The Maine Department of Environmental Protection-Geographic Information Systems Unit (MDEP-GIS Unit) is currently developing two types of oil spill contingency planning, response, and cleanup atlases. The first type of atlas being developed is the Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI) atlas. The EVI atlas is composed of two different subtypes because of the large amount of environmental data that need to be included. The first EVI atlas subtype is the EVI atlas with Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IF&W) data. This atlas contains environmental data supplied by IF&W including coastal wildlife concentration areas (CWCA), shorebird sites, seabird nesting islands, endangered species, threatened species, and category 2/special concern. All of these data sets have been given a vulnerability rating based on seasonality. The EVI with the F&W data atlas also contains the Coastal Marine Geologic Environments (CMGE), ranked by sensitivity to oiling, supplied by the Maine Geologic Survey (MGS). The second EVI atlas subtype is the EVI atlas with the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) data. This atlas contains environmental data supplied by DMR including shellfish habitats, marine worm habitats, eelgrass beds, and aquacultural lease sites. All of these data sets have also been given a vulnerability rating based on seasonality. The EVI with the DMR data atlas also contains, for reference, the aforementioned CMGE data as supplied by MGS. The EVI atlases are full-color, 24-inch by 36-inch maps. The second type of atlas being developed is the Response Logistics (RL) atlas. The RL atlas contains important logistical features such as roads, water access points, boat ramps, piers, fuel sources, food sources, hospitals, airports, helicopter-access areas, staging areas, and any other features that might be deemed important knowledge in the event of a major oil spill. The RL atlases are black-and-white, 11-inch by 17-inch maps. Both types of atlases will have corresponding attribute databases indexed by the spatial components represented on the atlases. The atlases are currently being created in ARCPLOT, with the hope that they will eventually be created in ArcView Version 2 as well. In developing these atlases many questions were encountered including how to create atlases which can be used by several agencies, what data should be on these atlases, that symbology should be used, how can both seasonality and vulnerability be represented using a single symbol, and should all atlas types be faxable. After the atlases were created, the final step was to have the atlases professionally printed. Problems that were encountered in the printing process were finding a company that could produce the large, full-color film for the EVI atlases; the incompatibility of text fonts; and the logistics of getting the large PostScript files containing the atlases to the company producing the film.
The paper will focus on the questions, problems, and obstacles that were encountered, the solutions and "work-arounds" the MDEP-GIS Unit employed to solve them, and any other discoveries that might help make a similar task easier for others.
David W. Pollock
Maine Department of Environmental Protection
Geographic Information Systems Unit
State House Station 17
Augusta, ME 04333-0017
Telephone: 207-287-6166
Fax: 207-287-7826
Email: eidpoll@gatekeeper.ddp.state.me.us
Christopher Kroot
Maine Department of Environmental Protection
Geographic Information Systems Unit
State House Station 17
Augusta, ME 04333-0017
Email: eidpoll@gatekeeper.ddp.state.me.us