How to Integrate ArcView, DLLs, DDE, RPC, and Version Control in a True 3-D Application of ArcView for an Underground Waste Repository

Daniel Elroi and Rey Carrasco, Knight Piesold LLC

How would you handle the challenge of building an ArcView application for viewing and querying data representing an underground mine system? A system where datasets are built, maintained, and stored in a variety of software, on different platforms? And you need to handle all of the data in true 3D? This paper shows how we integrate this complexity using ArcView, and how we package it in a user-friendly graphical user interface. Knight Piesold is developing an application for Westinghouse Electric Corporation at the Dept. of Energy Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) storage facility in New Mexico. This application, called SrGIS, for Spatially Referenced Geotechnical Information System, manages data relating to the radioactive waste deposited at the Plant, allowing the user to query instrumentation data from multi-directional, multi-dimensional views. SrGIS dynamically links ArcView to dBASE and Excel, and performs remote process calls to ArcInfo, accomplishing cross-platform communication between PCs and UNIX workstations. The user interface is programmed in Delphi, and the entire software development cycle is managed using Source Integrity version control software.


Land Contamination in Katowice Voivodeship, Poland: The Role of GIS

Deborah Soloman, ADAS Land Research Centre Gleadthorpe

The control of food production on contaminated land is a vital undertaking in relation to a number of socioeconomic and environmental conditions. ADAS together with HASKONING have been commissioned by the European Union (EU) to advise on current agricultural practices in the contaminated region of Katowice, Poland, as part of the PHARE programme. The project comprises a general study of the Katowice Voivodeship and a pilot project in Tarnowskie Gory Gmina, both with the aim of controlling the production of food in areas with high levels of heavy metals. This paper will refer specifically to the pilot project for which the mechanisms developed to manage and reconcile agriculture on land contaminated due to heavy metals have been implemented. Extensive data sets pertaining to soil analysis, geology, internal transport networks, industrial locations, and agricultural practices in a variety of forms were identified or collected and integrated within a geographical information system (GIS). The spatial distribution of heavy metal contamination throughout the Gmina were determined utilising GIS functionality based on the land classification scheme devised by ADAS.


Potential for Contamination and Aquifer Sensitivity Mapping in North-Central Lake County, Illinois

Matthew H. Riggs and Curtis C. Abert , Illinois State Geological Survey

The Illinois State Geological Survey is involved in a project to help counties locate solid waste disposal facilities in Illinois. The focus of this project is to provide counties with geologic maps that help to identify areas that are capable of hosting landfills. A critical issue in siting these facilities is to avoid contaminating any existing or potential groundwater resources. Mapping the lateral and vertical distribution of aquifer materials (primarily coarse-grained units such as sand and gravel deposits) is an essential component to identifying potential groundwater resources. This was accomplished for the north-central portion of Lake County, Illinois, using ArcInfo and the Dynamic Graphics' Earthvision software. Subsurface data from over 6,000 well logs were entered into an INFO database and used to generate several geologic coverages including bedrock topography and drift thickness. These well data provided input for the Earthvision program to produce a three-dimensional model of the distribution of coarse-grained and fine-grained deposits. From this 3-D model, information about aquifer thickness and depth was derived and input into ArcInfo to produce sand thickness and depth-to-sand polygon coverages. These coverages were unioned together to produce maps showing the Potential for Contamination and Aquifer Sensitivity. Both maps were produced using the same unioned coverage but they differ in the ranking of polygon characteristics. The Aquifer Sensitivity map focuses on the aquifer thickness component because thicker aquifers are considered more sensitive to contamination due to an increased potential for supplying larger quantities of water. The Potential for Contamination map focuses on the depth-to-aquifer component as travel time of contaminants is greater for deeper aquifers.


GIS Development in the Hazardous Waste Geology Section, Office of Solid and Hazardous Waste Management, Indiana Department of Environmental Management

Roger U. Koelpin and Irvin A. Goldblatt, IDEM-OSHWM-HW Geology

This paper summarizes GIS development in the Hazardous Waste Geology Section, Office of Solid and Hazardous Waste Management, Indiana Department of Environmental Management. The project is funded annually by the U.S. EPA to facilitate the cleanup of northwest Indiana, which is designated as one of forty-three Areas of Concern around the Great Lakes by the International Joint Committee pursuant to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the United States and Canada. In 1991, technical staff formally began development of data management processes to quantify the current state of the environment, share this information with various stakeholders, begin measurement of progress, and assist in formulation of long-term stewardship roles and objectives. The conceptual model for GIS development began as site-specific efforts for an integrated steel mill and a closed hazardous waste landfill in the region. The scope of the project has grown to a regional scale and crosses program boundaries to meet the complexities of the region. This Area of Concern is drained by both the Grand Calumet River and the Indiana Harbor Canal, and comprises the southern shore of Lake Michigan. The landscape was formed by coastal processes associated with Lake Michigan, and its predecessors through glacial time and over the last century have become heavily industrialized with classic smoke-stack industries. However, even this economically depressed urban setting provides many isolated, relatively undisturbed areas that remain habitats for several rare, threatened, and endangered species. GIS and global positioning system technologies are used to better document the spatial and physical relationships between regulated and protected entities. Also, our list of customers for GIS support has spread beyond our own geology work unit, across the office and agency, into other state and federal agencies, and into the private sector. The expectations of both project and staff are evolving as new insights and partnerships are realized.




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