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Red River Basin Decision Information Network Demonstration of BasinViewer
Amy Sebring, Moderator [Introduction] Amy Sebring: On behalf of my EIIP partner Avagene Moore, myself, and the RRBDIN, welcome to the Red River Room of the EIIP Virtual Forum. Our session today will be a demonstration of a brand new RRBDIN tool, the BasinViewer. Not only will you learn how it works, but you will have an opportunity to ask questions and provide some feedback. [Participant instructions omitted] Now I am pleased to introduce Brian Fischer from Houston Engineering. Not only is Brian our "GIS guru" he is our RRBDIN Webmaster as well. Brian is a graduate of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln with a B.A. in Geography and Environmental Studies. He also has a Masters of Science Degree in Geographic Information Systems from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Brian worked for two years as a student for the U.S. Geological Survey where he assisted with many studies using GIS and developed an Interactive Watershed Information System for Minnesota. He also worked as a county GIS coordinator for a year before joining Houston Engineering, Inc. and working in the area of GIS and Web services. [Slide 1] And now I will turn the floor over to you Brian. [Presentation] Brian Fischer: Thank you Amy. Today the RRBDIN development team is very pleased to announce the first release of an exciting new tool called BasinViewer. We want to thank everyone for attending this workshop and hope you find it useful in your day-to-day work. This workshop will demonstrate the functionality of BasinViewer. It will show you how to use the tool and hopefully to get your feedback for future releases of BasinViewer. Lets get started with an overview of BasinViewer. [Slide 2] BasinViewer is a web mapping application for decision makers in the Red River Basin. It is only one component of the decision information network. BasinViewer was developed with an Open Source software package called MapServer and Open GIS Consortium (OGC) standards. BasinViewer allows users to view, analyze, and print geospatial data with nothing more than a web browser. Previously this was a difficult task for decision makers, because it required a steep learning curve to use GIS software. Next, let me explain the things you are seeing on the BasinViewer interface. It is very important to understand what each link, button, drop-down menu, and check box do. [Slide 3] Above the map you see a link called Tools, this will take you to the Tools home page. To the right of the tools link is a drop down menu; this will change the size of the map. You can change the size based on your screen size but keep in mind the larger the map size the slower the images will load. We recommend the large map setting should only be used by users with a high-speed Internet connection. To the right of that you will see a zoom to watershed menu. This will change the map display to the extent of the watershed you select. The extents of the watersheds are based upon the USGS 8 digit HUCs. To the right of that you will see a link to search for data. This link will take you to LMIC's GeoGateway, where you can search for data using the RRBDIN Metadata Clearinghouse along with others. To the left of the map display you will see a table cell titled Map Tools. These tools set different modes to interact with the map display. [Slide 4] The top three buttons activate different browse modes. Once you activate one of these buttons you can click on the map display to zoom in, pan, or zoom out. You can also zoom in by drawing a bounding box with your mouse. The next button is the identify or query button. Clicking on this button activates the identify mode. This allows the user to click on a feature whose layer is available to identify. I will show you some examples of how this feature works later in the presentation. The next button resets the page to the initial view. Clicking this button is the same as when you started the BasinViewer application. The next button opens a new page with the map formatted for printing. You will be prompted for a map title before the page is displayed. The next tool is an image that allows you to disable or enable Java functionality. The only difference in functionality is the option to zoom in by drawing a bounding box. The Help Files link will open a separate window with help pages. The View Legend link will open a window with a formatted legend that you may print. [Slide 5] Around the map you see directional arrows. By clicking on an arrow, the map will pan or move in the direction the arrow is pointing. To the right of the map you see layer names with a checkbox in front of the name. By checking the box the layer will turn on and the map will refresh automatically. Likewise, by unchecking a box the layer will turn off and the map will refresh automatically. Although you cannot see it on this slide, there is also a reference map at the bottom of the page that will show you the extent of the current map display. By clicking on the reference map you can move the map display to the general location you clicked. I hope I have done a decent job explaining all of the things you see on the BasinViewer interface. Now that you understand what each button, link, drop-down menu and check box does, let's move on to the real benefit of the BasinViewer, that is to show you how it can be used in your day-to-day work. [Slide 6 ] Let's present a couple of questions and use BasinViewer to answer them: Question 1: I am looking for property in the Fargo Moorhead area and I want to see generally what areas are in the 100-year and 500 year flood zones. Answer 1: First make sure the zoom in button is activated and draw a bounding box around the Fargo area. The next slide will show the results. [Slide 7] Next, turn on the Local Rd/Street and FEMA Q3 Flood Data layers. Then you can zoom in a little more by making the zoom in button active and drawing a bounding box around the Fargo area again. You will see the new layers displayed and the area of the map display is smaller than the slide. You can now make a general analysis of the Fargo-Moorhead area. You may say, "This is great, but what do the colors mean?" Simply click on the View Legend link. This opens a separate window with the legend. [Slide 8] By looking at the legend you will notice the red dotted areas are the 100-year flood zones, the green dotted areas are the 500-year flood zones and the blue-hatched areas are the floodways. You may either leave the legend open for future use or simply close the window. Next you decide you want to see a little more detailed around U.S. Highway 75 in Moorhead, MN. Simply activate the zoom in button and draw a bounding box around Highway 75 in Moorhead and turn on the aerial photos that are available for MN. This next slide shows the results. [Slide 9] You see the new map displayed with the aerial photos displayed in the background. You decide this is useful to your analysis and want to print a map. Simply click on the Print Map button. You will see a window pop up prompting you to enter a title for the map. [Slide 10] Enter one or leave the default title, then click ok. Next a page will pop up with the map formatted for printing on a 8.5 X 11.0 sheet. As you can see it is fairly easy to gather information for decisions you may have to make. Let's go through one more question and answer example to demonstrate more functionality. Question 2: I am conducting a hydraulic study for the Clearwater River Watershed in Minnesota. I need to conduct a initial analysis of where the gaging stations, dams, and MnDOT bridges are located. I also need a large map for my planning work showing all of these features within the watershed. [Slide 11] Answer 2: First turn on the Major Watershed layer by clicking the checkbox next to the name. Next use the Zoom to Watershed drop down menu at the top to zoom the map display to the extent of the Clearwater River Watershed boundary. You see a new map zoomed to the extent of the Clearwater River Watershed. [Slide 12] Next, turn on the Minnesota Bridges, Real-time Gaging Stations, and National Inventory of Dams layers. This will allow you to visualize where these important features are within your study area. You see a new map with the bridges, gaging stations, and dams displayed. [Slide 13] Next you need to change the map size to large, so you can print the largest map possible from BasinViewer. The map that gets displayed on the print formatted page will be the same size as on the interactive map. [Slide 14] Notice the size of the map displayed has gotten bigger. The large map size setting changes the image to 700X700 pixels. Next, click the Print Map Button to format a page for printing. Your final map for printing. [Slide 15] Next we are going to find out more information about a few features that are available to identify or query on the map display. [Slide 16] Go back to the interactive map display and activate the identify button. This sets the mode of interaction to identify or query. Next, click on the real-time gaging station (green triangle) near Plummer. This pops up a new window with the identify results for the gaging station. You may print it and move on to the next feature. [Slide 17] For another example, we could go back to the interactive map display and activate the identify button. [Slide 18] Then if we clicked on the dam (brown square) downstream of Plummer, this pops up a new window with the identify results for the dam. [Slide 19] You may print it and move on to the next feature. For a final example, we could go back to the interactive map display and activate the identify button. Next click on the bridge (orange triangle) downstream of Plummer. [Slide 20] This pops up a new window with the identify results for the bridge. You may print it. [Slide 21] In conclusion, you have seen the functionality the BasinViewer offers and have had the opportunity to see two realistic examples of how the BasinViewer could be used. Keep in mind this is the first release to the BasinViewer application. We hope to make improvements as we receive feedback from this audience and others. We hope to include more geospatial layers to BasinViewer as they become available or recommended by users. We would also like to hear feedback on additional tools that could be incorporated into the BasinViewer to help you make decisions in your day-to-day work. I personally would like to receive specific cases where you have used the BasinViewer to answer a question or make a decision. This lets us know how we may improve BasinViewer to help you make better decisions. Please take the time to try the fully functional BasinViewer on the RRBDIN website by going to http://www.rrbdin.org/tools.htm and clicking on BasinViewer. On behalf of the development team, we would like to thank everyone that has been a part of the development of the BasinViewer and provided GIS data. I would also like to give credit to the rest of the development team; Amy Sebring, Brianna LeClaire, Terry Birkenstock, Mark Deutschman and Christy Shostal. Thank you very much for your time and attention. If you have any additional questions or feedback I can be reached at bfischer@mpls.houstoneng.com or (763) 493-4522. Amy, I'll hand it back to you. [Audience Q & A] Amy Sebring: Thank you very much Brian. We will move on now to our Q&A/comment portion. [Participant instructions omitted] Question: Bob Halliday: Brian, are all these layers on your server, or are you accessing other servers in background? I guess the underlying question is how do you keep the system up-to-date. Brian Fischer: All of the layers that are under the heading called Overlay Layers are on the RRBDIN Server. The Background Layers are what we call WMS layers or data other organizations are serving and we are requesting it on the fly. By using the WMS layer standards we don't have to worry about keeping them up-to-date. Question: Amy Sebring: Brian, can you highlight the difference in the data layers available for Canada vs. the U.S.? Brian Fischer: The main difference is not so much in the data itself rather the policy that lets you obtain the data. In Canada the Federal Government has set the policy that everyone will pay for GIS data to help recover costs, while in the U.S. most GIS data is free. This reflects what you see for data availability on the BasinViewer. This is why there is bridge data for the U.S. and not Canada. On a bright note, Manitoba has just passed a law saying the province can distribute their data for free. Manitoba Conservation is working hard setting up their data for free download on a website. Last I heard the website should be released late this summer. Conrad Wyrzykowski: Yes the Provincial web site should be up soon. As for the data in the basin, I would think the province would be able to release it now. Brian Fischer: They have, but it needs a lot of processing. They are completing this now. We don't want to duplicate efforts. Question: Wendy Pearson: How long has it taken you to gather all of this GIS data and pull this project together? Brian Fischer: The gathering of the data is the time consuming part. People are still a little reluctant to give up data, and it is not always in a format to load onto the Web. It has probably taken about 4 months to gather the data and program the BasinViewer. But that was not working on it full time. Question: Jayant Deo: Can you tell me how data intensive it is and what kind of data are you looking at? Brian Fischer: The main purpose of the BasinViewer was to gather geospatial data related to water management and build a tool that allowed a non-GIS person to view the spatial data with their web browser. I hope that answers your question? Amy Sebring: Follow up Jayant? I think he is asking about additional layers under consideration for future? Brian Fischer: Sure we would like to add a lot of other layers. Some I think we will get to in this funding phase are 1997 Flood Extent and the National Wetland Inventory. This is where the users will play an important role. If we receive a lot of requests for certain data layers, then those layers will become priority to add over others. Jayant Deo: I am interested in additional possibilities and data needs to get there. Question: Wendy Pearson: Is your BasinViewer utilizing ESRI, or AutoDesk software or another company's software? Brian Fischer: BasinViewer is developed with an Open Source Software package (meaning it's free!), called MapServer. Amy Sebring: Brian, do you have the link to the Map Server website off the top of your head? Brian Fischer: MapServer was developed by Steve Lime and the University of Minnesota. You can find more information at http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/. Comment: Terry Birkenstock: I just want to point out that the Basin Viewer meets one goal of the RRBDIN - to make some basic spatial data sets easily accessible and viewable. There is really a larger goal of making the search for basin-wide data easier via the clearinghouse and possibly to provide a place for data developers to upload data that they can't serve themselves. At least a clearinghouse of metadata so we can find data that is now unavailable to most of the basin. Brian Fischer: Terry brings up an excellent point. For everyone wondering where the clearinghouse is, they can search it by clicking on the link at the top of the Basin Viewer. Question: Wendy Pearson: Have you ever used ArcIMS? And if yes, did you find Map Server to be easier to use or more difficult than ArcIMS? Brian Fischer: Yes, I have used ArcIMS, but not extensively. In my opinion, MapServer is much easier to setup and it is very fast. Wendy Pearson: Thank you and I just want to say I think this BasinViewer will be an incredible asset! Brian Fischer: If you would like more information off-line, feel free to contact me. Question: Amy Sebring: Brian, is there any kind of search function, like for named features, e.g.? Brian Fischer: No, but it could be implemented. Comment: Terry Birkenstock: If anyone wants to make their data available via the BasinViewer, or just to test it out, call me or Brian and we can discuss it. Thanks. [Closing] Amy Sebring: Thank you very much Brian, and thanks to all our participants today. We will have the transcript and slides posted soon, and I will send a message out to the list as to when and where it is available. Our formal session is adjourned, but please help me thank Brian for a fine job. |
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