Department Of Interior

DOI News Header
Office of the Secretary
Contact: Joan Moody
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 14, 2004
202-208-6416
 
New Geospatial Website Tool Helps Track and Respond to Hurricane Ivan
 

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.
The Hurricane Ivan channel on the website, http://www.geodata.gov/gos, is a collaboration of federal agencies such as USGS, FEMA, NOAA, NASA and the States of Alabama, Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida and Mississippi, disaster response resources such as Disaster Help,another e-gov initiative, and private news sources.

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.

 

 

 

-DOI-


Selected News Releases