GIS and Custom Application Support for the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council
The scientists at the Wetland and Aquatic Science Center (WARC) have provided coastal restoration project managers and decision makers with GIS planning, database and custom application capacity since 1992. The scope and complexity of this support has increased over the years and has resulted in the development of a comprehensive geospatial and advanced application teams that provide decision makers with annual planning deliverables including spatial datasets, spatial data analyses, maps, graphics, online tools, and technical support.
Science Issue and Relevance: The scientists at the Wetland and Aquatic Science Center (WARC) have provided coastal restoration project managers and decision makers with GIS planning, database and custom application capacity since 1992. The scope and complexity of this support has increased over the years and has resulted in the development of a comprehensive geospatial and advanced application teams that provide decision makers with annual planning deliverables including spatial datasets, spatial data analyses, maps, graphics, online tools, and technical support. Providing these products and services requires a standardized GIS data management and software development environment, as well as extensive coordination with project planners, managers, and decision makers. The GIS products and computational services provided by the WARC for restoration planning are designed to support multi-scale applications and are the foundation upon which WARC has built GIS datasets used to support monitoring, land rights, restoration, and engineering activities. Moving forward, WARC will continue to invest in this capacity to ensure relevant datasets, spatial analysis techniques, and technologies stay current for supporting our cooperators in the restoration community.
Methodology for Addressing the Issue: Geographers and support staff create and maintain various databases and data layers for restoration efforts in the Gulf Coast. These datasets are used by the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council) in the decision-making process, by the staff in map generation for inclusion in official RESTORE documents, and by the Public Engagement team for use in public displays and informational documents.
Computer scientists and support staff create both private and public websites and applications that use these databases for data visualization and dissemination. These sites and applications help the RESTORE Council during the process of project selection for inclusion in the Funded Priorities List (FPL) and explain the RESTORE Council’s plan for restoration in the Gulf region to the public. WARC computer scientists are also re-engineering and hosting the Restore the Gulf website.
Future Steps: In addition to planning tools, WARC scientists are also lending their expertise in Data Management and Observational Data Collection to the RESTORE Council. This includes providing guidance for data collection, data management, and metadata plans.
The scientists at the Wetland and Aquatic Science Center (WARC) have provided coastal restoration project managers and decision makers with GIS planning, database and custom application capacity since 1992. The scope and complexity of this support has increased over the years and has resulted in the development of a comprehensive geospatial and advanced application teams that provide decision makers with annual planning deliverables including spatial datasets, spatial data analyses, maps, graphics, online tools, and technical support.
Science Issue and Relevance: The scientists at the Wetland and Aquatic Science Center (WARC) have provided coastal restoration project managers and decision makers with GIS planning, database and custom application capacity since 1992. The scope and complexity of this support has increased over the years and has resulted in the development of a comprehensive geospatial and advanced application teams that provide decision makers with annual planning deliverables including spatial datasets, spatial data analyses, maps, graphics, online tools, and technical support. Providing these products and services requires a standardized GIS data management and software development environment, as well as extensive coordination with project planners, managers, and decision makers. The GIS products and computational services provided by the WARC for restoration planning are designed to support multi-scale applications and are the foundation upon which WARC has built GIS datasets used to support monitoring, land rights, restoration, and engineering activities. Moving forward, WARC will continue to invest in this capacity to ensure relevant datasets, spatial analysis techniques, and technologies stay current for supporting our cooperators in the restoration community.
Methodology for Addressing the Issue: Geographers and support staff create and maintain various databases and data layers for restoration efforts in the Gulf Coast. These datasets are used by the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council) in the decision-making process, by the staff in map generation for inclusion in official RESTORE documents, and by the Public Engagement team for use in public displays and informational documents.
Computer scientists and support staff create both private and public websites and applications that use these databases for data visualization and dissemination. These sites and applications help the RESTORE Council during the process of project selection for inclusion in the Funded Priorities List (FPL) and explain the RESTORE Council’s plan for restoration in the Gulf region to the public. WARC computer scientists are also re-engineering and hosting the Restore the Gulf website.
Future Steps: In addition to planning tools, WARC scientists are also lending their expertise in Data Management and Observational Data Collection to the RESTORE Council. This includes providing guidance for data collection, data management, and metadata plans.