Coastal Services Center

Delaware is the first state in the nation to put all of its basic spatial data on one Web site where it can easily be accessed and updated. This sharing of data among local, state, and federal agencies, as well as the public, is saving the state time and money.

"We estimate that we're saving $10,000 a year in staff time that was spent looking up information for the public, burning CDs, and mailing them out," says David Carter, environmental program manager for the Delaware Coastal Management Program. "Now all I have to do is put all my data over there and say, 'Go get it.'"

In addition, the Delaware Data Mapping and Integration Laboratory (DataMIL) is reducing duplication of effort among agencies, which saves taxpayers money, is making geographic data more accessible to the public, and is improving the quality of data and agency relationships.

DataMIL is a leading pilot project for the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) efforts to create "The National Map," a seamless, continuously maintained set of geographic base information that can serve as a foundation for federal, state, and local geographic data needs.

Fitting the Pieces Together

One of the challenges with creating a statewide geographic data framework with shared information, says Mike Mahaffie, a principal planner for the Delaware Office of State Planning Coordination, is making sure diverse data sets fit together. This is difficult to do because different agencies have various criteria and needs when they are collecting their data.

"What works for the federal government will never work for me in state government or for a county government," explains Mahaffie. "I need a tighter resolution than the federal government, and local governments need even more."

This could mean that a state database showing road locations might not accurately line up on a county tax map. "If I'm having to re-create federal data," Mahaffie says, "then the public is paying twice, and if a local government is then having to re-create it again, the public is paying three times, and that's not a good idea."

Stopping the Madness

The first move in Delaware's efforts to distribute geographic information data to other agencies and members of the public apparently came from the coastal program. Frustrated with the amount of staff time it was taking to respond to requests for information, Carter says, "we actually released all the GIS [geographic information system] data that we could pull together to the public."

Mahaffie says he took note of Carter's efforts. "I thought it was very interesting, and it spurred me on."

Building the Framework

Getting all the state's basic data together to help GIS users create their own data was the state's next move. The state's GIS community formed the Delaware Geographic Data Committee to coordinate and share spatial data. The committee started working on a framework of county, state, and federal data sets to be a part of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, a nationwide effort to improve the utilization of geospatial data within the U.S.

The state's framework was completed in August 2000, and soon afterwards members of the Delaware GIS community went to a national GIS conference to share their accomplishment."We were told, 'You're only 2,000 square miles. Sit down,'" Mahaffie recalls. But staff from USGS were there and began a dialogue with the state.

"We simply got into a discussion," he says. "Basically it was, 'We have data and you have data, ours is more accurate; how can we have all our data work together and have it update itself?' We realized we needed to have some place where we could have all this data together where everyone with a stake can look at it and talk about it. What we needed was an on-line collaborative approach."

Tapping into Technology

New GIS software made their idea a possibility, Mahaffie says. ESRI's ArcIMS (Internet Map Server) provides the foundation for distributing high-end GIS and mapping services over the Internet.

Prepared to "get the software, learn it, and build this thing" himself, Mahaffiee says he's grateful another member of the geographic data committee suggested contacting the University of Delaware instead. The university agreed to develop, design, and provide the server space for DataMil.

Seeing that the project shared the same vision as "The National Map," USGS provided grant funding to support the university's efforts and stitched together 57 quad sheets to create a single topographic map of Delaware.

Other partners presented their portions of the state's spatial data framework, which included transportation, elevation, aerial photography, land use/land cover, hydrography, geographic names, governmental units, geodetic control points, and tax parcels.

The Nuts and Bolts

Completed in spring 2002, DataMIL allows federal, state, and local government agencies and members of the public to create maps and download GIS data for any location in the state, as well as take part in the maintenance of the state's geographic information.

"It has different levels of functionality," Mahaffie explains. "It has a basic level that my mom could work just using her Web browser." At the same time, it is sophisticated enough to allow users to clip out and download portions of data layers to create maps of any part of the state. Desktop GIS users also can directly link to data on the Internet.

When you access DataMIL, you are presented with three options: mapping, forums, or metadata. The Map Production Laboratory is the ArcIMS application. Here you can create high-quality, downloadable, printable maps.

Under metadata, you will find all the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the data. DataMIL uses Federal Geographic Data Committee metadata standards, and features a Metadata Explorer, which is a search engine connected to the metadata of other agencies and organizations that are not included in the framework data.

The discussion forum is where agencies responsible for updating the framework's geographic data sets and members of the public who use those data sets can talk about the data and correct any errors.

Progress Isn't Pretty

Although DataMIL does a good job of combining all the different base layers, Mahaffie says they aren't perfect. "We're in the ugly duckling phase and it's a challenge to get people to be OK with that. If we don't look at stuff when it's messy, we'll never get around to fixing it and polishing it into a swan."

He adds, "What we have said is, 'Yes, we should go through this period to get the data lined up, to get people using it, and finding the discontinuities.' We can't mandate that people use this, but it's getting everyone working and talking together... It's bringing together the GIS community."

For more information about DataMIL, point your browser to http://datamil.udel.edu/. You may also contact Mike Mahaffie at (302) 739-3090, or mike.mahaffie@state.de.us. For more information about the National Map, go to www.nationalmap.usgs.gov.