Department of Finance & Administration
Mark Emkes, Commissioner

June 23, 2009

Since my last update to the “Director’s Corner” in 2008, OIR GIS Services has made advancements in several key areas including web development, data enhancements, and new partnerships.

First, one of the primary objectives over the past year was to improve the content and performance of the TNMap portal viewer. The release of the “Map Viewer” version 2.0 coincided with the TNGIC annual conference and is our primary mechanism to provide public access to our enterprise GIS data resources developed through the Tennessee Base Mapping Program. Using ESRI’s ArcGIS Server and the web.adf api, the “Map Viewer” reflects a significant improvement from the original interface and map content. The main improvements to this site are development of map caches which provides a much faster response time along with a much richer set of base map features. Additional improvements are planned for 2009 by means of publishing additional data layers that are part of the TNMap data library.

Leveraging the TNMap data to support agency business applications is another area where we’ve seen improvements. Over the past year, OIR GIS Services has developed applications for the Secretary of State and the Department of Economic and Community Development to promote visibility and public access to geospatial information. In the case of the Secretary of State, the public can now confirm their voter registration information, receive detailed information about poll locations and view a street level detailed map that displays the polling place. This tool provides a quick and easy method for the public, local election officials, and the State Division of Elections to minimize potential election day problems. In ECD, a need was identified to provide potential suppliers to the new VW plant in Chattanooga with a map showing available buildings and sites. OIR GIS Services created a map interface that links maps with site specific information to any potential VW supplier, increasing the likelihood of keeping jobs and new businesses in Tennessee.

In light of the federal government’s plan to stimulate the economy through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), OIR GIS Services is assisting with development of a GIS application to provide transparency in how ARRA dollars are allocated in Tennessee. The application is linked to the main recovery web site at: http://www.tnrecovery.gov/

Maintenance of the digital ortho imagery continues to be a significant priority at the State. OIR GIS Services has concluded its five year contract with Fugro EarthData and has partnered with the Department of Transportation, Aerial Survey Division to develop a maintenance plan for ortho imagery. The first phase of this partnership is developing updated ortho imagery for all of west Tennessee (TDOT region 4) in 2008 and middle Tennessee (TDOT region 3) in 2009. The following link provides a detailed map of the current production efforts: http://gis.state.tn.us/current_STATUS_map.pdf

-- Dennis Pedersen, Director OIR-GIS Services

Previous Entries:

March 6, 2008