Hurricane Katrina & Rita Maps, Imagery, weblogs, and more for the GIS user
Written by Glenn Letham (GISuser editor)
01 September 2005
The GIS & Geospatial user community has responded in a big way to the recovery and clean-up efforts of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. In an effort to help keep you informed, we've compiled some areas of interest to the GISuser and will update this page as needed. You'll find useful pointers to satellite imagery and gis data, details of our expanded map/photoblog, and a complete archive of relevant news items and other important announcements.
Satellite Imagery, GIS data sources, & Image Archives - if you require data or imagery these are some fine resources and portals available for your use.
ESRI Hurricane Katrina Viewer - The viewer shows a variety of data and imagery for the affected areas and the southeastern U.S.
ESRI Data & Resources - loads of pointers to maps, GIS data, and more that is useful in GIS work for the affected areas
USGS Imagery - Before and after satellite imagery of Biloxi, MS and New Orleans, LA
USGS - Hurricane Katrina Photographs August 30, 2005
Google Earth KMLs - The Google Earth team is working on adding imagery of the impact of Hurricane Katrina. We will be posting links to this imagery for viewing as "image overlays" in Google Earth
NOAA - more than 350 images (aerial photos) collected along the Gulf Coast - post-Katrina
Space Imaging - Some imagery of Mobile, Alabama captured August 30, 2005
GlobeXplorer - before and after imagery from Boloxi, MS and New Orleans LA
Louisiana Atlas - Loads of GIS data products including some 1500 new DOQQs (added July 2005)
The Texas Natural Resources Information System (TNRIS), a Division of the Texas Water Development Board, is the state's clearinghouse for maps, aerial photos, and digital natural resources data. TNRIS also serves as a distribution center for U.S. Geological Survey maps and has numerous other map collections available for in-house use or reproduction.
LAGIC was established by the Louisiana GIS Council (LGISC) and the Louisiana Office of E-Services to facilitate the distribution of geographic information, provide technical assistance, and support GIS data development among state, federal, and local government.
ESRI's Hurricane Katrina Web Mapping App - A new Web app, the Hurricane Katrina Disaster Viewer, is now available from ESRI to provide detailed information about areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina. The site allows the public, emergency responders, relief organizations, and others to locate an address or zoom to areas of interest and view areas declared "damaged" by FEMA, affected delivery areas for the U.S.
Feature Article - GIS and GISCorps Respond to Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi - Talbot J. Brooks, Director, Center for Interdisciplinary Geospatial Information Technologies, Delta State University worked within MEMA, FEMA, and the rest of the alphabet soup to start GIS at the Jackson Emergency Operations Center. According to Brooks, the GISCorps call for help came at his request. He has graciously shared his story of Hurricane Katrina, the role GIS played in the response, and the 27 August - 6 September time period.... in his words... he was "there". Read on for a look at the response, some Q & A's, and example maps and images from the URISA GIScorps in Mississippi.
GIS / Geospatial News & PR Announcements relating to hurricane response, rescue, and recovery
Many companies have issued PR about their response. Lizardtech has no official news, however, like many other companies in our industry, they have responded.
LizardTech has donated licenses of its GeoExpress with MrSID® software to agencies involved in ongoing relief efforts in New Orleans as a result of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation. These agencies are using GeoExpress to convert massive datasets from raw format to LizardTech’s industry standard MrSID format in support of other agencies that require analysis or survey of areas within the region affected by the disaster. In assisting ATMOS Energy Louisiana, GE Energy acquired approximately a terabyte (a thousand gigabytes) of georeferenced aerial imagery of the region, which it is rushing to convert to MrSID format so that it can be viewed in conjunction with New Orleans’ utility and infrastructure data, which in turn will enable ATMOS to efficiently run valve isolation on its gas mains. The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is using GeoExpress to compress satellite imagery from various commercial and military sources so that it can be used in GIS applications on laptops and other mobile devices in the field for "before and after" analysis of the affected areas.
Using our flickr account, we've been storing a number of useful maps, imagery, graphs, and other scenes of interest. Many have pointers to additional data and information. This resource has seen huge traffic and has been constantly growing. We hope you find it useful.
Some maps and images of interest:
This image is worth 1,000 words! Vertical profile shows where the city of New Orleans is positioned relative to Lake Ponchaltrain and the Mississippi River (Source: flhurricane.com)
This image was created using Google Earth's 3D perspective tilt. The hack was linked from www.googleearthhacks.com. It shows imagery and flooding around the dome on imagery from NOLA.
Map of the Louisiana petroleum resources (submitted by site user)
Top iPhone related GIS and Geo Tech news stories from 2009 - At the end of the year its always interesting for us to look at some of the stats and results to identify trends and more important, to see what our readers think is hot! In the "news" category it seems that iPhone related geo tech items were extremely popular.
Geo Social Location Checkin to Twitter from iPhone - With the cool SXSW event taking place Austin, TX, everyone who's anyone in social and social location seems to have rolled out updates this week, making your choice for how to check-in to your social media bookmarks even tougher to decide on!
10 Awesome GIS and Mapping apps for the iPhone - I recall last year at the ESRI UC when an iPhone was on stage showing a prototype app (think ArcPad on iPhone). It was then that I realized the iPhone platform is going to be BIG in mapping and there's a ton of opportunity for developers.
Nokia Booklet 3G, unboxing video and image gallery... Those of you in the USA who pop in to BestBuy occasionally, you may have seen a stand showing off the Nokia Booklet 3G. A sleek, 3G enabled, SIM slot (AT&T) sporting netbook.
Interesting Tweeple - 10 Geo Technology & Geo-Social Women of Twitter - given the growing love for geospatial and location-aware technologies, I’ve decided to hype 10 women that I feel make a significant contribution to the Geo-Twittersphere. If you’d like to add 10 knowledgeable and useful Twitter contacts to your Geo following list I highly suggest the following: (in no particular order)
10 Geo Social Location-Aware Apps Making Waves... With Twitter's opening of their location API to developers there's going to be a ton of third party apps that will enable Twitter users to share location-aware information via their Twitter accounts.
Signs that indicate you may be a GeoGeek (aka. GeoNerd) and some suggested Geo blogs - Chances are good that if you are a Geo Geek then you already know it and likely refer to yourself as one. However, there’s many of you out there that may be on the fence and wondering… “am I a Geo Geek?" Read on for a comprehensive list of signs you might be a GeoGeek followed up by some suggested Geoblog reading.
Real-time GPS Mapping and GIS Solution Aids Efficient Disaster Management - Saturday, February 7, 2009 will forever be known as Black Saturday in the State of Victoria, Australia. In the midst of a 10-year drought, a record breaking heat wave descended upon the state, with temperatures exceeding 45 degrees C (110-120 deg F), breaking all-time record highs in some cities - Victoria Police Use Trimble Juno SC Handhelds to Speed Assessment of Damage Caused by Bush Fires.
2010 ESRI Federal User Conference February 17-19, 2010, Washington D.C. Walter E. Washington Convention Center - The FedUC is the largest geospatial conference for federal agencies. Connect with other leaders, decision makers, and GIS professionals.
The International LiDAR Mapping Forum 2010 - Tenth Anniversary Event! ILMF 2010 will be held from March 3 - 5, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency in Denver at Colorado Convention Center.
The NAVTEQ 2010 Global LBS Challenge Awards Ceremony will be held during Ignite at O'Reilly Where 2.0. Be among the first to hear as NAVTEQ announces the winners for the North America region. Participants will be competing for a global prize pool of $10 million and growing by showcasing pre-commercial location-enabled apps using NAVTEQ map data & products. March 30, 2010, during Ignite Where, 7:30pm - 9:00pm, at the Marriott San Jose, CA
WHERE2.0 2010 - Now in its sixth year, the Where 2.0 Conference is where the grassroots and leading edge developers building location-aware technology intersect with the businesses and entrepreneurs seeking out location apps, platforms, and hardware to gain a competitive edge. For 15% use Discount Code: whr10lbs
If you've created a map, have a useful data resource to share, of simply want to share some information, please 
See more 
