New York Department of State’s Geographic Information Gateway Web Site Recognized with Distinguished System Award

 The New York Department of State’s Office of Planning and Development that its award-winning Geographic Information Gateway web site, also known as the “Gateway,” has received yet another honor, a 2017 Distinguished System Award from the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA), an International association of information professionals. The award recognizes outstanding and working examples of the information system technology and after two review stages the Gateway was selected as was one of six Exemplary Systems in Government Awardees. For more information about URISA’s 2017 Exemplary Systems in Government Award winners, including project information and photos, please visit here.

“I’d like to congratulate our Office of Planning and Development and all those who have contributed to improving and making the Gateway an even more valuable asset for the people of New York State,” said New York Secretary of State Rossana Rosado. “This award is another testament to the dedication and insight that has been put forth to make the Gateway a prime resource for the general public, including decision-makers, to the information and tools necessary to grow New York’s economy, ensure resiliency, and plan for the responsible use and revitalization of our State’s resources.”

Additionally, the Gateway, which has received visitors from every state in the U.S. and from 89 countries around the world since its 2015 launch, will soon allow for expanded digital capabilities. The Gateway will allow for expanded use on new mobile device features and allow users to download web apps for collecting crowd-sourced recreational and review information, as well as a near-live time map of recreational use in New York harvested from social media. These are just a few ways that the Department of State continues to expand upon the Gateway, making it more user friendly for recreational enthusiasts, students, research foundations, government agencies, and tourists. Information has been inventoried and is being collected to support new focus areas providing information on the New York’s Mohawk River watershed and the Office’s Brownfield Opportunity Areas program.

Background on the Gateway

The Gateway features state-of-the-art map viewing and contains cutting-edge interactive stories that highlight case studies, showcases community success stories, and illustrates how geographic information is collected, analyzed and used to improve planning and decision-making. 

The site has added more information highlighting Lake Erie/Niagara watershed and Long Island Sound, bringing the total number of datasets available for viewing and exploring through the Gateway to nearly 650.  The Gateway provides easy access to information used by the Department’s local and regional planning efforts for the State’s waterfronts and accompanying communities.

Developed and designed by OPD&CI and its contractor, Stone Environmental, the Gateway informs the public on OPD&CI’s priorities regarding ocean use, such as offshore planning for renewable energy, adaptation to climate change with community and regional resilience planning, and helping waterfront communities create and foster a clear vision and plan for their future through creative partnerships and community involvement.

A variety of audiences and constituencies have benefited from the easily accessible information that is readily available on the Gateway:

Residents

• Determine if they live in an area susceptible to flooding by viewing Coastal Risk Areas in the map viewer. 
• Find real-time information across the State describing beach conditions, tide levels, and coastal wind speeds and direction. 
• Determine whether their community participated in the NY Rising Community Reconstruction program and access community reconstruction plans to better understand the implications of the plan to their daily lives.

Business Owners/Investors/Entrepreneurs

• Use the map viewer to quickly identify the Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) area of interest and access relevant REDC plans to understand how their activities relate to regional goals and strategies.
• View and download data that show the distribution of existing ocean uses and natural resources to help offshore wind developers anticipate and avoid conflicts and select the most appropriate areas for project development.
• Get-up to speed on New York State’s offshore wind planning efforts by reading the interactive story and reports available on the Atlantic Ocean page.
• International energy companies use the Gateway to explore potential offshore New York lease auctions.

Local Governments

• Determine the level of flood risk a municipality or locale may face by viewing the Coastal Risk Areas overlaid on a satellite base map. 
• Learn about the State’s resilience planning and explore nature-based approaches to managing shoreline erosion by reading interactive stories on the Climate Change and Resilience page.
• Learn about the resources and programs offered by the New York Department of State’s Office of Planning and Development to support community and regional resilience activities.

Educators

• Use the content and functionality provided by the Gateway to develop interactive lesson plans, such as demonstrating the potential effects of sea level rise on their students’ school, community and region.
• Explore different adaptive measures to address the future challenges of sea level rise and introduce their students to unique deep-sea life by exploring the submarine canyons found offshore New York.

Other benefits offered by the Gateway include:

• A user-friendly interface that increases government transparency by providing public access to geographic information.
• Enables the public to view and download over 400 datasets related to the Atlantic Ocean and community resilience planning activities, including all the data presented in the New York Department of State Offshore Atlantic Ocean Study.
• Custom-built stories that help visitors interactively explore and understand a diversity of topics, from offshore wind planning activities to the development and application of coastal risk areas to support community resilience planning.
• Real-time updates to facilitate data sharing between local, state, regional and federal partners and serves as a central platform hosting DOS’s state, regional and federal partner’s geographic data.