures, including fire hydrants, man-holes, catch basins and utility poles, aswell as stone walls, roadside barriers andguard rails.Planimetric Data: All vector datasets arebeing rigorously reviewed for spatialaccuracy, completeness and attribute cod-ing by Pinnacle Mapping Technologies(www.pinnaclemapping.com), the coun-ty's selected QA/QC contractor.Pinnacle's both automated and visualreview of each delivery area (approxi-
mately 13.5 square miles) typically con-tains from 16,000 to over 100,000 fea-tures. Once approved, final data aredelivered to the County in ESRI coverageand shapefile formats, and in AutoCADDWG format. All data is scheduled to beconverted by the county to Geodatabaseformat. Upon completion of the project,most of the countywide planimetricdatasets will be available for downloadfrom the county's GIS website. Two-foot Contours: In one of the mostambitious countywide spatial data devel-opment efforts ever undertaken, countyGIS staff are also overseeing the develop-ment of two-foot contour data which isalso a product of the Spring 2004 NYS-DOP aerial photography campaign. Thecounty has contracted with Buchart-Horn,Inc. (www.bh-ba.com) for production ofthe contour data with QA/QC servicesbeing provided by Applied Geographics,Inc. (www.appgeo.com). Initial produc-
tion of contour data focused on the BronxRiver Watershed to support a joint projectof the county's Department of Planningand the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.Most of the 14 delivery areas in the water-shed have now been completed, and allcontour datasets are scheduled to be com-plete by early 2007.Color Orthophotography: Digitalorthophotography from the 2004 stateprogram is available for download fromthe New York State Clearinghouse(www.nysgis.state.ny.us) and has beenintegrated into the interactive MappingWestchester County application atgiswww.westchestergov.com. The aerialsare stored in SDE which greatly improvesdisplay and redraw performance of theimagery in both desktop and web-basedapplications. For more information on allelements of the countywide base mapupdate, contact Deborah [email protected].
Google Earth Provides 3D and Panoramic VGoogle Earth Provides 3D and Panoramic Views of Countyiews of CountyGIS users can now display and view spatialdatasets in 3D with Google Earth software.The latest Google Earth software releaseenables users to integrate and render ESRIcoverages available from the county with
aerial imagery provided by Google Earth.County GIS staff are developing initialGoogle Earth viewing applications with datafrom the current countywide base mapupdate which includes the delivery of
The base map update incorporates a series of automated and visual inspections of the planimetricdatasets. Errors are logged into spreadsheets as well as rendered on the orthophoto image. Theentire QA/QC process for the base map update was designed to be “paperless.”
WWestchester Countyestchester Countyreceives receives
GIS GIS AAwardswardsWestchester County GIS recentlyreceived two awards for outstandingachievement in GIS program develop-ment and services to local governments.The first award was given by theNational Association of Counties(NACo) for the GIS Data-SharingProgram which promotes no-cost datasharing between county and local gov-ernments. The second honor wasawarded through the American City &County Crown Communities programfor the county's “Mapping WestchesterCounty” ArcIMS application. Theapplication is available for viewing atgiswww.westchestergov.com.For more information, contact AnaHiraldo at [email protected].
4
The new version of Google Earth imports 3D models of buildings utilizing data being delivered aspart of the countywide base map update. This image shows a view of the northwest section of theCity of White Plains.
approximate z-values (height) for all buildingfootprints.Currently there are four versions of GoogleEarth: Google Earth, Google Earth Plus,Google Earth Pro, and Google EarthEnterprise Solutions, with each varying inprice and service. The basic version ofGoogle Earth is free and can be downloadedfrom Google Earth website athttp://earth.google.com. Users are encour-aged to check system requirements prior todownloading the latest release (Version 4 -BETA). Google Earth reads KML (Keyhole MarkupLanguage) files, an XML-based language.Keyhole Markup Zipped (KMZ files) arezipped KML files usually used for distribu-tion. The KML file holds feature informationsuch as name, description, latitude, longitudeand tilt.A number of free programs are availablewhich convert GIS data (including ESRIshapefile format) to KML including thoseprovided at the ESRI's ArcScript website(http://arcscripts.esri.com). It is anticipatedWestchester County GIS will be makingselected GIS datasets available in KML fileformat in the near future. For more informa-tion, contact Cindy Louie at [email protected].
GIS Meetings and OutreachGIS Meetings and OutreachGIS staff continues to maintain an activeschedule in outreach and coordination withgovernment officials and industry represen-tatives. In May, staff members Ilir Tota andAna Hiraldo attended a GISMO meetingwhich featured a presentation by Wendy E.Brawer, founding director of the Green MapSystem (www.greenmap.com). Green Mapsare locally created maps that chart the natur-al and cultural environment cultivating citi-zen participation and community sustain-ability in hundreds of places around theworld. In March, GIS staff member CindyLouie and Michael Swee of WestchesterCounty DOT attended a GIS RegionalTransportation Coordinating Committeemeeting in New York City sponsored byNYMTC (www.nymtc.org). The committeediscussed data sharing among members inaddition to metadata standards. Sam Wearattended the 2007 Geospatial Summit(www.nysgis.org/summit) held in NorthCreek, New York on June 9 which featuredindustry leading representatives fromGoogle, Microsoft, ESRI, MapInfo,Pictometry, and TeleAtlas.
GIS EventGIS EventssNEARCNEARCThe Northeast ARC/INFO Users Group(NEARC) will hold its 21st annual confer-ence at the Mystic Marriott Hotel & Spa inGroton, Connecticut, November 12-15,2006. With the theme “Charting the Futureof GIS,” the conference will feature keynotesessions, vendor demonstrations, poster dis-plays, and more. For registration visit theconference website at www.northeastarc.org.NYS GIS ConferenceNYS GIS ConferenceThe 19th Annual New York State GISConference will be held at the Crowne PlazaResort and Golf Club, Lake Placid, NY,October 23-24, 2006. The conference willshowcase GIS projects throughout the state atall levels of government, industry, and acad-emia. A wide range of poster presentationsare scheduled. For more information andregistration, visit the conference website athttp://nysgisconf.esf.edu.
CAPCAP Grant ConcludesGrant ConcludesWestchester County’s 2005-2006Cooperative Agreement Program (CAP)grant which was obtained through the FederalGeographic Data Committee (www.fgdc.gov)will be completed by the end of September.The grant provided funding for metadatatraining to local government officials and thedevelopment of ArcIMS applications forTown/Village of Mamaroneck, Village ofHastings and City of Mt. Vernon (still indevelopment). Access to each of the webmapping portals is available through individ-ual local government websites or the coun-ty’s website.
2 3
AAVLVL Deployment and Deployment and Application ExpandedApplication Expanded Indian Point Emergency GIS (IPEG)Indian Point Emergency GIS (IPEG)Since the initial launch of the Indian PointEmergency GIS (IPEG) application in early2005, Westchester County Department ofEmergency Services (DES) staff has usedthe ArcEngine-based application extensive-ly during Indian Point emergency responseand preparedness drills. Utilizing ESRI'sArcEngine technology enables the countyto easily deploy the application in a costeffective way. For each machine, only aArcEngine Runtime license and the freeMicrosoft .Net Framework are needed torun the application.DES staff use and feedback on the initialrelease of IPEG over the past year and ahalf provided the foundation for severalupgrades and enhancements which arereflected in the new release of the program.IPEG Version 2 (V2.0) has recently beendelivered to the county for testing andacceptance. Application development sup-port for V2.0 has been provided byFountains Spatial, Inc. in Schenectady,New York (www.fountainsspatial.com).Major enhancements to IPEG V2.0 include:Layer Context Menu Enhancements: ARefresh function was added to reflect anychanges being dynamically made to thelayer(s) during an emergency. A Zoom toLayer function was added to allow the mapdisplay to be zoomed to the extent of theselected layer;Main Toolbar Enhancements: A StartOver button was added to reset the applica-tion to the state of the original starting
point. A Siren Alert button was added toopen single or multiple siren PDF filesdescribing the affected streets when thosesirens were out after their correspondingsiren numbers were entered in an input box.An Arrow button was added so other but-tons could be released when it was activat-ed;Redesign of Plume Buffer Option: Thebuffer by plume option was significantlymodified to better reflect the real situationduring an emergency. The changes includedadding human interaction in the final deci-sion-making process by allowing users topick and choose one of the three status(Evacuated, Sheltered, No Action) for eachERPA or municipality, improving color ren-dering of the affected ERPAs or municipal-ities for clearer presentation, and addingmunicipal boundaries as another option forevacuation buffering units;Additional Enhancements: The nameentered in the Enter Map Title input boxwas used for the name of the generated PDFfile for easy identification. This option ofpopulation calculation was added to calcu-late the total population in the affectedERPA areas or municipalities;Adjacent counties have also expressed aninterest in using the application for emer-gency planning. Additional functionalitiesare expected to be added to the applicationin 2007. For more information on IPEGV2.0 contact Tong Zhou at [email protected].
ORPS UpdateORPS UpdateOn June 29, county GIS and TaxCommission staff met with more than70local officials and assessors at the WhitePlains library to launch a countywide studywhich will focus on the feasibility ofincreased county participation in tax mapmaintenance and standardization. Thestudy is being funded through a grantobtained through the New York StateOffice of Real Property Services (ORPS)2005-2006 Tax Administration TechnologyImprovement Grant Program (RPTATIP).David Jackson, Westchester County TaxCommissioner, provided an overview ofthe study's major components which wasthen followed by a general question andanswer period. Interviews with local gov-ernments are currently underway and beingconducted by James W. Sewall Co., whichis providing consultant support to thestudy. Study findings and recommenda-tions are currently scheduled to be com-pleted by the end of the year. For moreinformation contact David Jackson [email protected] or Sam Wear [email protected].
Fire District Map SeriesFire District Map SeriesGIS staff is currently working with countyDepartment of Emergency Services (DES)staff on the generation of a countywide“map series booklet” for each fire districtin the county. The booklet is designed tobe published and printed on a 8.5"x11"sheet and will be based on a base map tilegrid (2,500 ft x 2,500 ft). Each page (ormap) in the booklet will represent one sec-tion of the “grid” which covers the entirefire district. Currently, each map includesstreet maps with facilities such as schools,fire, police and EMS stations, and buildingfootprints. The map series is being gener-ated using the “DS Map Series” ArcMapDeveloper's Sample. PDF files of the mapseries for each fire district will be providedto DES and each local fire department. Formore information, contact Cindy Louie [email protected].
M.A.S.C.M.A.S.C.Mapping Applications for Schools andCommunities (M.A.S.C) is a new mappinginitiative being promoted by WestchesterCounty GIS. Though still in development,M.A.S.C is being designed to allowschools and community-based organiza-tions to create basic maps by submittingaddress-based information through the pro-ject homepage available at giswww.westch-estergov.com. Interested schools and com-munity-based organizations which may beinterested in working with county GIS staffin testing and providing input on finaldesign of the program are encouraged tocontact David Blake at (914) 995-5605 [email protected].
Westchester County GIS recently receivedVersion 2.0 of the AVLClient vehicle track-ing application developed by FountainsSpatial, Inc. of Schenectady, New York(www.fountainsspatial.com). The new ver-sion runs as a service on the county's newGIS architecture - a server cluster andArcSDE 9.1. Many enhancements arebased on feedback from user departments'experience with Version 1.0. The newapplication is deployed in the Public Safetyand Corrections departments. While earlier versions of the software - aNextel GPS-enabled wireless phone proto-type and Version 1.0 - wrote records to asimple text file, the data repository is nowwritten to a SDE point file, while automat-ically converting GPS date and time tolocal time, and GPS lat/long coordinates tothe county's data standard, New York StatePlane coordinate system. The entiredataset is now instantly available for dis-play in the desktop application. Newonline administrative tools allow users tocreate and manage a group of vehicles bydepartment, and to individually configurethe reporting interval for any device. InArcMap, department users can now displaylocations for their group of vehicles from auser-defined starting date/time, zoom toany vehicle's current location or mostrecent positions, or replay onscreen thepath of a vehicle within a user-specifiedtime interval.In advance of the application delivery, the
county purchased and installed fifteen newCrossCheckGSM units from Trimble(www.trimble.com), with a magnet-mount-ed integrated GPS and GSM antenna - adesign improvement over devices pur-chased less than a year before for the pilotproject. The devices (including two pilotunits) are installed in Public Safety'spolice patrol cars and in inmate transportvans at the Department of Corrections. The devices transmit data via wireless ser-vice from Trimble Mobile Solutions, Inc.(TMS) (www.trimble.com/tms.shtml). Aspart of the service contract, TMS makesavailable a high-end web-based fleet man-agement application (TrimWeb) whichincludes a mapping component and exten-sive fleet administration tools. The pass-word-secured TrimWeb site also providesa suite of in-depth automated reports,including 'live' at-a-glance status of allvehicles, vehicle activity summaries andevents reporting, as well as messagingcapability. The web application has under-gone nine upgrades in the last three years,reflecting the rapid evolution of location-based mapping technologies and industriesworld-wide.As the county plans for AVL deploymentto other departments, both applicationswill be considered for specific userrequirements and functionality. For moreinformation, contact Deborah Parker at(914) 995-3888 or via e-mail [email protected].
The new AVL Client Control Toolbar allows user to zoom to last known position of a selected vehicle,or all positions recorded in a day or week. The TRACK tool replays a specified set of records for anyvehicle on screen (red dot at lower center).
This is the interface of the Indian Point Emergency GIS (IPEG) application Version 2 when it islaunched. Several enhancements on the layer context menu and the toolbar which were described inthe article are shown in the image.
GIS Meetings and OutreachGIS Meetings and OutreachGIS staff continues to maintain an activeschedule in outreach and coordination withgovernment officials and industry represen-tatives. In May, staff members Ilir Tota andAna Hiraldo attended a GISMO meetingwhich featured a presentation by Wendy E.Brawer, founding director of the Green MapSystem (www.greenmap.com). Green Mapsare locally created maps that chart the natur-al and cultural environment cultivating citi-zen participation and community sustain-ability in hundreds of places around theworld. In March, GIS staff member CindyLouie and Michael Swee of WestchesterCounty DOT attended a GIS RegionalTransportation Coordinating Committeemeeting in New York City sponsored byNYMTC (www.nymtc.org). The committeediscussed data sharing among members inaddition to metadata standards. Sam Wearattended the 2007 Geospatial Summit(www.nysgis.org/summit) held in NorthCreek, New York on June 9 which featuredindustry leading representatives fromGoogle, Microsoft, ESRI, MapInfo,Pictometry, and TeleAtlas.
GIS EventGIS EventssNEARCNEARCThe Northeast ARC/INFO Users Group(NEARC) will hold its 21st annual confer-ence at the Mystic Marriott Hotel & Spa inGroton, Connecticut, November 12-15,2006. With the theme “Charting the Futureof GIS,” the conference will feature keynotesessions, vendor demonstrations, poster dis-plays, and more. For registration visit theconference website at www.northeastarc.org.NYS GIS ConferenceNYS GIS ConferenceThe 19th Annual New York State GISConference will be held at the Crowne PlazaResort and Golf Club, Lake Placid, NY,October 23-24, 2006. The conference willshowcase GIS projects throughout the state atall levels of government, industry, and acad-emia. A wide range of poster presentationsare scheduled. For more information andregistration, visit the conference website athttp://nysgisconf.esf.edu.
CAPCAP Grant ConcludesGrant ConcludesWestchester County’s 2005-2006Cooperative Agreement Program (CAP)grant which was obtained through the FederalGeographic Data Committee (www.fgdc.gov)will be completed by the end of September.The grant provided funding for metadatatraining to local government officials and thedevelopment of ArcIMS applications forTown/Village of Mamaroneck, Village ofHastings and City of Mt. Vernon (still indevelopment). Access to each of the webmapping portals is available through individ-ual local government websites or the coun-ty’s website.
2 3
AAVLVL Deployment and Deployment and Application ExpandedApplication Expanded Indian Point Emergency GIS (IPEG)Indian Point Emergency GIS (IPEG)Since the initial launch of the Indian PointEmergency GIS (IPEG) application in early2005, Westchester County Department ofEmergency Services (DES) staff has usedthe ArcEngine-based application extensive-ly during Indian Point emergency responseand preparedness drills. Utilizing ESRI'sArcEngine technology enables the countyto easily deploy the application in a costeffective way. For each machine, only aArcEngine Runtime license and the freeMicrosoft .Net Framework are needed torun the application.DES staff use and feedback on the initialrelease of IPEG over the past year and ahalf provided the foundation for severalupgrades and enhancements which arereflected in the new release of the program.IPEG Version 2 (V2.0) has recently beendelivered to the county for testing andacceptance. Application development sup-port for V2.0 has been provided byFountains Spatial, Inc. in Schenectady,New York (www.fountainsspatial.com).Major enhancements to IPEG V2.0 include:Layer Context Menu Enhancements: ARefresh function was added to reflect anychanges being dynamically made to thelayer(s) during an emergency. A Zoom toLayer function was added to allow the mapdisplay to be zoomed to the extent of theselected layer;Main Toolbar Enhancements: A StartOver button was added to reset the applica-tion to the state of the original starting
point. A Siren Alert button was added toopen single or multiple siren PDF filesdescribing the affected streets when thosesirens were out after their correspondingsiren numbers were entered in an input box.An Arrow button was added so other but-tons could be released when it was activat-ed;Redesign of Plume Buffer Option: Thebuffer by plume option was significantlymodified to better reflect the real situationduring an emergency. The changes includedadding human interaction in the final deci-sion-making process by allowing users topick and choose one of the three status(Evacuated, Sheltered, No Action) for eachERPA or municipality, improving color ren-dering of the affected ERPAs or municipal-ities for clearer presentation, and addingmunicipal boundaries as another option forevacuation buffering units;Additional Enhancements: The nameentered in the Enter Map Title input boxwas used for the name of the generated PDFfile for easy identification. This option ofpopulation calculation was added to calcu-late the total population in the affectedERPA areas or municipalities;Adjacent counties have also expressed aninterest in using the application for emer-gency planning. Additional functionalitiesare expected to be added to the applicationin 2007. For more information on IPEGV2.0 contact Tong Zhou at [email protected].
ORPS UpdateORPS UpdateOn June 29, county GIS and TaxCommission staff met with more than70local officials and assessors at the WhitePlains library to launch a countywide studywhich will focus on the feasibility ofincreased county participation in tax mapmaintenance and standardization. Thestudy is being funded through a grantobtained through the New York StateOffice of Real Property Services (ORPS)2005-2006 Tax Administration TechnologyImprovement Grant Program (RPTATIP).David Jackson, Westchester County TaxCommissioner, provided an overview ofthe study's major components which wasthen followed by a general question andanswer period. Interviews with local gov-ernments are currently underway and beingconducted by James W. Sewall Co., whichis providing consultant support to thestudy. Study findings and recommenda-tions are currently scheduled to be com-pleted by the end of the year. For moreinformation contact David Jackson [email protected] or Sam Wear [email protected].
Fire District Map SeriesFire District Map SeriesGIS staff is currently working with countyDepartment of Emergency Services (DES)staff on the generation of a countywide“map series booklet” for each fire districtin the county. The booklet is designed tobe published and printed on a 8.5"x11"sheet and will be based on a base map tilegrid (2,500 ft x 2,500 ft). Each page (ormap) in the booklet will represent one sec-tion of the “grid” which covers the entirefire district. Currently, each map includesstreet maps with facilities such as schools,fire, police and EMS stations, and buildingfootprints. The map series is being gener-ated using the “DS Map Series” ArcMapDeveloper's Sample. PDF files of the mapseries for each fire district will be providedto DES and each local fire department. Formore information, contact Cindy Louie [email protected].
M.A.S.C.M.A.S.C.Mapping Applications for Schools andCommunities (M.A.S.C) is a new mappinginitiative being promoted by WestchesterCounty GIS. Though still in development,M.A.S.C is being designed to allowschools and community-based organiza-tions to create basic maps by submittingaddress-based information through the pro-ject homepage available at giswww.westch-estergov.com. Interested schools and com-munity-based organizations which may beinterested in working with county GIS staffin testing and providing input on finaldesign of the program are encouraged tocontact David Blake at (914) 995-5605 [email protected].
Westchester County GIS recently receivedVersion 2.0 of the AVLClient vehicle track-ing application developed by FountainsSpatial, Inc. of Schenectady, New York(www.fountainsspatial.com). The new ver-sion runs as a service on the county's newGIS architecture - a server cluster andArcSDE 9.1. Many enhancements arebased on feedback from user departments'experience with Version 1.0. The newapplication is deployed in the Public Safetyand Corrections departments. While earlier versions of the software - aNextel GPS-enabled wireless phone proto-type and Version 1.0 - wrote records to asimple text file, the data repository is nowwritten to a SDE point file, while automat-ically converting GPS date and time tolocal time, and GPS lat/long coordinates tothe county's data standard, New York StatePlane coordinate system. The entiredataset is now instantly available for dis-play in the desktop application. Newonline administrative tools allow users tocreate and manage a group of vehicles bydepartment, and to individually configurethe reporting interval for any device. InArcMap, department users can now displaylocations for their group of vehicles from auser-defined starting date/time, zoom toany vehicle's current location or mostrecent positions, or replay onscreen thepath of a vehicle within a user-specifiedtime interval.In advance of the application delivery, the
county purchased and installed fifteen newCrossCheckGSM units from Trimble(www.trimble.com), with a magnet-mount-ed integrated GPS and GSM antenna - adesign improvement over devices pur-chased less than a year before for the pilotproject. The devices (including two pilotunits) are installed in Public Safety'spolice patrol cars and in inmate transportvans at the Department of Corrections. The devices transmit data via wireless ser-vice from Trimble Mobile Solutions, Inc.(TMS) (www.trimble.com/tms.shtml). Aspart of the service contract, TMS makesavailable a high-end web-based fleet man-agement application (TrimWeb) whichincludes a mapping component and exten-sive fleet administration tools. The pass-word-secured TrimWeb site also providesa suite of in-depth automated reports,including 'live' at-a-glance status of allvehicles, vehicle activity summaries andevents reporting, as well as messagingcapability. The web application has under-gone nine upgrades in the last three years,reflecting the rapid evolution of location-based mapping technologies and industriesworld-wide.As the county plans for AVL deploymentto other departments, both applicationswill be considered for specific userrequirements and functionality. For moreinformation, contact Deborah Parker at(914) 995-3888 or via e-mail [email protected].
The new AVL Client Control Toolbar allows user to zoom to last known position of a selected vehicle,or all positions recorded in a day or week. The TRACK tool replays a specified set of records for anyvehicle on screen (red dot at lower center).
This is the interface of the Indian Point Emergency GIS (IPEG) application Version 2 when it islaunched. Several enhancements on the layer context menu and the toolbar which were described inthe article are shown in the image.
Volume 10, Number 2 Summer 2006
DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY908 Michaelian Office Building148 Martine AvenueWhite Plains, NY 10601
Articles and graphics in this newsletter prepared by: David Blake, Xiaobo Cui, Ana Hiraldo, Cindy Louie, Deborah Parker, Ilir Tota, Sam Wear, and Tong Zhou.
http://www.westchestergov.comWestchester County GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
is published by the Westchester County Department of Information Technology
Andrew J. Spano, County Executive
Andrew J. SpanoCounty Executive
Dr. Norman J. JacknisChief Information Officer
Sam WearGIS Manager
Department of Information TechnologyGeographic Information Systems
GIS
EEEE OOOO GGGG RRRR AAAA PPPP HHHH IIII CCCC
NNNN FFFF OOOO RRRR MMMM AAAA TTTT IIII OOOO NNNN
YYYY SSSS TTTT EEEE MMMM SSSS
Dr. Norman J. Jacknis, Chief Information Officer
Countywide Base Map Update ContinuesCountywide Base Map Update ContinuesNew orthophotography online with planimetric and contour data development on schedule
Westchester County's extensive 100-scalecountywide planimetric datasets obtainedthrough the New York State DigitalOrthoimagery Program (NYSDOP) arenearing completion. Datasets includeedge of pavement, building footprints,hydrology, street centerlines, and drive-ways, originally developed from spring2000 aerial photography. In addition, thecurrent project has been expanded toincorporate previously unmapped streetfeatures, including fire hydrants, man-holes, catch basins and utility poles, aswell as stone walls, roadside barriers andguard rails.Planimetric Data: All vector datasets arebeing rigorously reviewed for spatialaccuracy, completeness and attribute cod-ing by Pinnacle Mapping Technologies(www.pinnaclemapping.com), the coun-ty's selected QA/QC contractor.Pinnacle's both automated and visualreview of each delivery area (approxi-
mately 13.5 square miles) typically con-tains from 16,000 to over 100,000 fea-tures. Once approved, final data aredelivered to the County in ESRI coverageand shapefile formats, and in AutoCADDWG format. All data is scheduled to beconverted by the county to Geodatabaseformat. Upon completion of the project,most of the countywide planimetricdatasets will be available for downloadfrom the county's GIS website. Two-foot Contours: In one of the mostambitious countywide spatial data devel-opment efforts ever undertaken, countyGIS staff are also overseeing the develop-ment of two-foot contour data which isalso a product of the Spring 2004 NYS-DOP aerial photography campaign. Thecounty has contracted with Buchart-Horn,Inc. (www.bh-ba.com) for production ofthe contour data with QA/QC servicesbeing provided by Applied Geographics,Inc. (www.appgeo.com). Initial produc-
tion of contour data focused on the BronxRiver Watershed to support a joint projectof the county's Department of Planningand the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.Most of the 14 delivery areas in the water-shed have now been completed, and allcontour datasets are scheduled to be com-plete by early 2007.Color Orthophotography: Digitalorthophotography from the 2004 stateprogram is available for download fromthe New York State Clearinghouse(www.nysgis.state.ny.us) and has beenintegrated into the interactive MappingWestchester County application atgiswww.westchestergov.com. The aerialsare stored in SDE which greatly improvesdisplay and redraw performance of theimagery in both desktop and web-basedapplications. For more information on allelements of the countywide base mapupdate, contact Deborah [email protected].
Google Earth Provides 3D and Panoramic VGoogle Earth Provides 3D and Panoramic Views of Countyiews of CountyGIS users can now display and view spatialdatasets in 3D with Google Earth software.The latest Google Earth software releaseenables users to integrate and render ESRIcoverages available from the county with
aerial imagery provided by Google Earth.County GIS staff are developing initialGoogle Earth viewing applications with datafrom the current countywide base mapupdate which includes the delivery of
The base map update incorporates a series of automated and visual inspections of the planimetricdatasets. Errors are logged into spreadsheets as well as rendered on the orthophoto image. Theentire QA/QC process for the base map update was designed to be “paperless.”
WWestchester Countyestchester Countyreceives receives
GIS GIS AAwardswardsWestchester County GIS recentlyreceived two awards for outstandingachievement in GIS program develop-ment and services to local governments.The first award was given by theNational Association of Counties(NACo) for the GIS Data-SharingProgram which promotes no-cost datasharing between county and local gov-ernments. The second honor wasawarded through the American City &County Crown Communities programfor the county's “Mapping WestchesterCounty” ArcIMS application. Theapplication is available for viewing atgiswww.westchestergov.com.For more information, contact AnaHiraldo at [email protected].
4
The new version of Google Earth imports 3D models of buildings utilizing data being delivered aspart of the countywide base map update. This image shows a view of the northwest section of theCity of White Plains.
approximate z-values (height) for all buildingfootprints.Currently there are four versions of GoogleEarth: Google Earth, Google Earth Plus,Google Earth Pro, and Google EarthEnterprise Solutions, with each varying inprice and service. The basic version ofGoogle Earth is free and can be downloadedfrom Google Earth website athttp://earth.google.com. Users are encour-aged to check system requirements prior todownloading the latest release (Version 4 -BETA). Google Earth reads KML (Keyhole MarkupLanguage) files, an XML-based language.Keyhole Markup Zipped (KMZ files) arezipped KML files usually used for distribu-tion. The KML file holds feature informationsuch as name, description, latitude, longitudeand tilt.A number of free programs are availablewhich convert GIS data (including ESRIshapefile format) to KML including thoseprovided at the ESRI's ArcScript website(http://arcscripts.esri.com). It is anticipatedWestchester County GIS will be makingselected GIS datasets available in KML fileformat in the near future. For more informa-tion, contact Cindy Louie at [email protected].
