New Place Name Commemorates Roanoke Physician

The U.S. Board on Geographic Names was created in 1890 to maintain uniform geographic place names. New place names can be proposed and after public review may be approved if certain criteria are met. On January 13th a new name was approved for Virginia. Hutcheson Ridge in Rockbridge County commemorates Dr. Robert S. Hutcheson, Jr. (1919-2003), a Lexington native and noted Roanoke physician. The 3,070 foot high, 1.2 mile long ridge is located at the southern end of Little North Mountain, on the north side of Goshen Pass.

Census Data - American Community Survey

Note - This is a re-post from the NSGIC News blog

Fast Online Census Maps

Posted: 20 Dec 2010 12:53 PM PST

Small area data is now available from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. A New York Times website provides instant mapping capability, nationwide for 22 demographic and housing variables. The site is called Mapping America. It is incredibly fast and easy to use.

Mountain Empire Regional GIS - MERG

The Mountain Empire Regional GIS (MERG) was officially launched yesterday Thursday, December 9, 2010 at the Southwest Higher Education Center in Abingdon, VA.  Nadine Culberson, Deputy County Administrator for Washington County welcomed everyone and introduced the keynote speaker Karen Jackson, Deputy Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of Virgina.  See press coverage by TriCities.com here.

The MERG project is a regional model in Virginia that demonstrates the benefits of collaboration amongst localities and state government by leveraging innovative tools in technology to improve data sharing and services. The project began when the counties of Lee, Russell, Scott, Smyth and Washington along with the City of Bristol identified a need to improve emergency response to 9-1-1 calls. The focus of the project was to design a system to share current GIS data across jurisdictional boundaries to enhance emergency response for mutual aid and regional responses, something that has hampered emergency response times in the past. The project received grant funds from the Virginia Wireless E-911 Services Board through the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) Grant Program.  The MERG system also shares the regionally aggregated GIS data to the Virginia Geographic Information Network, supporting VGIN's efforts to establish a statewide GIS Clearinghouse.

ESRI Technical Certification

On Tuesday ESRI announced some more steps in implementation of its Technical Certification program. The certification website lists qualifications, skills measured and training resources for a number of the planned certifications. Registration opens January 17, 2011. The cost of certification will be $225. Persons who took and passed a certification exam at the 2010 User Conference may now announce their certification.

Celebrate Geography Awareness Week and GIS Day

"Geography Awareness Week" occurs this week November 14-20.  Learn more about this National Geographic Society sponsored activity at this link.

Today, Wednesday, November 17 is also "GIS Day".  This event is sponsored by organizations such as ESRI, the National Geographic Society, the Association of American Geographers, University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, the United States Geological Survey and the Library of Congress, has been embraced for several years by many localities in Virginia.  Events are occurring in Northern Virginia, Richmond area, Tidewater and more.  Check with your local jurisdiction to see if they are having an event and go out and support this interesting and fun activity.

FGDC Seeks Input on Geospatial Platform

The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) is seeking input on its plan to modernize the National Spatial Data Infrastructure with The Geospatial Platform. As defined in the plan the Platform "... will offer a managed portfolio of common geospatial data, services and applications contributed and administered by trusted sources and hosted on a shared infrastructure".

The initiative is intended to increase information sharing across various levels of government and industry. The initiative will use a managed portfolio approach, be implemented using a service-oriented architecture, and will use open and interoperable standards and technology. The Platform will be governed by a Managing Partner and a Partner Network of federal, state, local and private sector organizations.

There is some confusion in the blogosphere over how the Platform relates to the National Map, the GeoLoB (Geospatial Line of Business), Data.gov, and the NOAA web mapping application for the BP Oil Spill response www.GeoPlatform.gov/GulfResponse. The FGDC plan explains the connections and notes that the existing NOAA application is a prototype for one type of application to be supported by the Platform. NOAA appears to be taking a larger role than in previous NSDI efforts that tended to be primarily USGS.

The Platform has been endorsed by the National Geospatial Advisory Committee. The FGDC is welcoming feedback on the plan via an IdeaScale website or by emails to geoplatformcomments@fgdc.gov through December 2010.

Geospatial Revolution Project Video - Episode Two is Released

Episode Two is now out on YouTube.  Click here to view on YouTube.  See version one from a previous GISVirginia Blog Post.