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Introduction Email

Welcome one and all.

This email initiates an effort to manage the NPS use of ESRI Internet-based products (ArcIMS & ArcSDE) and includes two groups of folk: 1) those working with ArcIMS or ArcSDE and 2) those who participated in previous ArcIMS or ArcSDE discussions and reviews (see Group Members below). Joe Gregson and I were designated by the GISC (http://www.nps.gov/gis/gis_program/gis_council.html) as group leaders.

Today, anyone can create a geodatabase (GDB), but development of a GDB that has relevance and meets NPS needs both inside and outside of park boundaries is not a trivial task. In the same vein, anyone can use ArcIMS to create an Internet application, but without adequate data standards and design consistency, our scarce development resources may be wasted. To prevent fragmentation and duplicate efforts, we need to work together to define NPS Internet mapping and data attribute standards and to develop supporting tools, procedures, and methodologies. We also need to work within the guidelines of NPS policy (including: security, web practices, bandwidth constraints, etc.).,/P>

The GISC discussed the following tasks as starting topics for the ArcIMS/SDE group to address:

  • An enterprise IMS/SDE development path with action items.
  • A Review & Approval process for IMS & SDE licensing and implementations (see previous IMS/SDE requirements at http://www.nps.gov/gis/contracts/documents/IMSSDECALL.doc) that includes System Life Cycle (SLC) management and GIS data standards approval.

Currently, several NPS locations have ArcIMS (16) or ArcSDE (10) (see License Holders section below), but how do we manage these to minimize redundancy and wasted efforts?

  • One option is to look at utilizing some existing efforts as pilot projects (VAFO for ArcIMS as an example)
  • Other important considerations (from NPS WWW team):
    • DOI push for consolidation of WWW servers/services (IMS is a web service)
    • New NPS Internet domain names will be difficult to get approved (e.g., xyz.nps.gov)
    • NPS data and applications need to be deployed from NPS servers (some wiggle room)

In the development of Internet mapping services, there are three basic working areas (see http://www.nps.gov/gis/maps/imc/ for more information):

  • Data requirements, definitions, and acquisition
  • Application functional analysis, development, and deployment
  • Interface design and implementation
NOTE: this is a starting point not a robust site ... yet!

Included below are several diagrams illustrating ESRI.s ArcIMS/SDE general architecture, the conceptual architecture for the NPS, and a generalized data view across the NPS organization. Also, in addition to a website for posting and review of common documents (http://www.nps.gov/gis/maps/imc/) there are three discussion listservs located on webmail.itc.nps.gov: gisdata, gisdev, and gisdesign (we may add gisdev2, as the ArcGIS desktop developers are currently using gisdev).

To wrap up, we need to have a kick-off meeting to discuss this wide range of topics, determine working relationships, and start making progress on this important task. Suggested telecom dates are May 11, 13, 18, and/or 20. Please let me know your availability and what days would work best for a regular meeting (i.e., day of month).

Thanks in advance for you participation.

David Duran                     Joe Gregson
National Park Service         National Park Service
12795 W. Alameda Pkwy    1849 C St., NW
Denver, CO 80225-0287     Fort Collins, CO 80525
303-969-2176                  970-225-3559
303-987-6782 (FAX)          970-225-3585 (FAX)

GROUP MEMBERS (??? means they were no in the Lotus Names Directory)
AKRO George Dickison/AKSO/NPS, John Pinamont/AKSO/NPS, Greg Daniels/AKSO/NPS
   GLBA Bill Eichenlaub/GLBA/NPS
   YUGA Doug Wilder/YUGA/NPS
CR John Knoerl/WASO/NPS, James Stein/Contractor/NPS
FIRE Ed Delaney/NIFC/NPS
HFC T Patterson/HFC/NPS
IMRO Theresa Ely/DENVER/NPS, Paul Voris/DENVER/NPS, Douglas Bradley/DENVER/NPS
   GRCA Steven Mietz/GRCA/NPS, Eric Gdula/GRCA/NPS
   YELL Ann Rodman/YELL/NPS, Ben Dorsey/YELL/NPS
LANDS Roger M Johnson/FTCOLLINS/NPS, Jeannie Whitler/NCR/NPS@NPS
MWRO Peter Budde/Omaha/NPS
   CUVA Anthony Gareau/CUVA/NPS
   Great Lakes Network Ulf Gafvert/GLKN/NPS
NCRO Tammy Stidham/NCR/NPS
   PRWI Brian Carlstrom/DENVER/NPS@NPS
NERO Nigel Shaw/Boston/NPS, Patti Dienna/PHILADELPHIA/NPS
   DEWA Craig Thompson/DEWA/NPS
   GETT Curt Musselman/GETT/NPS
   VAFO David Seguin/VAFO/NPS@NPS, "Jim VanOstenbridge"
NR Joe Gregson, Lisa L Nelson/FTCOLLINS/NPS@NPS, Tom Dotts/DENVER/NPS, Danelle Malget/Partner/NPS, Tim Connors/DENVER/NPS@NPS
PWRO Craig Dalby/Seattle/NPS, Melia Lane-Kamahele/Honolulu/NPS
   GOGA Craig Scott/GOGA/NPS, ???Andrew Bley, ???Tom Elliott
   MORA Darin Swinney/MORA/NPS
   OLYM Roger Hoffman/OLYM/NPS, Dan Campbell/OLYM/NPS
   REDW David Best/REDW/NPS
   SEKI Pat Lineback/SEKI/NPS
SERO Crista Carroll/Atlanta/NPS
   EVER Darrell Tidwell/EVER/NPS, Troy Mullins/EVER/NPS, ???David LaPuma
WASO David Duran/DENVER/NPS, Carl Chitwood/WASO/NPS, Tom Davies/PHILADELPHIA/NPS, Ken Handwerger/Contractor/NPS@NPS, Tim Cash/WASO/NPS@NPS
MISC bill_slocumb@ncsu.edu, hugh_devine@ncsu.edu

License holders
ArcIMS: AKRO, CCSO, CR, CUVA, DEWA, EVER, GOGA, GRCA, IMRO, MORA, NCRO, NR (ARD, NRSS), REDW, SEKI, WASO, YELL
ArcSDE: AKRO, EVER, GRCA, MORA, NR (ARD, NRSS), OLYM, REDW, WASO, YELL

ESRI Architecture

NPS Architecture

Generalized Data View
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