Geospatial Mapping of the Coastal Communities of Alabama

40 Auburn University Students Collect Infrastructure Facilities Data in Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, &

Dauphin Island during Jan.-July 2010Project Duration: 2009-2011

Presentation to Campus Technology, 7/20/2010

EDA Grant #: G004824

Problem Statement Hurricane storm surge

and wash of sand and debris inland frustrates clean-up effort

Heavy Equipment damages fixtures covered by debris and sand

$9 billion spent by federal government in mitigation efforts since 1998

50% or more of the damage inflicted on critical utilities during the clean-up effort

Current ConditionEach utility company

has print or electronic maps in different formats

Little coordination during clean-up effort

No information sharing system in place to deliver plans to clean-up personnel

AU-EDA Project GoalsProblem Benchmark / Goal

There is no regional model of infrastructure data sharing among multiple partners in coastal regions.

•Identify issues related to data storage, sharing, and security•Sign MOAs with cities & utilities

Critical community infrastructure data needs to be collected, stored and backed up as new buildings, roads, and utilities are installed.

• Collect & store infrastructure data from multiple partners in the Alabama coastal community• Upload data to Virtual Alabama

During a disaster, ad-hoc facilities and practices often bypass physical and access controls used under normal operations.

•Identify members of recovery team• Retrieve stored data effectively•Train members of the recovery team on effective use of the GIS data• Mark infrastructure elements right after a disaster

Scope of Project: Alabama Coastal Area

Project Team: Two year project

David Mixson, Walker Jackson P.K. Raju

Chetan S Sankar, Amit Mitra, Luke Marzen

Barry CumbieSteve Henderson, Diane Brown

Training Provided to Students Prior to Being Deployed at Site

• Student workers were provided hands on training from team leaders on how to use the Topcon-GMS2 units

• Student workers were provided instruction manuals on the units to reference while working in their groups of two.

• Lastly, student workers were provided an icons list, so they could easily identify infrastructure elements while working on site.

Data Collection at Gulf Shores During Week One (Feb. 19-21)

Team leaders: Darrell Rigsby and Satish Kuchi Student Workers: (Team 3) Sarah Tway, Mark Stevenson, John Neubauer, Grant Martin

and Tim Ledlow(Team 5) Andy Dyer, David Rose, Michael Porter and John Davenport

Data Points Collected:605

Walking Miles Covered:4

Data Collection during Week Two (Feb. 26-28) at Gulf Shores

Team leaders: Darrell Rigsby, Satish Kuchi and Kati Jones Student workers:(Team1) Kanesha Belyue, Caitlin Duff, Carter Rice and Alex

Johnson(Team 4) Tyler Gibson, Grant Moore, Lauren McManus and Sara

Yousey(Team 6) Milaika Pickard, Drew Turner, Eric Hirstein and Satish

Kutchi

Data Points Collected:1592

Walking Miles Covered:9.16

Date Data Points Collected

Walking Miles

March 5–7 1950 10.5March 26-28 1692 9April 10-11 1914 11.02April 16-18 1355 9.85April 23-25 412 13.4

June 4-6 1041 11.06June 12-13 1100 10

Total 11,661 88

Similarly…….

Data Collected So far in the ProjectData Points Collected:11,661 Walking Miles : 88 Total

Manhours:540

Example of Collected DataLegend

!( Cable Pedestal

") Cable Box / Fiber Optic Box

XW Fiber Cable Misc

#* Cable / Fiber Test Box

GF Communications Manhole

!( Electric Power Pole

!. Electric Power Pole w/ Light

!5 Electric Light Pole

#* Electric Meter

") Electric Transformer

XW Electric Misc

#* Gas Valve

") Gas Meter

$+ Gas High Pressure Assembly

GF Gas Regulator

!( Sewer Manhole

") Sewer Pumping / Lift Station

GF Sewer Lateral

XW Sewer Misc

") Storm Water Grate Inlet

#* Storm Water Curb Inlet

!( Storm Water Yard Inlet

XW Storm Water Misc

") Phone Switching Station / Cabinet

!( Phone Pedestal

XW Phone Misc

GF Fire Hydrant

") Water Meter

#* Water Shutoff Valve

!( Backflow Preventer

GF Fire Department Connection

XW Water Misc

Streets and Parcels

Parcels

Future PlansData Collection in Bayou La

Batre, Dauphin IslandUpload data to Virtual AlabamaProvide data to city & utilitiesDevelop Recovery StrategiesDevelop training materialsTrain appropriate personnel on

use of GMS-2 units & retrieve data

Benefits: Student LearningStudents get to work with GIS

technologiesGive back to communityLearn ArcGIS and other

technologiesImprove communication skills Improve team working skillsEnhance leadership skillsStudents stated that they

understood goals and learned significantly

Heightened awareness of financial crisis that hurricanes can cause a community

Good Experience:◦Being responsible for a real world

project◦Using technical devices

Topcon GIS Unit Laser Unit

◦Learning to communicate as a team

Student Project Impressions

Student Project Impressions

Team members had a favorable impression of the experience

Team working skills improvedTeam members proud that our

work can be used to help the economy of coastal Alabama

Benefits: Advance Productivity, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship

40% of reconstruction costs can be eliminated if geospatial data are available on-line

Time to recover from damage is expected to be halved due to the availability of these data

Will make economic impact of this project very attractive

The concept of geospatial mapping of a coastal area is innovative;

Project team members learn to apply theories learned in class to solve a practical problem

Campus TechnologyHome PageCampus Technology Innovators

Questions & Contacts

• Chetan S. Sankar, Principal Investigator, sankacs@auburn.edu, 334 844 6504• David Mixson, ATAC, Co-PI, mixsoad@auburn.edu, 334 844 3887• Amit Mitra, Assoc. Dean, Co-PI, mitraam@auburn.edu, 334 844 4833• P.K. Raju, Co-PI, rajupol@auburn.edu, 334 844 3301• Barry Cumbie, Senior Investigator, Barry.Cumbie@usm.edu, 601-266-4648• Steve Henderson, GIS Coordinator, Gulf Shores, shenderson@gulfshoresal.gov,

(251) 968-1179• Luke Marzen, Senior Invesigator, marzelj@auburn.edu, (334) 844 3462