Geospatial Mapping of Coastal Communities of Alabama: Value Created
by Collaboration
EDA Grant #: G004824
Problem Statement Hurricane storm surge
and wash of sand and debris inland frustrates clean-up effort
Heavy Equipment damages fixtures covered by debris and sand
$9 billion spent by federal government in mitigation efforts since 1998
50% or more of the damage inflicted on critical utilities during the clean-up effort
Current ConditionEach utility company
has print or electronic maps in different formats
Little coordination during clean-up effort
No information sharing system in place to deliver plans to clean-up personnel
AU-EDA Project GoalsProblem Benchmark / Goal
There is no regional model of infrastructure data sharing among multiple partners in coastal regions.
•Identify issues related to data storage, sharing, and security•Sign MOAs with cities & utilities
Critical community infrastructure data needs to be collected, stored and backed up as new buildings, roads, and utilities are installed.
• Collect & store infrastructure data from multiple partners in the Alabama coastal community• Upload data to Virtual Alabama
During a disaster, ad-hoc facilities and practices often bypass physical and access controls used under normal operations.
•Identify members of recovery team• Retrieve stored data effectively•Train members of the recovery team on effective use of the GIS data• Mark infrastructure elements right after a disaster
Scope of Project: Baldwin County Coastal Area + Industry Clustures
Project Team: Two year project
David Mixson, Walker Jackson P.K. Raju
Chetan S Sankar, Amit Mitra
Barry CumbieSteve Henderson, Diane Brown
Model for the Project: Co-Creation of Value by Effective Collaboration
Mapping the Coastal Communities of Alabama
27 Auburn University Students Collect Infrastructure Facilities Data in Gulf
Shores, Orange Beach, & Dauphin IslandJanuary – April 2010
Training Provided to Students Prior to Being Deployed at Site
• Student workers were provided hands on training from team leaders on how to use the Topcon-GMS2 units
• Student workers were provided instruction manuals on the units to reference while working in their groups of two.
• Lastly, student workers were provided an icons list, so they could easily identify infrastructure elements while working on site.
Data Collection at Gulf Shores During Week One (Feb. 19-21)
Team leaders: Darrell Rigsby and Satish Kutchi Student Workers: (Team 3) Sarah Tway, Mark Stevenson, John Neubauer, Grant Martin
and Tim Ledlow(Team 5) Andy Dyer, David Rose, Michael Porter and John Davenport
Data Points Collected:605
Walking Miles Covered:4
Data Collection during Week Two (Feb. 26-28) at Gulf Shores
Team leaders: Darrell Rigsby, Satish Kutchi and Kati Jones Student workers:(Team1) Kanesha Belyue, Caitlin Duff, Carter Rice and Alex
Johnson(Team 4) Tyler Gibson, Grant Moore, Lauren McManus and Sara
Yousey(Team 6) Milaika Pickard, Drew Turner, Eric Hirstein and Satish
Kutchi
Data Points Collected:1592
Walking Miles Covered:9.16
Data Collection During Week Three (March 5-7) at Gulf Shores
Team Leaders: Darrell Rigsby and Kati Jones Student Workers:(Team1) Kanesha Belyue, Caitlin Duff, Carter Rice and Alex
Johnson(Team 3) Sarah Tway, Mark Stevenson, John Neubauer, Grant
Martin and Tim Ledlow(Team 6) Milaika Pickard, Drew Turner, Eric Hirstein and Satish
Kutchi
Data Points Collected:1950
Walking Miles Covered:10.5
Data Collection during Week Four (March 26-28) at Gulf Shores & Orange Beach
Team Leaders: Darrell Rigsby and Kati Jones Student Workers:(Team 4) Tyler Gibson, Grant Moore, Grant Martin, Lauren
McManus and Sara Yousey(Team 5) Andy Dyer, David Rose, Michael Porter and John
Davenport
Data Points Collected:1692
Walking Miles Covered:9.00
Data Collection During Week Five (April 10-12) at Orange Beach
Team Leaders: Satish Kutchi Student Workers:(Team 3) Sarah Tway, Mark Stevenson, John Neubauer, Grant
Martin and Tim Ledlow(Team 4) Tyler Gibson, Grant Moore, Lauren McManus and Sara
Yousey(Team 6) Milaika Pickard, Drew Turner, Eric Hirstein and Satish
Kutchi
Data Points Collected:1914
Walking Miles Covered:11.0
Data Collected So far in the Project
Data Points Collected: 7,753
Walking Miles Covered:43.67
Total Manhours:450
Example of Collected Data
Future Plans2 more weeks of data collection
during April by 5 teamsData collection by a smaller team
during summer & fallUpload data to Virtual AlabamaProvide data to city & utilitiesDevelop training materialsTrain appropriate personnel on
use of GMS-2 units & retrieve data
Benefits: Student LearningStudents get to work with GIS
technologiesGive back to communityLearn ArcGIS and other
technologiesImprove communication skills Improve team working skillsEnhance leadership skills
Benefits: Advance Productivity, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship
40% of reconstruction costs can be eliminated if geospatial data are available on-line
Time to recover from damage is expected to be halved due to the availability of these data
Will make economic impact of this project very attractive
The concept of geospatial mapping of a coastal area is innovative;
Project team members learn to apply theories learned in class to solve a practical problem
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