Virginia Receives Broadband Mapping Grant

From the NTIA Press Release from March 5:

"NTIA has awarded the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology $1,799,979 for broadband data collection and mapping activities over a two-year period and $500,000 for broadband planning activities over a two-year period in Virginia, bringing the total grant award to approximately $2.3 million. The Virginia Center for Innovative Technology is the designated entity for the state of Virginia.

Awardees will collect and verify the availability, speed, and location of broadband across the state. This activity is to be conducted on a semi-annual basis in the next two years, with the data to be presented in a clear and accessible format to the public, government, and the research community."

Partners with CIT include the Virginia Geographic Information Network (VGIN) and Virginia Tech.

Recent News Articles about GIS Web Portals

Three recent news articles about GIS web portals in Virginia have been published.



Middlesex County

A nice article in the Southside Sentinal about Middlesex County's new GIS web portal, including a discussion by VGIN Advisory Board member Stan Hovey on the value of orthophotography and GIS education.



Waynesboro

The City of Waynesboro has unveiled their new online GIS. See the article in the NewsVirginia.com



James River Association

The James River Association was recently profiled in NBC12.com discussing their new "Runoff Calculator", which allows citizens to assess your impact on the James River watershed.

GovTech Magazines 2010 "Doers, Dreamers and Drivers"

Virginia has several names listed in Government Technology Magazine's ""2010 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers" article. Leading the list is Deputy Secretary of Technology Karen Jackson, who has been the key driver behind Virginia's Broadband and Broadband Mapping efforts. Other notable Virginians mentioned in the article are Wanda Gibson, CTO, Fairfax County, Bill Greeves, communications and IT Director, Roanoke County, and Bill Hobgood, project manager, City of Richmond. With four of the twenty-five names listed, the most for any one state, Virginia is once again showing the way with its leadership.

Data Sharing Issues: What Works and What Doesn’t

This is an interesting post from "NSGIC News" that discusses GIS data sharing issues. Originating from South Carolina, it is a compilation of input from GIS Coordinators from across the country.

NSGIC News: Data Sharing Issues: What Works and What Doesn’t

GIS Strategic Plan Official

The VGIN Advisory Board unanimously approved the VGIN 2010-2015 GIS Strategic Plan at their quarterly meeting on January 6, 2010. Draft Advisory Board minutes and other materials from the meeting can be accessed here.

The Advisory Board action marks the end of a year long effort by VGIN to establish a stakeholder driven strategic plan. Now that the plan is "official" we enter the next phase, which is to formulate plans that address the strategic initiatives identified in the plan. "My thanks go out to all those that contributed to the process. Stay tuned for opportunities in 2010 to participate in work groups (Initiative Action Teams) to address the strategic initiatives" - Dan Widner, VGIN Coordinator.

Draft VGIN 5 Year GIS Strategic Plan Public Comment Period

The 2010 VGIN Five Year GIS Strategic Plan is open for public comment. In August, 2009, VGIN began a strategic planning process to bring together geospatial stakeholders to work with us to develop a five year strategic roadmap. This plan defines specific goals and initiatives to help VGIN enhance geospatial functionality, services and strategy in the Commonwealth.

Just as your input was important during the regional town hall meetings, your feedback now on the draft strategic plan is vital

From December 9 to December 23, 2009 VGIN is seeking public input to ensure that VGIN's five year plan serves the geospatial needs of the Commonwealth.

• To review the 2010 VGIN Five Year GIS Strategic Plan click here
• Please provide your comments by visiting our online survey

The Strategic Plan will guide VGIN's work and set the direction for the geospatial community by:

• Providing needed geospatial services to stakeholders;
• Identifying and developing needed technical and constituent-oriented enterprise geospatial services;
• Ensuring an interoperable geospatial environment

If you have additional comments or questions a bout the strategic planning process, please direct them to VGINstratplan@touchstone.com
Thank you.

VBMP 2009 Uses Virginia HARN Datum

Starting with the 2009 orthophotography acquisition the Virginia Base Map Program (VBMP) is delivering data in the North American 1983 HARN Datum. Previously, the North American 1983 Datum (NAD83) was used without the HARN upgrade. A High Accuracy Reference Network (HARN) is a statewide upgrade in accuracy of NAD83 coordinates using Global Positioning System (GPS) observations. Generally the HARN upgrade differs from the NAD 1983 Datum by approximately one foot but varies across the state between zero and 3.2 feet.

The mix of datums you are most likely to encounter are NAD83 and NAD83 HARN. The proper geographic transformation between these two datums is the NADCON “VAHPGN” grid transformation method developed by the National Geodetic Survey. In ArcGIS this transformation is referred to as NAD_1983_To_HARN_Virginia.

The datum shift can be corrected in ArcGIS by using the proper geographic transformation in a map document's data frame properties dialog box. The transformation may also be required when using some geoprocessing tools. See this document for more details.