Technical Resources

GIS - What's New

10/06/2009

NRCS-MI GIS Announcements

Downloading USDA-MI Section Maps

Users are reminded not to mass-download the USDA-MI Section Maps due to network performance issues. Viewing the maps online and/or saving individual maps (when necessary) is totally acceptable, but NRCS-MI staff who wish to keep a local copy of an entire county should contact Brent Stinson, NRCS State GIS Specialist.

Client Geodata Privacy

The confidentiality provisions in Section 1619 of the 2008 Farm Bill forbid NRCS from publishing or distributing any client-specific geospatial information without the client's written consent. NRCS National Bulletin 130.9.2 provides instruction to ensure that NRCS employees do not violate these provisions.

Examples of unacceptable geospatial data disclosure include, but are not limited to:

- Distributing any representation of a client's tract, field, or conservation practice information

- Public display of digitized field boundaries when the physical location is stated or can be determined

- Publishing land unit information, including tract numbers and acreage

- etc.

GIS Skill Builder Updates

In order to comply with the above-mentioned information disclosure policies of the 2008 Farm Bill, NRCS-MI GIS publications will no longer contain real-life scenarios. All existing NRCS-MI Skill Builders have been modified to exclude any references which could be interpreted as being in violation of NRCS geospatial data disclosure policies.

Users are asked to destroy all NRCS-MI Skill Builders which were printed and/or downloaded prior to 2/1/09.

Geodata Updates

2009 NAIP

Michigan will receive National Aerial Imagery Program (NAIP) photography for calendar year 2009. This ortho-quality, one meter resolution imagery is based on natural color, leaf-on photography collected during the summer months of 2009. It is anticipated that the imagery will be delivered within the next few months. Users will be notified when distribution is complete.

Michigan Framework

The State of Michigan Center for Geographic Information (CGI) Framework version 9b has been distributed to all field office servers. Framework data includes transportation, hydrography, government units, etc.

35mm Slide Scanning

We have completed 40 counties to date, with additional counties underway. This imagery consists of all of the available FSA 35mm compliance slides for each county, often dating back to the late 1970's. These slides are critical to the NRCS wetland determination process and are being digitally captured to prevent further deterioration Those interested in acquiring scanned 35mm slide data should contact Brent Stinson, NRCS State GIS Specialist.

35mm Imagery Status Map

Software Updates

NRCS-MI ArcMap Tools

Due to limitations of the nationally-mandated Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC) standard, end-users are no longer permitted to load the NRCS-MI Tools ArcMap utilities. The tools may only be installed by International Technology Services (ITS) staff with administrative privileges. Existing installations will not be affected, but new installations, (and re-installations), must be performed by ITS staff.

ArcMap Service Packs

ITS has upgraded all NRCS-MI computers to a minimum configuration of ArcGIS 9.2, Service Pack 5 (SP5). Additionally, all computers which are not running Customer Service Toolkit have been upgraded to Arc SP6. No national decision has been made to approve Arc SP6 for installation on Toolkit computers, but it is hoped that it will be approved in the near future. A complete list of SP6 improvements may be found in this announcement on ESRI's website.

Training Updates

ESRI Virtual Campus

USDA has renewed the Virtual Campus agreement with ESRI, allowing continued access to self-paced, online, GIS training courses. The location of the website for NRCS personnel to use in signing up for an online course is now located at the NEDC website at: http://www.nedc.nrcs.usda.gov/catalog/ESRIVirtualCampus.html

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