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Track: Federal Systems
Vickie Damm
United States Government
726 Minnesota Ave.
Kansas City, KS 66101
Telephone: 913-551-7247
Fax: 913-551-7863
E-mail: damm.vickie@epamail.epa.gov
Kelvin Moseman, Anthony Selle
Development and Implementation of Feature Level Metadata for EPA Regions
Defining Issue: With the increase of spatial data gathering efforts in EPA regions and the increased use of GIS as a tool for environmental programs, the need to manage the locational accuracy of feature data has become increasingly evident. The regional GIS programs have had no consistent way to store or retrieve locational data obtained from sources such as GPS or geocoding, or from most of the Agency's own databases. Although the GIS programs do not own the Agency data and therefore have little control over the locational data stored in these databases, they do have the responsibility of using the most accurate data available. In order to meet this need and to provide a means of improving efficiency and of maintaining and improving product quality, the EPA regions and the National GIS Program worked jointly to develop a standard Oracle-based feature level metadata database. GIS Solution: Based on the input from the participants, a database was designed to - Be a standardized system to store,
retrieve, and update locational data of different origin and quality. - Preserve integrity of collected feature data. - Standardize feature level metadata consistent with EPA's Method Accuracy Description code guidelines. - Provide easy access to locational entities. - Use a consistent, documented criteria for selecting preferred locations for use in GIS products. - Support a standard method of GIS data distribution. - Provide regulated entity cross-referencing. - Work in conjunction with the EPA ENVIROFACTS database. - Be a distributed locational data warehouse for the Agency. Methodology: This feature-based database is used to store entity data and metadata on locational accuracy. It is used to create ArcInfo coverages with the data best suited for specific projects. With all feature data in one database, it is possible to provide an EPA regulated entity cross-reference based on location. The data are available on-line for use in GIS applications, with ready reference to accuracy. Through the
Intranet, users can select sites and produce maps of entities and surrounding area features. Software: The database is in Oracle 7.0. The mapping application was developed using ArcInfo.
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