Office of the Secretary |
Contact: Joan
Moody
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 14, 2004 |
202-208-6416
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New
Geospatial Website Tool Helps Track and Respond to Hurricane Ivan
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As Hurricane Ivan roars toward the southeastern United States, a new web tool is helping state agencies, news media and relief organizations track the hurricane's course and effects and deliver emergency services. The website, www.Geodata.gov, combines digital mapping data from 26,000 federal, state and private sources to help policy makers with quick emergency decisions. "This is the first time all of this information has been put together in one place and made readily accessible via the internet," says Lynn Scarlett, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Policy, Management and Budget. "Decision makers can examine a national map in concert with real time weather, use stream-gauging tools to assess which streams are approaching flood stage and get one-stop access to sources of emergency help. These resources from federal and state governments enable them to respond quickly to emergencies--protecting lives, property and infrastructure," Scarlett notes. Launched in June 2003, Geodata.gov operated during Hurricane Isabel a year ago and during the two previous hurricanes that battered the southeastern states this season. Since then, much information has been added to this on-line gateway for helping governments provide round-the-clock information crucial to emergency response. Geodata.gov, the "one-stop"
portal for the Geospatial One-Stop E-government initiative, has a Hurricane
Ivan channel on which it has quickly compiled and posted links to web
sites, maps and information from numerous government sources on the
impact of Hurricane Ivan as it approaches. GeoData.gov was developed
as part of the Geospatial One-Stop project, one of the president's 24
government-wide E-Gov initiatives. The Geospatial One-Stop initiative
is making it easier, faster and less expensive to find, share and access
geospatial information across all levels of government, reducing wasteful
spending and redundant investments, and providing the tools for greater
intergovernmental partnerships on key policy issues such as emergency
response, homeland security, environmental protection and economic development. Geospatial information allows
first responders to quickly analyze an incident and coordinate their
responses whether the events are human tragedies, hurricanes along the
Atlantic Coast or wildfires in the West.
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