TECHNOCATION - GIS Technology putting Maryland on the map

February 6, 2002
By ELLEN WIGGINS,
Special to the Daily Record

I've praised Michael Jordan's stellar basketball abilities many times in this column. Off the court, I have always respected MJ for going back to school and finishing his college degree two years after leaving for the NBA. However, I confess that I used to have some doubts about Mike's chosen major — geography.

I used to think that geography was a rather lightweight field — rocks, weather, etc. But I was dead wrong. Recently I've learned more about how a high-tech facet of geography, GIS or geographic information systems, is playing a bigger part in Maryland's high tech economy and increasingly benefiting business, government and education.

GIS is a powerful tool with a nearly endless range of uses. It's essentially computer software that connects where things are — geography — with various data describing those things. GIS creates digital maps with multiple layers that can be turned on and off when needed, much like desktop graphic design programs. Geographic features like roads, rivers, and landmarks can easily be connected to almost any other type of data — crime statistics, real estate values, traffic reports, you name it.

GIS isn't new, in fact GIS databases have been in use for decades by the public and private sectors. The federal government relies heavily on GIS, especially the Departments of Justice, Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Land Management and the US Geological Survey. State and local governments also depend on a variety of GIS applications.

Since Maryland is home to both the federal government and some of the region's best research universities, our state has become a national GIS hotspot. Excellent geography and environmental systems departments at the University of Maryland, College Park and UMBC help train local talent while several successful GIS companies have prospered here.

Maryland is also at the forefront of our country's new focus on homeland security. GIS technology is already helping police, fire, paramedic and other emergency personnel to improve their disaster plans and response time in case of future foreign or domestic terrorist attacks. GIS data will also be useful as the federal government works to better coordinate the multitude of agencies working to fight terror.

One of the fastest growing GIS companies in the region is Spatial Systems Associates (www.spatialsys.com). Founded in 1995, SSA already has a history of using its GIS products and services to improve our area's quality of life. Spatial Systems helped improve response time for Washington DC's emergency 911 dispatch system, and is currently working with several DC, Maryland, and Virginia agencies to improve local government's response to public need. The company also created a GIS package that puts a wealth of Baltimore-Washington area real estate data at the fingertips of government, industry and homebuyers.

“GIS is an exciting field because it brings together computer database and graphics technology in a way that is immediately useful to just about anyone” says Larry Newman, Spatial Systems President. “Maryland has had the foresight over the last decade to develop statewide data that can be used in these systems and to make it available to the public.

We can now implement GIS technology for a local government or private organization at a small fraction of what it would take to start from scratch,” Newman says. “Other new technologies like Global Positioning System (GPS) and Automated Vehicle Locating (AVL) have been integrated with GIS to quickly implement many practical applications.” Spatial Systems will graduate this Spring from the incubator program at the UMBC Technology Center.

Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI, www.esri.com), the world's leading producer of GIS software, recently picked UMBC to be the company's main East Coast Training Facility and Authorized Learning Center. Headquartered in Redlands, California, ESRI is a partner of Spatial Systems Associates. ESRI employs 2,500 people worldwide and its customers include most U.S. federal agencies and national mapping agencies, 45 of the top 50 major oil companies, all 50 U.S. state health departments, most forestry companies, and many others in dozens of industries.

The University of Maryland, College Park is home to the National Center for Smart Growth (www.smartgrowth.umd.edu), a collaboration between UM's schools of architecture, public affairs, agriculture and engineering. The Center works on research to get beyond the buzzwords and get a clear picture of development, preservation and growth in Maryland. The Center's GIS and other technologies provide a wealth of information on “smart” choices for housing, transportation, zoning, open space, farmland, taxes, spending and other issues.

The Maryland State Highway Administration has received accolades for its GIS team's work. The team consists of consultants from ESRI and Columbia-based Digital Engineering Corporation along with SHA staff. SHA uses GIS to keep Maryland's roads moving by tracking traffic density, road surface conditions and accident locations.

As a fan of historic Annapolis, I was impressed to find out that a GIS system directed by scientists at the University of Maryland, College Park and funded by grants from the Maryland Historical Trust helps preserve the port city's rich heritage. Local preservationists, archaeologists, city planners, and academic researchers can access all kinds of historic and modern information about Annapolis. The system's over 70 information layers, several of which were built by Spatial Systems Associates, weave together details including archeological sites, tax parcels, historic photos, architecture, and of course, old and new maps.

UMBC geography and environmental systems professor Keith Harries studies the geography of crime. Harries researched and wrote a book on crime mapping for the U.S. Department of Justice and National Institute of Justice. Harries' work combined GIS and parole/probation data to help law enforcement, civic leaders and citizens track patterns of crime. Students in the UMBC program have also used GIS to track and map lyme disease statewide and to track and prevent car accidents caused by deer on I-70 in Howard County.

Baltimore's growing reputation as a center for GIS excellence can only help build our regional economy. With applications in safety, health, ecology and business, just to name a few, this versatile technology promises to be even more important over the next decade. I'm sure I have only scratched the surface of Maryland's GIS community and its capabilities. If you know of other GIS success stories, please email them to me at technocation@umbc.edu.