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Natural Resources
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o Agriculture
o Archaeology
o Environmental Management
o Forestry
o Marine and Coast
o Mining and Earth Science
o Petroleum
o Pipeline
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o The Role of
GIS in Agriculture
The study of geographic features and the relationship between
them, can be applied to all agriculture sectors.
By better understanding how features within the landscape
interact, decision makers can optimize efficiency and improve
economic returns. Regardless of scale, whether at the subfield
level analyzing crop yield information or internationally
assisting governmental organizations with commodity subsidy
programs, GIS will become commonplace in the information technologies
domain.
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GIS Solutions
for Agriculture:
Business decisions for the agriculture industry can be derived
from the spatial analysis tools embedded in GIS. Software
includes ArcGIS and ArcView 3.x
and their associated software extensions—ArcGIS
Spatial Analyst, ArcGIS
Geostatistical Analyst, and ArcView Image
Analysis. These extensions provide the farm manager
the tools to interpolate data surfaces from point information,
calculate the probability of certain agronomic events such
as unfavorable climatic events, and incorporate satellite
data concerning land use or live weather reports. ArcPad
allows you to collect and organize real-time data from field
observations and create specific forms that reduce field worker
error.
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GIS and Production Agriculture:
At a grassroots level, GIS offers farmers various opportunities
to increase production, reduce input costs, and manage the land
in their care more efficiently. From handheld computer mapping
in the field to the scientific analysis of production data at
the farm manager's office, geography plays a part. These examples
of applications of GIS at the farm level are meant to provide
users, both experienced and inexperienced, with some ideas for
implementation
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Data Collection in the Field:
Farmers and others involved in agricultural production at the
field level, through firsthand knowledge, often have great insight
into how best to manage a farm's natural resources. While never
being able to replace such expert knowledge, technology is certainly
able to assist in the planning and implementation of important
decisions related to land management. In order to make the right
decision, farmers need to have the best information at hand,
often in the field. Geographic data has for many years been
created, used, and delivered only in the office. Now, new technology
in computing allows the farmer to take the power of GIS into
the field. ArcPad software can be used on handheld computers
in the field for the creation, visualization, and querying of
data.
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Handheld GIS solutions such as ArcPad loaded
on the Compaq iPAQ, shown below, provide farmers with the ability
to look at images of their fields while they are actually standing
in them. Editing capabilities provide the farmer with the ability
to map various crop growing stresses found within a field such
as pest infestations, nutrient deficiencies, and water shortages.
These stresses are highlighted on the ArcPad map, and the information
is stored in a format that is usable in other software products.
By collecting such data in the field, solutions can be devised
and preventative measures outlined.
A farmer can connect to the Internet via a handheld telephone
or Wide Area Network (WAN) for additional data input like weather
updates. ArcPad has a developer's toolkit that allows customized
applications that provide field-workers simple forms to fill
in that automatically create data attributes.
The creation of necessary data sets for the field or subfield
level has always proved challenging but with the assistance
of ArcPad, real-time data collection is now a reality.
ArcPad is the farmer's modern shirtpocket notepad. Farmer's
will be able to collect whatever information is relevant to
them at that moment and enter it to its proper field location
through maps. The data collected then can be analyzed and better
decisions made by using the many different scalable ESRI product
solutions.
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o Geography Matters for Archaeological
Research and Resource Management
Archaeologists, as researchers and resource managers, understand
the importance of geography. Geographic variables exert a strong
influence on human behavior today, and archaeologists are aware
of the significance of this influence in the past. Geography
also influences the degree of exposure of archaeological sites,
and the impacts that they face from human activity and natural
forces. Management and research decisions are based on geography.
Geographic analysis and modeling provides answers to a variety
of questions, and helps make informed decisions.
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o Geography Matters to Environmental
Management
GIS for Environment is
o More efficient management of environment
o Science based decisions
o Collaboration with your peers
o Citizen access
o Geographic data creation, discovery, integration
o Reduce data creation duplication
o Field-to-lab-to-policy/publishing/reporting
Geography is the key to helping government and commercial entities
monitor the environment more efficiently and cost-effectively.
It also is the key to helping organizations comply with the
multilateral environmental regulations that are the result of
growing global markets.
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o Geography Matters to Forestry
Managing forests in today's ever-changing world is becoming
an increasingly complex and demanding challenge to forest managers.
Plans, resource considerations, and business decisions are made
in an atmosphere of often conflicting values and with considerable
uncertainty.
o Ecosystem Management
o Fire Response
o Forest Access and Road Planning
o Harvest Scheduling
o Strategic Planning
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Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
GIS software solutions provide foresters and natural
resource managers with powerful tools for better analysis and
decision making. GIS gives you the "big picture" about
the resources under your care and lets you perform tasks such
as developing long-term supply strategies, forecasting silvicultural
stock, determining harvesting system options, and many more.
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1. GIS for Ecosystem Management
GIS technology provides an ideal environment from which
to describe, analyze, and model ecosystem processes and functions.
Interactions and relationships among diverse ecosystem components
can be explored and visualized using the powerful analytical
and visualization tools that GIS software provides.
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GIS Solutions
Complex interactions across space and time have been
effectively modeled and visualized using an array of software
including
o ArcInfo
o ArcInfo extensions ArcGrid, ArcTin,
and ArcNetwork
o ArcView
o ArcView extensions Spatial Analyst,
3D Analyst, Image Analysis, and
Network Analyst
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2. GIS for Fire Response
Every year wildfires destroy forests, kill people, threaten
endangered species, and cause a tremendous amount of property
damage and economic loss.
Understanding the direction, location, rate of spread, intensity,
and burned areas of wildfires is critical for long-term wildfire
management planning and effective suppression strategies. Mapping
the direction of the smoke caused by the fire is also important.
Smoke can spread into delicate, smoke-sensitive ecological areas
or into developed areas, causing further loss of life and property
damage.
GIS technology can help forest managers and response teams plan
resources effectively. It can be used to model and map the spread
of a fire and determine its intensity. It can also be used to
model the direction of smoke plumes. More importantly, GIS can
be used before a fire occurs to help plan prevention and response
strategies.
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GIS Solutions
ESRI solutions for fire management include
o
ArcInfo
o ArcView with the ArcView Spatial Analyst
and ArcView Image Analysis extensions
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3. GIS for Forest Access and Road
Planning
GIS tools allow harvest planners to dynamically assign timing
of access and haul cost attributes to the existing inventory
database for several road access alternatives. When combined
with other standard features such as species composition and
merchantable volume, it is possible to analyze the effect a
road network design has on delivered wood costs.
Other applications of road and forest access planning performed
by GIS users include the following:
o Terrain and slope stability analysis
o Cut and fill estimates
o Visibility and view-shed analysis
o Alignment and grade calculations
o Right-of-way corridor studies
o Environmental impact assessment
o Integration of survey data
o Cost and flow analysis
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GIS Solutions
ESRI solutions for forest access and road planning include
o ArcInfo
o ArcView with
the ArcView Network Analyst extensions
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4. GIS for Harvest Scheduling
Spatial forest modeling using GIS technology is essential to
planning harvesting strategies. Spatial models use both the
absolute and relative geographic positions of forest stands
in developing and testing harvesting strategies.
Using individual stand locations allows the manager to produce
harvest schedules and candidate harvest blocks that are easily
translated into maps. Mapping different harvesting strategies
lets the manager see the economic impact of the harvest and
the impact on nearby wildlife.
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GIS Solutions
ESRI solutions for harvest scheduling include
o
ArcInfo
o ArcView with the ArcView Spatial Analyst
and ArcView Image Analysis extensions
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5. GIS for Strategic Planning
Forest management planning involves making forecasts
about what the future forest will look like relative to alternative
management activities. This ability is crucial to nearly all
aspects of management forecasting, particularly long-term wood
and wildlife supply.
GIS can play a key role in this analysis. GIS stores both the
geographic and numerical structure of the forest stands and
links that spatial database to the planning models. It allows
the manager to effectively add both the important temporal and
spatial dimensions to the management planning process. Within
the limits of the inventory and model, the manager can then
map what the forest will look like five, 10, 25, or 100 years
in the future.
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GIS Solutions
ESRI solutions for strategic planning include ArcInfo.
GIS in the Marine and Coastal Community
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o GIS for Marine & Coast
The marine and coastal community is a gathering place to share
the work, tools, and methods of marine researchers and professionals
that use GIS. The coastal zones are home to the majority of
our global population, and the oceans and seas provide some
of the earth's most important and dynamic elements. As the tools
marine practitioners use to gather data have become more sophisticated,
so have the methods for management of the resulting information.
Managing and mapping the 80 percent of our earth that is water
presents a unique set of challenges.
From oceanography to hydrography, navigation to defense, from
the coastal shoreline to the bathymetric bottom--marine GIS
has been adapted and utilized to assist researchers and organizations
in achieving their goals
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Oceanography
As we become increasingly aware of the world's oceans and seas
and the many resources they contain, we have an inherent responsibility
to preserve them. Researchers, organizations, and professionals
dedicated to understanding and analyzing this dynamic and changing
environment are using GIS to develop marine applications.
ArcGIS software family provides tools to understand the systems
at work in the seas and oceans. The geodatabase and ArcSDE allow
for new storage and access to data and provide great potential
for modeling ocean features, while ArcGIS extensions such as
ArcGIS Spatial Analyst and ArcGIS Geostatistical Analyst are
utilized to produce seafloor surfaces and contours based on
interpolation. These new technological tools allow marine researchers
to better understand and represent the seas and oceans of the
world.
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o Geography Matters to the Mining
Industry
GIS has been used by the mining community for a long time. Its
applications include
o Exploration
o Operations
o Management
o Environmental Management
Various types of geologic data sets, such as geophysical images,
geochemistry, geologic maps, radiometric, boreholes, and mineral
deposits, can be displayed, interrogated, and analyzed simultaneously
using GIS.
ArcGIS software allows
earth resources enterprises to manage their spatial and nonspatial
data sets in the relational database management system and apply
geoprocessing and spatial analysis directly using a desktop
GIS. Modern GIS is built on open standards and high system interoperability
that make integrating GIS with other specialized mining package
programs easy.
Extensions for ArcGIS software have been developed to help geoscientists
and mining engineers better understand their data and build
their models.
o ArcGIS Geostatistical Analyst
o ArcGIS Spatial Analyst
o ArcGIS 3D Analyst
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General GIS Products Applicable to
Mining and the Earth Sciences
o Scalable
ArcGIS
o ArcGIS Extensions
o ArcSDE Enterprise Geodatabase
o ArcIMS Web Solution
o ArcWeb Services
o ArcView 3.x
o ArcView 3.x Extensions
o ArcPad Field GIS
o Developer Solutions
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ESRI GIS Products Especially Developed
for Earth Science Applications
o ArcGIS
Spatial Analyst
o ArcGIS 3D Analyst
o ArcGIS Geostatistical Analyst
o ArcGIS Survey Analyst
o ArcView Spatial Analyst
o ArcView 3D Analyst
o ArcView Image Analysis
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1. GIS for Mining Exploration
Mineral exploration geoscientists use diverse types of data
sets to search for new economic deposits. Data sources vary
from geologic maps, hyperspectral airborne and multispectral
satellite images, and geophysical images to databases in many
formats. GIS is an ideal platform to bring them together in
a geoscientist's computer and deliver meaningful outcomes.
GIS is now able to help geoscientists in many aspects of their
activities: data collection, management, analysis, and reporting.
Field geologists can now capture field data electronically using
ArcPad and global positioning system (GPS) receivers. Other
data sets may be downloaded from the Internet. All of these
data sets can be integrated, manipulated, and analyzed using
GIS.
Integration with other specialized programs for geophysical
data and image processing is easily done with GIS. Raster images,
such as satellite imagery or geophysical images, can then be
displayed in GIS and overlaid with vector data such as geology,
faults, and geochemical samples. Gridding and contouring from
point data can also be performed.
Mineral targeting can be done based on multievidence maps analysis,
either using qualitative or quantitative methods. Multiple geophysical
images can be displayed simultaneously using ArcMap and overlaid
by other data sets to evaluate their qualitative spatial relationships.
The quantitative method is done through geoprocessing and map
algebra. The standard GIS works in vector-cased operations in
which geologists can conduct multiple geoprocessing tasks such
as querying, creating a buffer, and intersection operations.
ArcGIS Spatial Analyst extension helps geologists calculate
and predict mineral prospectivity through raster-based map algebra,
either using data-driven or knowledge-driven methods.
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2. GIS for Mining Operations
Pipelines, electric lines, roads, ramps, and other mining facilities
change frequently. Engineers and operations staff use GIS for
facility planning applications. Keeping track of existing infrastructure
and integrating it with the mine plan and block models can be
achieved with GIS. GIS can also be used to integrate recent
survey data with block models or mine design data from other
mining software packages such as TECHBASE®, Vulcan, MineSight®,
SURPAC2000™, or Mining Visualization System (MVS).
Often, items positioned along linear features, such as a pipeline
and boreholes, are referenced by station numbers or measured
lengths. A high-end GIS can create special features that can
be referenced by this stationing.
Live GPS is becoming commonplace for monitoring and dispatching
haul trucks or drills and for providing grade control on shovels.
This data can also be tied to a GIS to monitor the location
of all equipment in real time.
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3. GIS for Mining Management
Most mining information, including financial and asset information,
has some sort of spatial component that can be represented in
map form. Management and mineral economists are using GIS in
their evaluation of corporate and competitor assets.
ArcGIS software allows direct access to data in the most common
corporate spreadsheets and relational databases.
Reserve estimates, annual planned production, or cost per ton
statistics can be linked to prospect or mine locations and used
to control the map symbols. Regional maps can place the mines
or prospects in a regional geologic or political setting. Detailed
maps of exploration prospects or active mines can be accessed
by a simple point and click on the regional map.
Many companies are taking advantage of the vast amount of data
available on the Internet. News clips are harvested daily and
served up to management through internal corporate Webs or Intranets.
ArcIMS technology is being used to distribute map data over
the Web as well.
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4. GIS for Environmental Management
Mining companies use GIS to actively monitor the environmental
impacts that may be caused by their activities and conduct reclamation.
GIS is used for monitoring and reclamation by analyzing and
mapping soils, vegetation, surface hydrology, and groundwater.
ESRI and its business partners actively promote sustainable
development through building a suite of GIS applications that
are specifically designed for environmental study.
Performing advanced analysis and visualization of environmental
and geologic data can be done easily and quickly using the EQuIS
ArcView GIS Interface. This solution involves the integration
of several industry-standard applications, such as ArcView 3.x,
ArcGIS 8, EQuIS, RockWorks, EVS, and more, to produce a world-class,
customizable solution for subsurface investigation and analysis.
EarthSoft's EQuIS family of environmental quality information
systems is among the most popular in the world for management
of environmental sampling data. A standard for many consulting
firms and regulatory agencies--both in the United States and
overseas--EQuIS is a favorite among data managers, but even
the most junior staff can easily produce reports and results
using the suite of interfaces to many industry-standard tools
for visualization and analysis.
EarthSoft's EQuIS for ArcGIS, an extension for the ArcView,
ArcEditor, and ArcInfo 8.x Desktop applications, allows users
to query, report, and map the data managed in EQuIS. The EQuIS
for ArcGIS extension integrates the leading environmental software
packages for specialized tasks. For example, contours created
using EQuIS for ArcGIS and Surfer are brought back into the
GIS, where they can be used in further analyses with output
from other non-GIS applications, such as RockWorks for geologic
cross sections. Similar tools are also available for the ArcView
3.x platform.
Making decisions based on geography isn't new in the oil business.
Where to drill a well, route a pipeline, or build a refinery
are all questions that rely heavily on an understanding of geography
in order to make intelligent business decisions.
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o Geography Matters to the Petroleum
Industry
GIS technology today allows us to manage the spatial components
of these everyday petroleum "business objects," such
as leases, wells, pipelines, environmental concerns, facilities,
and retail outlets, in the corporate database, and apply appropriate
geographic analysis efficiently in a desktop-focused application
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1. GIS for Exploration and Production
Exploration
Discovering new sources of petroleum ahead of the competition
is one of the keys to staying successful in the petroleum industry.
A GIS can help you evaluate the potential for oil in promising
locations.
Exploration requires the analysis of a lot of different types
of data such as satellite imagery, digital aerial photo mosaics,
seismic surveys, surface geology studies, subsurface and cross
section interpretations and images, well locations, and existing
infrastructure information. A GIS can tie these data together
to the location in question and allow you to overlay, view,
and manipulate the data in the form of a map to thoroughly analyze
the potential for finding new or extending play potential.
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Production
To produce found reserves, the company must first understand
certain geographic, infrastructure, business conditions, and
environmental factors about the area in question. GIS technology
is ideally suited to this kind of overlay analysis and can be
integrated with other business risk or economic business planning
engines to provide a focussed business solution toolset.
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GIS Solutions
These are several software solutions to help you with exploration
and production:
o ArcGIS—Scalable,
component-based GIS
o ArcInfo—Full-featured
professional GIS
o ArcView—Desktop
GIS for professionals throughout the enterprise who need to
access, integrate, and map the data on the desktop.
o
ArcSDE—For warehousing spatial data and storing
them with related tabular data.
o MapObjects—A
toolbox of desktop GIS functionality for the solutions builder.
o ArcIMS—A fully functional Internet
development environment for Web deployment, integratable with
most leading commercial Internet systems.
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2. GIS for Facilities Management
Managing Facilities Worldwide
The global nature of the petroleum industry results
in an infrastructure that is vast and difficult to manage. A
large, integrated oil company must keep track of everything
from drilling platforms to pipeline networks to refineries.
The commercial, operational, and often harsh environmental conditions
in which these facilities exist make it critical that they be
planned, operated, and maintained effectively.
Often, finding an economic reserve is as much dependent on a
practically and properly implemented facilities structure as
it is on the exploration and production itself. Certainly the
profitability of a commercial venture is often heavily dependent
on the facility and pipeline infrastructure.
GIS can be used to map the gathering and transmission of products
to a facility. Once there, integrating with more traditional
"in plant" infrastructure management systems, such
as CAD, attribute records, and scanned documents, allows the
true geographic placement of CAD entities complementing the
CAD architecture.
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GIS Solutions
ESRI's solutions for petroleum facilities management include
o ArcGIS—Scalable, component-based GIS
o ArcSDE
o ArcInfo
o ArcView with the ArcView Network
Analyst extension
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3. GIS for Retail Planning
Where Is the Best Place to Put a Gas Station?
Like businesses in most industries, the question of where to
place a retail outlet must be answered carefully to ensure the
site reaches its full sales potential.
Companies such as Texaco use GIS to analyze demographic and
transportation information to effectively choose retail sites
and build outlets tailored to the anticipated customer segment.
They can also use the technology to analyze customer receipts
for stores to adjust the store profile and stock.
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GIS Solutions
Business analysis software for this area of expertise include
o ArcGIS
o ArcView
o ArcView Business Analyst
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4. Utility GIS Solutions
Spatially enabled information can help solve business problems
within a utility
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1. Asset Information
Predictive maintenance
o Using spatial analysis to find out where problems may exist.
o Using spatial analysis to better schedule and coordinate work.
Corrective maintenance
o Locate where bad performing assets tend occur and
fix them.
Load forecasting and planning
o Using external data sources to find out where new loads may
materialize.
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2. Outage Management
o GIS links to OMS.
o Connectivity – network model must be maintained.
o ArcGIS has extensive networking facilities.
o Extend the OMS using ArcGIS Schematics.
o Critical customer service and regulatory issues.
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o Geography Matters to the Pipeline
Industry
Competitive pressure and regulatory constraints are placing
increasing demands on pipeline operators to operate in an efficient
and responsible manner. Responding to these demands requires
accessibility to
information regarding geographically distributed assets and
operations.
GIS technology facilitates the organization and management of
data with a geographic component. It also eases data acquisition
and utilization. GIS provides the pipeline operator with improved
capability to manage pipeline integrity, improved efficiencies
in pipeline operations, and improved response to business development
opportunities
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