News

Celebrating GIS Day and Geography Awareness Week

At West Florence and South Florence High School

We are excited to announce that the 2015 GIS Day and Geography Awareness Week celebration will take place at West Florence High School and South Florence High School this year. GISDayCartoon2015

The Florence County GIS department is in its 8^th year of supporting GIS in Education by introducing GIS concepts to students from the fifth grade on up, as well as becoming involved in school events which allow opportunities for outreach in the community. This year we will focus on questions such as, “What does GIS mean to me?” and “Why is this important to know?” and will be using an interactive presentation designed with activities to engage students in thinking spatially.

On November 19^th Lorelei Kelly-Guiles, and Reginald O. Sanders II from the Florence County GIS Department will visit West Florence High School located at 221 N Beltline Dr. Florence SC 29501. Mr. Sellers invited them to talk to his three human geography classes which include 80 students. Following that on November 20^th, 23^rd, and 24^th, Principal Carol Hill requested a presentation for the ninth and tenth graders at South Florence High School, located at 3200 S. Irby St. Florence, SC. Over 700 students plan to be in attendance

November 13, 2015 0

Tripp Corbin elected URISA President Elect

TrippC eGIS Associates would like to congratulate our very own, Tripp Corbin, on being elected as URISA’s President-Elect along with all the other newly elected board members including Keri Brennan, Stephen Barry and Corey Halford.

Tripp Corbin will serve as President-Elect for one year and his term as President will begin at the conclusion of the 2016 conference in Toronto. He is looking forward to leading the organization. “I am truly humbled to have been elected to this position. There are many challenges facing our industry and URISA. I look forward to working with my fellow board members, URISA’s staff and most importantly, our members, in facing these challenges and setting the course to meet them. Thank you once again for the trust you have placed in me. ”

For more information about URISA and to join go to http://www.urisa.org/.

August 31, 2015 0

SC GIS Datum Shift Feedback Request

In 2022, National Geodetic Survey will go to a new datum that will be geometric and geopotential. It will be geocentric, satellite based, and not based on the existing national monument system. It will also incorporate velocities in some fashion.

Matt Wellslager, Director of the South Carolina Geodetic Survey is seeking feedback from the various stakeholders that use the datum system, surveyors, SCDOT, the GIS community in general and county tax mappers in particular.

Your feedback is solicited for the following questions:

1) Does South Carolina still need a State Plane Coordinate System? (NGS is looking at options regarding the continued support for state plane coordinate systems. Considerations are to adopt a low distortion projection. This would be done in an attempt to reduce the difference between ground and grid values.)

2) If so, should the current values for the current State Plane System be preserved? (This means that Northing and Easting would remain the same and the underlying Lat and Longs would shift with the change in the datum, and would continue to shift over time with the accumulation of velocity.)

3) If the State Plane System values should shift with the new datum, should it be a big shift or a small shift? (The new Lat Longs will shift on the order of 1.5 meters initially, and then have a westward velocity of around 1.5 cm/year. If the State Plane coordinates just shift with the Lat and Longs, then they will only be about 1.5 meters from their current values. Some folks argue for a larger shift, since the originating Northing and Easting is an arbitrary value, anyway.)

Regardless of what we want the State Plane system to do, elevations will change, downward .25 meters in South Carolina, which coincidentally, puts us back to elevations very close to the 1929 NGVD.

This is a chance for South Carolina Surveyors’ opinions to be heard when a report is made to NGS before the end of the year. Please respond to matt.wellslager@rfa.sc.gov with your comments and I will compile them in the next couple of weeks.

March 27, 2015 0

Moto 360 Winner!

George Davis with Pee Dee Electric Coop — Winner George Davis of Pee Dee Electric Coop with Chris Bradshaw of Bradshaw Consulting

Congratulations to George Davis, winner of the Moto 360!

February 18, 2015 0

Moore Farms Botanical Garden – Plant Recorder

Job Summary:

To manage all aspects of the plant records, including the plant database, mapping and GIS.

Responsibilities:

Maintain accurate plant records in the Filemaker Pro database by entering new accessions, de-accessions, notes, images, sources and other data updates.
Update mapping by surveying new plants, beds, structures, pathways, facilities, utilities, etc. with GPS equipment.
Perform plant inventories.
Create all necessary labels for plants in the collection. Assists with installation of labels.
Research and verify plant names.
Create new fields, architecture and relationships in the database as needed.
Maintain and update GIS.
Remain current on all new technology and software relating to plant records management.
Work with contractors, consultants and temporary employees, and aid in supervision and training of interns.
With managerial approval, source, procure and purchase office supplies, hardware, software, and other materials and equipment.
Serve as the organizational resource for providing information on the living collections by providing training, instruction, updates and reports.
Other duties as assigned.

Education and experience:

Bachelorʼs degree in Computer Science, Horticulture, Plant Science, Geography or related field or any other equivalent combination of training, skills and experience.

Preferred: Previous professional experience with databases, GIS and botanical gardens and arboreta. Knowledge of common landscape plants of the southeast.

Physical/Mental requirements:
Ability to lift 30 lbs. Ability to operate standard office equipment.

Willingness and ability to perform some work outside in all weather conditions. Ability to carry, climb, push, stoop, reach, dig and to load and unload various objects. Strong organizational skills and ability to keep accurate and detailed records. Ability to develop, manage and coordinate multiple activities and projects. Must possess a valid South Carolina driver’s license or be willing to obtain one.

Working conditions:
Office work, with time spent working outside collecting data and conducting inventories. Summers are hot and humid with exposure to biting insects and occasional poison ivy.

Compensation:
This is a full time exempt position with a competitive salary commensurate with experience. Benefits include medical coverage, paid vacation, holidays, sick leave, etc.

About the garden:
Moore Farms Botanical Garden is a nonprofit organization set on over 500 acres near Lake City, South Carolina. The garden is cultivated on 50 acres and is a dynamic mix of formal, naturalistic and agrarian landscapes. Garden areas include a formal garden, vegetable garden, green roof, turf farm, muscadine vineyard, pond gardens, formal shrub borders, and a greenhouse and nursery. Other land use includes agriculture, forestry and wildlife habitat. We are currently in a period of growth in both our horticultural displays and programming. This is a very exciting time to be part of the MFBG team. Please visit our website at moorefarmsbg.org to learn more.

Qualified candidates should submit a cover letter and resume to Ethan Kauffman at ekauffman@moorefarmsbg.org.

November 20, 2014 0

2015 NCGIS Conference

“Mobile and Global”

http://ncgisconference.com

“From an ‘outsider’s perspective,’ when you look at the numbers, the consistency and reputation of the NC GIS Conference, it is by far the best state conference in the entire country.”
• Wendy Nelson, Executive Director of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA)

Plan to attend the best state conference for GIS professionals! More than 1,000 people attended in 2013. The 2015 North Carolina GIS Conference will return to the Raleigh Convention Center. This first rate facility, a revitalized downtown, and the Sheraton Raleigh Hotel will add to your conference experience.

NCGIS2015 will feature topics that give you information needed to increase your GIS know-how. Learn about refreshed data resources, see demonstrations of new apps, gain exposure to emerging technologies, and become familiarized about the relationship between GIS and the development of public policy. NCGIS2015 will provide you with what you need to make a positive impact on GIS within your organization.

Visit the website for details. A preliminary program will be posted soon. No paper preliminary programs or forms will be mailed.

Quick Facts

Conference Registration for February 26-27:

$150; $175 after February 3
Full-time student: $35

Hotel: Sheraton Raleigh Hotel – Call 800.325.3535 and mention NC GIS Conference for a special rate for singles/doubles. Or use the online reservation link.

CURISA Workshops, February 25, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm: Sheraton Hotel Register online – $125 CURISA members; $165 non-members; $185 after February 3

Exhibitors: Visit the website or contact David Giordano, david.giordano@nc.gov

Questions? See http://ncgisconference.com or contact CGIA:
info.ncgisconference@its.nc.gov, 919.754.6580

November 19, 2014 0

Free SC Hazards Data and a Grant

All:

We recognize that many of you are operating under constrained budgets and we have worked hard to ensure that we continue to support emergency management planning and decision making in the state. The South Carolina Emergency Management Division has been very supportive of our efforts and has made it possible to make much of our data and analysis available to you.

It has come to our attention that some GIS and Emergency Management professionals are not aware that all of our SHELDUS® and Integrated Hazard Assessment Data (IHAT) for the state of South Carolina have always been ABSOLUTELY FREE and will continue to be free for those users working on projects in-state.

Users can download any amount of SC SHELDUS data after creating a free account at www.sheldus.org. If you encounter an issue with downloading SHELDUS® data please contact either Melanie Gall (gallm@mailbox.sc.edu) or me (emrich@mailbox.sc.edu) and we will help you out.

You can download any of the data from IHAT to use in your own GIS at http://webra.cas.sc.edu/hvri/ihat/index.html by clicking on the Resource tab on the right side of the screen and selecting one of the links under Data Download.

In addition, the following mapping and analysis resources are available to you free of charge

Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI®) – www.sovius.org
Integrated Hazard Assessment Tool (IHAT) –http://webra.cas.sc.edu/ihat/default.aspx
Mapping platform – http://webra.cas.sc.edu/hvri/ihat/index.html
County Loss assessment – http://webra.cas.sc.edu/ihat/losses.aspx
County Hazard Frequency Assessment –http://webra.cas.sc.edu/ihat/frequency.aspx

All of the SHELDUS and IHAT data, including symbology packages are housed on SCEMD’s ftp server. That data also has unique IDs for each county so that those with GIS expertise can quickly create maps for your areas of interest. Please contact the State Hazard Mitigation Officer – Katie Norris – knorris@emd.sc.gov for credentials to this space.

Do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.

Chris Emrich

Associate Director &

Associate Research Professor

Hazards & Vulnerability Research Institute

Department of Geography

University of South Carolina

803.777.1591 (d)

803.777.4972 (f)

October 29, 2014 1