Louisiana State University (LSU), United States

LSU CADGIS Research Laboratory spotlights State of Louisiana

LSU The Challenge:

When the Louisiana State University (LSU) faculty and students needed geospatial data for class projects, they went to the CADGIS Research Laboratory for help. The lab’s associate director, Farrell Jones, realized that the time lab personnel spent searching for data and making it usable for each individual’s software application could be better spent developing a Web site where users could search for and retrieve the data themselves. The site would need to include guidelines on how to use the data, and metadata could provide documentation that would further reduce the need for an instructor’s assistance. The scope of the project then grew to reach users outside the university.

The Project Objectives:

Provide geospatial information to LSU faculty and students for educational projects
Enable public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private-sector companies from a broad spectrum of interests, including planning, resource management, emergency preparedness, agriculture, and oil and gas, to access geospatial information for the entire state
Prepare for future growth of the system

The Solution:

The LSU Computer Aided Design and Geographic Information Systems (CADGIS) Research Laboratory offers computer-based courses and facilitates research in computer-aided design and geographic information systems. As geospatial data has become increasingly useful to a broad range of disciplines, the CADGIS lab personnel wanted to build a Web site to provide LSU faculty and students with rapid access to the lab’s extensive spatial data resources. With initial funding from the Louisiana Board of Regents, CADGIS developed and continues to support the Atlas Web site.

Because Atlas is available to anyone using the Internet, off-campus Web users soon began to take advantage of the site, and Atlas now provides mapping information for the state of Louisiana. The Web site allows government planners, commercial agencies, and the Louisiana Department of Education to access valuable information about the entire state. Private organizations access the site for geospatial data on their land holdings in Louisiana. And students from colleges and universities outside the state download data for project sites located in Louisiana.

Several sources have contributed data for Atlas. The Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office has provided the state digital orthophoto quarter quadrangles and continues to acquire LIDAR data that is shared with the public on Atlas. In addition, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the USGS National Wetlands Research Center contribute large amounts of data. Other contributors include several state and federal agencies, the LSU Disaster Science Management Program, and the LSU Coastal Studies Institute.

Once the data is with the CADGIS, lab Associate Director Farrell Jones directs the processing of the data for downloading, adding the entries to the databases and performing other necessary tasks. Support personnel answer users’ questions about the data and keeps them informed through regular e-mail announcements.

As a member of the Intergraph Registered Research Laboratory Program and an Intergraph Education Grant recipient, CADGIS has received software and technical assistance from Intergraph. GeoMedia WebMap generates the index maps for Atlas, and Intergraph provides software support and updates. The company also provided initial training on GeoMedia WebMap to the CADGIS staff.

Future Plans:

CADGIS personnel are already planning the next version of Atlas. The lab wants to offer additional types of data and take advantage of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGCTM) specifications, such as Web Map Services and Web Feature Services, to provide geospatial data directly to users’ desktop applications – without their having to perform the download and extract sequence. The second-generation Atlas will also feature enhanced graphical components and additional interactive maps.

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