GIS Tool: Geodatabase Templates

In Episode 9 (Fire Must Burn), I talked about geodatabase templates.

There are a lot of geodatabase templates for fire and incident command, but also for a lot of other things like general local government and utilities. These were mostly developed by groups of experts to include the most important and common attributes.

The benefit of using templates is that the user community and experts have already developed them so you can get started with data collection more quickly.  You can also easily share data with other jurisdictions, agencies, or groups.  This is especially important in emergency response situations.  This doesn’t mean you can’t modify or add to the templates, but if you change existing attributes (data fields) it can become more difficult to collaborate with others.

Geodatabase template contents can vary, but can include things such as different layers with attributes (some may be organized into feature datasets), tables, topology and geometric networks. Some may come with symbology files as well.  For those of you who don’t know what those things are, I’ll explain them in future episodes/blog posts.

It’s easy to download and import these templates.  They typically come as .xml schema files, and you create an empty new geodatabase and then import the schema.  GIS magically does the rest for you! You may still need to set up permissions and other settings if you’re using an enterprise geodatabase, but everything else is ready to go.

Here are a few resources to get you started:

Esri Data Models
Facilities Information Spatial Data Model

National Address Database

Do you know of others? If so, leave them in the comments!

GIS Tool: Data Resources

When you’re first starting a project, one of the most important things to have is data. Cats may have to create their own data, but if the data already exists, why reinvent the wheel?  There are many sources of GIS data for cats (and people) these days, and a few are highlighted below.

1. ArcGIS Online.  This is an online platform by Esri, the industry leader in GIS software.  With a free ArcGIS Online account, you have access to a lot of data, and with a paid account (see their website, very confusing), you can access even more.  Even with a free account there is a lot of data out there. Follow the link above, to sign up for a free account and play around.  Today, many federal, state and local agencies are putting their authoritative data (like the data you can trust) online for everyone to access for free through ArcGIS Online, and more organizations are adding data each day.

2. With ArcGIS Online, cats can use the data directly in ArcGIS Online maps, but what if they want to download the data?  A lot of agencies are putting their data online for you to download as well. For example, the State of Washington has a clearinghouse that compiles open data from multiple state agencies, counties, cities, and other sources.  For location specific data, go to geo.wa.gov. Oregon has a similar site and they have been working on consolidating data for several years.  Other states have similar sites, so if you live or are doing a project elsewhere, just have someone google that for you, er, um…or do a web search.

3. If the state clearinghouses don’t have the data you’re looking for, try your local county or city websites.  

4. For environmental data, the EPA is still a great source. It has a wealth of data you can search and download.

Do you have a good source of data that wasn’t mentioned?  Please tell us in the comments!

A Few of my Favorite Things!

So many dams…

Maps, maps, interactive maps!!! A new edition of the Pacific Northwest Atlas is available, and this one is electronic and interactive! There are eight chapters on a variety of topics including energy resources, water, and natural hazards. The maps are beautiful, and you can drill down to get links to the actual source data! This cat is seriously geeking out! This is a great resource for curious minds, as well as scientists trying to figure out how we can make it out alive. And did I mention the maps are beautiful? And the narrative and language is so poetic!