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Project Goal

In 2002, the Indiana Geological Survey, working in partnership with the Indiana Department of Transportation and Bernardin, Lochmueller and Associates, Inc., began compiling a GIS for the state of Indiana by assembling geospatial information from many different sources showing economic and environmental resources, geologic hazards, and political, cultural, recreational, and historical features. An IMS site, referred to as "A GIS Atlas for Indiana" (http://igs.indiana.edu/GISatlas), was created to provide public access to the GIS.

As of June 2005, approximately 224 layers of information, representing more than 650 gigabytes of data, were available to the public through the Atlas. All the data—including metadata for vector layers that are fully compliant with FGDC standards—are easily downloaded from a central repository. In order to assist novice users of the interactive map, many demonstrations have been given at conferences and workshops, and a customized tutorial for the site was created and distributed on CD-ROM, as well as through links on the Web site. Activity on the IMS site is doubling each year, and direct contacts by e-mail and telephone indicate that the site is being used for a wide variety of purposes.

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Business Problem Solved

The GIS Atlas for Indiana—a cooperative project of the Indiana Geological Survey, the Indiana Department of Transportation, and Bernardin, Lochmueller and Associates, Inc.—provides the public with the ability to more freely and easily access information that was previously available from many disparate sources, including unpublished reports and databases.

The Indiana Department of Transportation and its consultants use the Atlas to help avoid or minimize many impacts to the human and natural environment that potentially could be caused by transportation projects.

Members of the public, as well as consultants, academics, and representatives of government and the business community, are now able to readily view many different combinations of data according to their specific needs for transportation analysis, environmental planning, and economic development.

Technology Implemented

The GIS Atlas for Indiana is an Intel-based Web site being served by the Indiana Geological Survey. The primary Web server utilizes Windows 2003 Server, ColdFusion 6.1, New Atlanta ServeletExec 5.0, and ArcIMS 9.0 (2 instances). A second spatial server for load balancing utilizes Windows 2003 Server, New Atlanta Servelet Exec 5, and ArcIMS 9.0 (6 instances). The ArcSDE server utilizes Windows 2003 Server, Microsoft SQL Server 2000, and ESRI ArcSDE 9.0. Custom Javascript code was developed to enhance out-of-the-box HTML viewer tools and to add new functionality, including zoom to location, add text or markers, download raster data, bookmarks, and folder-based table of contents. In the past year this site has logged more than 500,000 user sessions.

Development Team Biography

Indiana Geological Survey, Indiana University

Chris Dintaman, Geologist and GIS Analyst. Provides GIS content with FGDC-compliant metadata and conducts public outreach.

Kathy Griffin, Computer Support Specialist. Provides server support and installs software upgrades and patches.

Denver Harper, Geologist and GIS Analyst. Coordinates the project, develops GIS and other content, and conducts public outreach.

Rick Hill, Manager of Technology Transfer Section. Manages the information systems infrastructure.

Paul Irwin, GIS/Database Analyst. Administers ArcSDE.

John Steinmetz, Director. Project director.

Chris Walls, ArcIMS Administrator and GIS consultant. Develops and deploys enterprise GIS solutions and conducts public outreach.

Alex Zlotin, GIS Consultant. Develops desktop and IMS applications, specializes in geodatabase design, ArcObjects development, and ArcIMS HTML viewer customization.


Bernardin, Lochmueller and Associates, Inc.

Cinda Bonds, GIS Analyst. Provides GIS content.

David Isley, Director of Environmental Studies. Coordinates the project and conducts public outreach.

Neal Schroeder, Environmental GIS Manager. Provides GIS content and conducts public outreach.


Indiana Department of Transportation

Janice Osadczuk, Production Management/Environmental Services Manager. Indiana Department of Transportation. Project Adminstrator.

Michael Wood, Graphics Engineering Manager, Division of System Technology. Reviews data layers before publication.