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Track: GIS Management & Implementation
David Inglin
SAIC
Admiral's Gate
221 Third Street
Newport, RI 02840
Telephone: 401-847-4210
Fax: 401-849-1585
E-mail: dinglin@mtg.saic.com
Drew Carey, Scott McDowell
Providing More Than Reports to Environmental Managers
Decision makers in environmental resource agencies are rarely able to assimilate and access all of the available data prior to making decisions. In many cases the data is available in hard-copy reports or on GIS systems in fixed formats. If managers require novel combinations of information or "quick looks" at information in an appropriate geographic context, they are often at a loss. SAIC has over fifteen years of experience in developing data products to assist resource managers in decision making. Recently our efforts have concentrated on developing PC-based GIS and CD ROM technology to deliver flexible, interactive information systems and data products for marine environmental assessment. Our experience has shown that resource managers have widely varying access to technology and a range of willingness to adapt to new tools. Large complex databases that rely on expert technical interfaces are often less useful than synthesized information tools that have intuitive interfaces. If a manager is faced
with the choice between making a decision on limited available information or waiting for a complex, expensive, or time-consuming process for better information (reading dense reports, directing GIS expert to develop a map, running a model), they will usually make the decision on the basis of what they know or have at hand. Their instincts tell them the wait and expense will not add that much to their knowledge. We have developed a series of approaches designed to deliver information to managers in a form that meets their needs and is readily accessible. Common to all of these approaches is the use of data collection techniques that deliver rapid return of precision, reconnaissance data (computerized bathymetric maps, REMOTStm sediment profile imagery, acoustic, video, and laser line scan seafloor imagery) and tiered monitoring and assessment protocols. These techniques ensure that managers receive the data they require in a form that is customized to the decision matrix they must use. All of these data
collection techniques rely on precision navigation and lend themselves to GIS display and analysis. We have used three approaches to deliver data, maps, and images to managers. The first of these presented data on a CD ROM in a simple stand-alone system that permitted viewing of selected maps, seafloor still images, large sidescan sonar mosaics, and limited sediment and current meter data. This approach was suitable for managers with limited computer resources and allowed wide distribution of data that would have otherwise been inaccessible. The second approach presented data with the use of ArcView Data Publisher. SAIC and Oceaneering Intl. developed a database of sidescan sonar and laser line scan targets and images for the U.S. Navy in support of the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation into the TWA Flight 800 crash. SAIC used a run time version of Data Publisher, generously provided by Esri, to pull together and display the spatial distribution of wreckage and allow investigators to
examine images obtained with the SAIC Laser Line Scan System and compare them with digital images of recovered wreckage. This approach provided an intuitive interface and the ability to manipulate information and data layers on a laptop at the investigation site. The third approach constructed a database of dredged material monitoring data as shapefiles and delivered a customized project to the New England Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that required ArcView. SAIC is currently developing a full function application with a customized user interface developed in Visual Basic and ArcView for the New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The full system will provide access to ten years of environmental monitoring data and allow manipulation of data with access to modules for modeling and geographic display. It is designed to deliver data in a form that provides managers with clear, intuitive access to the full range of information required to meet their decision making needs.
Each approach was designed to meet the needs and resources of the users with available technology. As information needs expand, users require simpler access to a wider range of data products. The ability to effectively deliver high-resolution images and precision interpreted maps and data is dependent on an understanding of the questions asked by decision makers and an appreciation of the time and resource limitations they face.
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