-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        FW: March MassGIS Newsletter
Date:   Fri, 6 Mar 2009 14:38:41 -0500
From:   Bill Miller <[log in to unmask]>
To:     <[log in to unmask]>



*From:* Nutting, Paul (EEA) [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
*Sent:* Friday, March 06, 2009 9:36 AM
*To:* undisclosed-recipients
*Subject:* March MassGIS Newsletter



*March 2009*

* *

*W*elcome to the thirty-sixth edition of the *MassGIS GISette*, a
bi-monthly newsletter e-mailed to over 1700 of our users and partner
agencies to keep them informed of data updates, GIS events, and on-going
technology developments. You may “opt-out” of receiving this newsletter
by replying to this e-mail with “No Thanks” in the subject header. This
newsletter will not replace more focused e-mails that many of you
currently receive. A page on our website has been created for the
GISette <http://www.mass.gov/mgis/GISette.htm>. There you will find back
issues of the GISette and an online subscription form
<http://www.mass.gov/mgis/GISette.htm>.


            While our primary intent in publishing the GISette is to
            disseminate information related to MassGIS initiatives and
            data development in particular, we also see the GISette as a
            means of communicating public agency GIS news. So we
            encourage readers to send in updates or announcements
            concerning public agencies that they would like included in
            the GISette. We particularly want to encourage submission of
            announcements concerning data development projects.
            Announcements should be sent to Paul Nutting at
            [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>.

* *

*Distribution of USGS 2008 Orthoimages *

The 2008 USGS Orthophotos <http://www.mass.gov/mgis/colororthos2008.htm>
are now ready for distribution. The entire project area, Eastern Mass.
inside and slightly beyond 495, was entirely funded by the USGS and
flown by their contractor, EarthData, at a 30cm resolution in three
bands of color (RGB). Select towns were done at a 15cm resolution in 4
bands (RGB and near infrared). Because the data were compiled and
projected differently than our usual imagery, a lot of processing and a
different tiling scheme <http://www.mass.gov/mgis/coq08ix.htm> were
needed. Data at both 15cm and 30cm resolutions can be obtained by
downloading individual tiles in MrSID format. DVD’s of MrSID mosaics can
be purchased using the order forms
<http://maps.massgis.state.ma.us/orders/>. We will also accept orders
for Geotiff tiles, but these are very large and need to be loaded onto a
hard drive supplied by the customer. Someone ordering _only_ a very few
Geotiff tiles can order and receive them on DVD, up to two DVDs. We are
currently working with the USGS to finalize a project to acquire 30cm
pixel resolution imagery for the remainder of the state, with a flight
contracted by the USGS planned for this spring. This will also include
acquiring the IR band for the ’08 imagery.

*MassGIS and the 2010 US Census*

* *

For the upcoming decennial Census, the Census Bureau hired Harris
Corporation for a massive data improvement effort, the MTAIP (MAF/TIGER
Accuracy Improvement Project), whose aim is to increase the geographic
accuracy of its TIGER database by realigning its linework to better
quality base data. In Massachusetts, Harris Corp. used the 1:5000
centerline road network developed by the Executive Office of
Transportation and MassGIS. In the spring of 2008, MassGIS received a
copy of this newly realigned data. Unfortunately, we discovered some
systemic errors. When the roads themselves were more accurate, the
non-road feature town boundaries were not locked into place and were
dragged out of position in many locations. The Census Bureau
acknowledged that this is something several states had been reporting,
and asked if we could provide corrections, via the BAS (Boundary
Annexation Survey) program. Per the guidelines listed in the BAS program
documentation, over 4,000 polygons were identified and submitted to the
Census Bureau... polygons that represented areas where one or more
locations along official town boundaries (as delineated from survey
points) deviated by 30 feet or more from the accepted boundary. The
Census Bureau received these corrections from us in April 2008.

A few weeks ago, MassGIS received a CD from the Census Bureau containing
the new geographic data that should have incorporated our corrections. A
cursory examination has thus far revealed that many of the corrections
were implemented, but others were not. Further, there appear to be a few
new anomalies where the process of incorporating the corrections created
errors that weren't there before. There also appears to be a problem in
the corrections made at the city/town level not propagating into the
other levels of geography (i.e. corrected town boundary not reflected in
block level geography). We are in contact with the Census Bureau and
believe that we can work with them to identify and resolve the most
serious of the remaining issues. Please note that the data available for
download on the Census website
<%3F%09http:/www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/tgrshp2008/tgrshp2008.html>are
*NOT* currently representative of the geography that contains the
corrections made by the BAS project. As soon as there is a product that
incorporates as many as possible of our edits, MassGIS will update its
website to make it available for public use.

*Some Restricted Data Now Unrestricted *

* *

Due to the sensitive nature of several of the datalayers on our data
download page, you are required to register
<http://www.mass.gov/mgis/restricteddata.htm> before you are sent a link
to the ftp site. The Department of Environmental Protection
<http://www.mass.gov/dep/> has determined that several of the restricted
layers no longer require this level of security and can be freely
downloaded.

They are: DEP Wellhead Protection Areas (Zone II, IWPA) Datalayers
<http://www.mass.gov/mgis/swp.htm>

Surface Water Supply Protection Areas (ZONE A, B, C)
<http://www.mass.gov/mgis/ziis.htm>

You’ll still need to register
<http://www.mass.gov/mgis/restricteddata.htm> to receive a link to:

Public Water Supplies (Wells)

DEP BWP Major Facilities

Transmission Lines

* *

*_ _*

*_Database Updates_*

· *NHESP Certified Vernal Pools Layer Updated* - 2/19/2009
The Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program (NHESP) has updated
the Certified Vernal Pools <http://www.mass.gov/mgis/cvp.htm> layer. The
dataset is published in the 14th Edition of the Massachusetts Natural
Heritage Atlas and is effective beginning January 23, 2009.

· *C21E <http://www.mass.gov/mgis/c21e.htm> and AUL
<http://www.mass.gov/mgis/aul.htm> Point Layers Updated* - 2/19/2009
MassDEP has updated the Tier Classified Oil and/or Hazardous Material
Sites (MGL c. 21E) and Oil and/or Hazardous Material Sites with Activity
and Use Limitations (AUL) layers. For the C21E layer, 208 sites were
added and 601 were removed. For the AUL layer, 103 sites were added and
11 were removed.

· *Updates to DEP Public Water Supply Layers* - 2/18/2009
The MassDEP GIS Group has updated the following layers:

· Public Water Supplies <http://www.mass.gov/mgis/pws.htm>

· Zone IIs, IWPA <http://www.mass.gov/mgis/ziis.htm>

· Surface Water Supply Protection Areas (Zone A, B, C)
<http://www.mass.gov/mgis/swp.htm>

· Surface Water Supply Watersheds
<http://www.mass.gov/mgis/swp_watersheds.htm>

Significant enhancements made to the delineations of existing SWP Zones
and Watershed areas. Updates to the PWS feature classes and supporting
tables can be considered as supplemental to the December 2008 update and
include only a small number of changes to the PWS source locations and
protection area features (zero (0) sources where added, five (5) were
moved and four (4) were removed).

Of the above layers, only the Public Water Supplies are now considered
"restricted data" requiring a special request form to download the data.
The other datasets are downloadable directly from the data's metadata page.

· *1:25,000 Hydrography <http://www.mass.gov/mgis/hd.htm> Layers
Enhanced* - 2/18/2009
The 1:25,000 USGS Hydrography layer is now known as "MassDEP Hydrography
(1:25,000)", an enhanced version of the older dataset. The layer is a
hybrid of data based on USGS Digital Line Graphs (DLGs), scanned mylar
separates obtained from the USGS, digitized hydrographic features from
paper USGS 1:25,000 Topographic Quadrangle maps and data extracted from
the MassDEP Wetlands datalayer. Areas within many surface water supply
watersheds have been enhanced by using higher resolution streams and
lakes from the MassDEP Wetlands datalayer, and many areas have also been
field verified. This layer is intended as an interim product that will
be incorporated into the USGS’s National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) when
funding and resources become available.

· *Title 5 Layer <http://www.mass.gov/mgis/t5.htm> Updated* - 2/18/2009
The hydrologic data source was changed to the MassDEP Hydrography
Datalayer and updates were made to the SWP Watersheds datalayer and new
Title 5 buffers were generated. In addition, the wetlands from the 1999
MassGIS Land Use datalayer were removed from the buffered areas;
wetlands features from the DEP Wetlands datalayer and MassDEP
Hydrography are buffered.

· *Outstanding Resource Waters <http://www.mass.gov/mgis/orw.htm> Layer
Updated* - 2/18/2009
MassDEP updated the layer to include new ORW areas (polygons)
representing the 2007 Massachusetts Surface Water Quality Standards. The
ORW_ARC (line) layer was dropped.

· *DEP BWP Major Facilities <http://www.mass.gov/mgis/bwp_maj.htm> Layer
Updated* - 2/18/2009
This update brought the total number of features to 1,552 and included
updated classification information presented in the "major" fields: AIR,
GWD, HWR, LQG_MA, LQG_RCRA, LQTU, TSDF, SWD.

· *OpenSpace <http://www.mass.gov/mgis/osp.htm> Updated* - 2/2/2009
The MassGIS Protected and Recreational OpenSpace Datalayer has been
updated with various edits in 87 municipalities within the Commonwealth,
affecting more than 3,000 acres in total. Numerous conservation
restrictions were edited in Groton, Gloucester, Duxbury, and other
communities. Spatial adjustments were made to many agricultural
preservation restrictions in several towns, including Westborough,
Sturbridge, and Leominster. Many dozens of polygons were enhanced in
municipalities such as Oak Bluffs, Edgartown, and Easton. A new
shapefile and personal geodatabase have been placed on our ftp site.

GIS Technician, Peter Grace has added or refined many hundreds of
Agricultural Preservation Restrictions (APRs) since July 2008. He is now
in the process of trying to find and input some last remaining APRs, at
which point these will be complete statewide!

GIS Technician, Angelika Bahr, has single-handedly added or improved
with better data more than 500 Conservation Restrictions (CRs) in the
OpenSpace database since August 2008.

More than 1200 features in 115 municipalities totaling 27,700 acres have
been added or refined within the OpenSpace database since the last
newsletter publication.

· *State House <http://www.mass.gov/mgis/house02.htm> and Senate
<http://www.mass.gov/mgis/senate02.htm> Districts Layers Updated* -
1/29/2009
Attribute changes were made to the polygon layers based on the November
2008 elections. We do our best to keep these up to date; however,
sometimes when a vacancy occurs, that will not be noted and the update
will not appear until the new Member is sworn.

*New CZM Regions <http://www.mass.gov/mgis/reg_czm.htm> Layer* - 1/14/2009
The CZM Regions layer represents boundaries used by the Massachusetts
Coastal Zone Management Agency for planning and administrative purposes.

*_Online Mapping_*

* *

*DEP’s WIRE Program*

* *

In an effort to streamline permitting and reduce the use of paper forms,
the Department of Environmental Protection has instituted the Wetland
Information Resource-WIRE.
<http://www.mass.gov/dep/water/resources/wiremacc.htm> While primarily a
database system for permitting projects under the Wetlands Protection
Act, there is a mapping component for applicants filing on line to
locate their projects and ascertain their relationship to pertinent data
like priority resource habitats. In-house, the mapping components are
integrated with the Oracle database interface and will aid in technical
reviews of proposed projects, and compliance and enforcement work. The
mapping component has been developed in OpenLayers
<http://openlayers.org/> using navigation tools and Web Mapping Service
(WMS) layers from MassGIS' Geospatial Web Services to overlay natural
resource and regulated area information. Conservation Commissions will
be able to view the project site, adjust the latitude/ longitude if
needed, view wetland loss polygons, and view the basic information of
the project filings in their town. Training will be conducted by
MassDEP's Circuit Rider Program later this year. Training opportunities
will be posted on MassDEP's web site
<http://www.mass.gov/dep/public/depcal.htm> . DEP plans to develop other
similar online mapping applications soon.

* _Meeting Announcements_*

* *

*Spring NEARC Call for Presentations*

Planning for the spring 09 NEARC is well underway. It will be on
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at The Smith College Campus Center in Northampton,
Massachusetts.

Posters, panel discussions and presentations are being sought. To
register your proposal, please visit:

http://www3.amherst.edu/~aanderson/nearc/presentationsubmission.html
<http://www3.amherst.edu/%7Eaanderson/nearc/postersubmission.html>

*Fall NEARC Information*

The 24th annual NEARC Conference will be held in Nashua, NH on October
4-7, 2009. A call for presentations has been sent and abstracts will be
accepted only via www.northeastarc.org

Any comments or suggestions about the GISette are welcome – send to
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>.

MassGIS-The Commonwealth’s Office of Geographic and Environmental
Information is located within the Executive Office of Energy and
Environmental Affairs and is charged with the collection, enhancement,
storage and dissemination of the Commonwealth’s geographic data.

* *

*Massachusetts Geographic Information System (MassGIS)
251 Causeway St. Suite 500*

*Boston, MA 02114*
Phone: (617) 626-1238 Fax: (617) 626-1249






Paul Nutting

MassGIS

251 Causeway Street 5th Floor

Boston MA 02114

617-626-1238