June 30, 2009
This past week two geospatial practitioners were cited for their good work by the FBI. What did they do? At the request of the Bureau, they went online and found some Digital Raster Graphics, scanned quad maps, printed them and gave them to agents working in their area. Is this how agents and others in the federal government, or even citizens, should get their geographic data? What does this scenario reveal about the FBI? The state of our geospatial infrastructure? The value of the geospatial workforce? ?
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||
|
||||||
|
 |
 |
 |
|||
James H. Butcher, G.G., GISP, GIS Manager, Town of Collierville shared his experiences (alas after we recorded the podcast):
"I just read the blog entry concerning the article in the Commercial Appeal. As you suspected the request did come from the local office in Memphis, not from D.C. The request was for a topo map of an area in Perry County, TN near the Tennessee River. Since the agents were more interested in the terrain of that area a 7.5 minute USGS quad made sense. We were more than happy to help. So we obtained the required DRG and printed the number of copies they needed. The Tennessee Spatial Data Server ( http://www.tngis.org/ ) maintains a copy of all the DRG's by County for Tennessee. I'm certain that most agents do not have the time to familiarize themselves with what resources are available to the geospatial community. I will give them kudos for having the forethought to contact members of the local GIS community for assistance. I've had some prior contacts with some of the agents in that office, so I guess that is what led them to call my office. We also go out of our way to assist and work closely with other Geospatial users in the region, a view shared by many of the GIS professionals in the Mid-South.
"For example, our regional GIS group is involved with a number of initiatives to improve contacts and data access for first responders and local law enforcement. As a group we encourage active participation in our regional users group MAGIC: Memphis Area Geographic Information Council and our State organization TNGIC: Tennessee Geographic Information Council. We also encourage participation in the GISP Program and joining national organizations such as URISA and ASPRS."
Show Notes
This year the ESRI International User Conference is more social than ever! Be a part of the conversation by following along on Twitter at twitter.com/esriuc. You can also join the community on Facebook at the Official ESRI UC page. To learn more about the ESRI International User Conference visit www.esri.com/uc.
|
Your Comments Post a comment All comments provided in this section are those of the individual who has created the post. These are not the opinions of Directions Media, its editors, staff or owners unless otherwise noted. Directions Media retains the right to edit or delete any comments posted herein.
|
|
||||||
| Indeed. What does this say about the online mapping application developed by the FBI headquarters? I think it says the mapping app doesn't meet the needs of the field people, because it's ONLINE and not portable. At the end of the day, people in the field are comfortable with maps. You know, plain ol' paper map...fold it, hold it, carry it, make notes, and look at it with a bunch of people standing around the hood of a car. Do that with a laptop or iPhone app. FBI may be making online maps available, but the field agents could hardly give a toot when it comes time to work an area. |
||||||
|
||||||
| I applaud the town of Collierville GIS team for utilizing the KISS approach and getting the FBI field agents the data they needed, when then needed it. The personal networking between the local field agents and GIS professionals is the critically important factor in this instance. Maybe a good printed map is the gateway drug GIS Professionals should use to reach first responders and field agents who may not be aware of what GIS can really do. In the future with some followup communication, the agents may know enough to ask for data to be added to their map request, such as road blocks or parcel boundaries with the names of owners. The next thing you know they may be using GIS to map crime statistics or blood spatter patterns! |
||||||
