| Mission with UNO-PLUS/NHS - New Orleans |
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Providing ArcGIS Server Support to a Non Profit Organization in New Orleans, LA In October 2009, Dr. Michelle Thompson, an Assistant Professor at the
“The University of New Orleans & Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans Mapping Initiative” (UNMI) is a community-university partnership that initially developed to move the concept of shared data sets to integrated data systems using internet mapping system (IMS) technology. The motivation, goals and partners involved in this pilot project are explained on their Website. The UNMI has expanded the initial goal of the pilot from a single organization to new partners (below) that will help test the IMS functionality, assist in development of training guides for future participants, establish and implement data survey/maintenance standards, and increase collaborative data sharing between multiple community based organizations in
One of the challenges in creating an integrated site has been to obtain permissions to use organization survey data and create a data conversion methodology to standardize the neighborhood survey format without creating unintentional errors. With the exception of NHS, the project partners have been delayed in providing baseline data. However, NHS has provided time series neighborhood condition data that is now being uploaded into the IMS.
Another goal of the UNMI is to create a way to seamlessly integrate city, regional and state spatial data and use Federal Geographic Data Committee standards within the IMS. With the aid of the Regional Planning Commission, the most recent imagery obtained from a 2009 flyover is part of the baseline program data. Users will have the option of identifying properties using a street, imagery or hybrid view.
Crucial information about the current conditions of property – parcel-level data about what houses are vacant, occupied or under construction – which would inform residents, policy makers and developers does not exist for most neighborhoods. The IMS website, Whodata.org, will address this challenge by providing technical assistance to residents and neighborhood groups to survey and map the property in their neighborhood and give them a simple but elegant web site to use and share this information.
In order to avoid the concern of having critical recovery data exposed, the WhoData.org site will have restricted access to some areas of the website. Non-profit project partners will be able to directly upload their data using a secure interface so that timely, current and self-managed data input can be maintained. Training on how to maintain a high level of quality assurance/quality control is a part of the program management strategy for existing and future data partners.
The WhoData.org website will be active in September 2010. We will announce when the live application will be available on the UNMI and GISCorps websites. While the IMS site is under construction, the URL will point back to the UNMI website located at http://www.planning.uno.edu/UNMI/index.html. For questions, you can contact Dr. Thompson at: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and Rafael Ferraro at: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . |
