McMinn County did this one right. Planning in advance with GEO-Jobe, the McMinn Co
Assessors Office distributed invitations, got the local paper involved, and setup a open forum in the commission chambers for the unveiling of the new county GEOpowered website. Eighty people from various county and city agencies as well as local real estate professionals showed up to see how the system works and to hear a first hand report of the state of GIS in the County. I demonstrated the new interactive mapping site and described its benefits to the public in McMinn and surrounding counties.
Jeremy Brack kicks off the meeting.
Theron Hatch presents to the attendees
McMinn County, TN has joined the list of GEOpowered mapping sites in TN today. Spearheaded by Assessor of Property Don Cowart and GIS Manager Jeremy Brack, McMinn is providing an essential service to its County employees and also to the public within and around the County. The McMinn interactive GEOpowered mapping site will be introduced today at a big kick off party at the County Courthouse in Athens, TN @ 1pm eastern and is open to the public. The McMinn interactive GEOpowered mapping site will show property data including parcels and property attributes. Additional layers of information will include streets, highways, zoning, voting districts, floodplain, and more. You may visit the site by clicking here.
Washington, D.C.: In a report released last week measuring the economic impact of broadband, Tennessee stands to see a $2.4 billion economic impact from a modest increase in broadband adoption. The report, The Economic Impact of Stimulating Broadband Nationally, details the potential state-by-state impact of accelerated broadband access and use. Its findings suggest that the U.S. could realize an impact of $134 billion annually from increased broadband adoption.
“Broadband information highways are becoming as important as four-lane highways,” according to State Senator Roy Herron (24th district). “To keep the jobs we have today and to grow jobs tomorrow, our rural areas must have fast and full broadband access.”
According to the report, broadband expansion and adoption in Tennessee can expect to:
- Create over 49,000 jobs
- Create more than $1.6 billion in direct income growth
- Save Tennesseans roughly $13 million in average healthcare costs
- Save residents more than $130 million in annual gas mileage costs (teleworking, shopping online, etc.)
- Cut more than 66 million pounds in average annual CO2 emissions
The data collected in this report will help Connected Tennessee take steps to improve technology availability and adoption among Tennessee residents and businesses. Connected Tennessee’s mission is to close the digital divide in Tennessee by implementing programs to meet the five comprehensive goals of Governor Bredesen’s Trail to Innovation:
- Affordable broadband technology for all Tennessee
- Dramatically improved use of computers and the Internet by all Tennesseans
- The formation of eCommunity Leadership Teams in every county – local leaders who assemble to develop and implement technology growth strategies for local government, business and industry, education, healthcare, agriculture, libraries, tourism and community-based organizations
- A policy and regulatory framework that encourages continued investment in communications and information technologies year after year
- A meaningful online presence for all Tennessee communities to improve citizen services and promote economic development through e-government, virtual education and online healthcare
Tennessee continues to garner such attention following Connected Tennessee’s recent statewide broadband speed maps, highlighting download speeds available across the state – a first of its kind mapping initiative.
To read the report or see more data from the report, please visit www.connectedtennessee.org and click on the Economic Impact Study icon.
McMinn County, TN will soon join the list of GEOpowered mapping sites in TN. Spearheaded by Assessor of Property Don Cowart and GIS Manager Jeremy Brack, McMinn will soon provide an essential service to its County employees and also to the public within and around the County. The McMinn interactive GEOpowered mapping site will launch with fanfare on February 28th when GEO-Jobe will turn on the site at a big kick off party at the County Courthouse in Athens, TN.
The McMinn interactive GEOpowered mapping site will show property data including parcels and property attributes. Additional layers of information will include streets, highways, zoning, voting districts, floodplain, and more. The website address will be posted here soon as we get closer to the date.
On Tuesday, the Tennessee Geographic Information Council (TNGIC)Conference Committee released a draft of the upcoming 2008 TNGIC Conference to be held in Chattanooga, TN. The conference is only 5 weeks away, so check out the (draft) agenda and start making your reservations today. Early bird registration ends on March 1st so to receive the savings you will need to get registered before this date. Below is a small schedule of the events by date for the conference.
March 24-25th-Conference Training Class (ESRI instructor led class on Python Scripts)
March 25th Golf Tournament
March 25th Geo-Cache Event
March 25th Vendor Setup and Registration table open that afternoon
March 26-27th Conference at Chattanooga Convention Center
March 26th Casino Night and Riverboat Cruise on the Southern Belle
Click here for the 2008 Draft Agenda.
Be sure to drop by and visit GEO-Jobe GIS at Booth 1
ESRI recently announced they will be rolling out three new GIS courses following the release of ArcGIS 9.3 later this year. Per the ATP (Authorized Training Program) announcement sent out last Friday, the new ArcGIS courses will be replacing the Learning GIS using ArcGIS, Introduction to ArcGIS I and Introduction to ArcGIS II courses. All of which were developed for the ArcGIS 9.0 to 9.2 environments and have not seen much upgrading over the past few years during those respected ArcGIS releases. The new courses will be taking a slightly different approach to learning ArcGIS by introducing three levels focusing on learning GIS basics, ArcGIS Tools & Functionality and GIS Workflows. These courses will be offered in a 3 part series as ArcGIS Desktop I, ArcGIS Desktop II, and ArcGIS Desktop III and will be taught on the Windows Vista platform. I am hoping this approach will address much student feedback concerning class duration based on course content. I believe ESRI is on the right track by spreading these courses out and defining more clearly the content to be covered in each course. Classes are currently set to begin June 2, 2008 (subject to change) while ATP instructors, like myself, are meeting the additional requirements set-forth to begin offering the new classes locally. When we learn of a more official launch date you can count on us to spread the word.
My sister sent me these pictures of she and her husband riding their horses at the bottom of Lake Allatoona in northwest Georgia. I guess I didn’t realize how bad the drought is. I’ve been out on this lake before, but it had significantly more water than it does now. Now it’s not much more than a river bed running through dry land. Makes me think that plan for getting water from the Tennessee River and overlaying it with high speed rail to pay for it might not be such a bad idea after all.
Here is a map of current drought conditions which extends to states adjoining GA including southeast TN.
Found this Valentine’s Day Mashup from Google maps API Blog. With it you can create a 10,000 ft view engraving of your own personal sweet nothing to your favorite someone. It looks cool and tacky enough that I’m sure those not inclined to flowers and chocolates will find it a great alternative. Here are a couple of other sites to get your Valentines Day off to a good start.
GeoGreeting – Spell your message with letter-shaped buildings!
MapMsg – Send your message as a smoke signal!
Thanks to Pamela Fox at Google Maps API Team for finding these.
When you first saw the title you were probably thinking to yourself, “I didn’t realize they had come out with a GPS unit that small yet…” Sorry for the misunderstanding but there is still some truth to this article title. I had a very past due pest control bill with Terminix last month and went online to make a payment through their online payment website. When I arrived at the Terminix webpage, GIS thematic style maps hit me in the face like a brick wall. I’m thinking maps?, termites? , swarm activity?, huh??…This immediately caught my attention and I started to investigate the “2008 Termite Swarm 
Map“. The web-page reads, “the system identifies likely areas of Termite Swarming activity based on a number of important factors including historical data.”The maps also show 4 categories ranging from minor to peak times of swarm activity for the entire United States. Very interesting use of GIS, but wait, what are these important factors? and how were they collected. I need to know, I’m in too deep now. Was the data collected with a tiny GPS unit, developed by top secret military personnel, small enough to strap on a termite’s back? I don’t know, but for some very odd reason I’m past curious. Terminix should know that if GIS mapping people were ever to visit their website they would instantly start looking for the METADATA. We are all supposed to be filling that out anyway, right? If anyone has any insight into these maps, please feel free to post additional info. Maybe someone at Terminix can help us out?
Just checked the City of Lafayette, TN website and found that certain donations are still sorely needed.
Immediate Needs, February 11, 2008
The drop-off site is requesting donations of the following items:
- Cleaning Supplies
- Buckets
- Pillows
- Laundry Baskets
- Flour
- Corn Meal
- Sugar
- Cooking Oil
- Salt
All donations should be taken to the old Dollar General store, 505 Ellington Parkway, Lafayette. To get to the store, follow TN 52 to the 4-way stop sign by Tractor Supply Company. Turn north. Go 1/2 block. The drop-off store is right beside the new Dollar General Store on your left. This is across the street from the Lafayette post office. Google map.
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