County Mobile App Locates Alternative Fuel Stations

DuPage County, Ill., has gone green for its first trip into the world of smartphone application development.

Called the DuPage Green Grid, the program identifies alternative fuel stations, car share locations and buildings certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program throughout the area. Based on GIS technology, the app is available for free and compatible with Apple, Android and Windows phones.

LEED is a green building rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council to provide a set of standards for environmentally-sustainable construction.

According to Shefali Trivedi, the county’s environmental projects specialist, the program will continue to evolve over time. In comments to the DuPage County Environmental Committee on March 6, she explained that the app will be updated as other green projects are completed and items such as Energy Star rated buildings and renewable energy roofs may eventually be added.

“We recognize that many residents use their smartphones to access this information, so we chose to develop an application that will serve them,” said Brian Krajewski, chairman of the county’s technology committee, in a statement.

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first published week of:   04/02/2012

County sets fees for GIS work

A new fee schedule has been adopted for maps and property ownership lists created by the Flathead County Geographic Information Systems Office.

The new fees are based on the costs of ink, paper and staff time to create the materials, GIS Program Manager Mindy Cochran said. Cochran said she reviewed fees charged by other counties.

The new fees had to be set by a resolution approved by the county commissioners because the GIS office is now part of the county’s information technology department.

When GIS was under the umbrella of the clerk’s office, fees were set by state law.

The cost for GIS mapping work by the county staff is now $20 per half hour. Maps 18 inches and larger sell for 30 cents a square foot. Non-certified GIS ownership lists can be created for an hourly rate of $40. The rate for certified lists increases to $75 an hour or $150 an hour for a rush job, which can be completed in 48 hours or less.

Printing fees range from 10 cents a page for standard black and white pages to $1.25 for large-format color pages.

People also may purchase data on compact discs for 50 cents or digital video discs for $1.

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first published week of:   07/23/2012

County Website Offers New Zone Maps

Logan County [IL] regional planning director Will D’Andrea has announced several useful upgrades he’s made to the county’s Geographic Information System (GIS) website.

Several new layers have been created and new tools are available for those who are looking to find information about properties in Logan County.

New layers include zoning maps, 1940 aerial photography, school districts, library districts, park districts and soil maps to name a few. New tools include enhanced searching capabilities, drawing and measuring features, and street view photography. Any computer user can view the dozens of mapping layers that have been created over the past few years. No special software is required to view the layers.

To learn more about GIS and for a link to the new internet mapping, visit the Logan County website www.co.logan.il.us/gis/ or call D’Andrea, 217-732-8835.

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first published week of:   05/28/2012

DC police chief announces shockingly reasonable cell camera policy
She bans DC cops from confiscating cell cameras or harassing their owners.

We’ve written a number of stories about police officers interfering with citizens who are trying to record the actions of police in public places. In some cases, cops have arrested citizens for making recordings in public. In others, they've seized cell phones and deleted the recordings.

The courts and the Obama administration have both said that these activities violate the Constitution. And at least one police department has gotten the message loud and clear.

In a new legal directive first noticed by DCist, Washington DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier explains the constitutional rights of DC citizens and gives her officers detailed instructions for respecting them. She addresses a number of scenarios that have led to controversy in recent years.

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first published week of:   07/23/2012

DNR's interactive web portal offers Washington tsunami evacuation maps

With the one–year anniversary of the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan approaching, a visit to the Washington State Geologic Information Portal can provide interesting — and useful — information about our risks in Washington State.

Our [Washington State Department of Natural Resources] detailed and multi—layered base map of the state’s geologic features has been sliced and diced a few different ways by the experts in our Geology and Earth Resources Division. For example, the tsunami layer features the base map with an overlay of tsunami hazard zones, evacuation routes, and assembly areas. Use the address locator tool to find evacuation routes and assembly areas near your home, school or workplace.

Using our interactive maps, you can create, save, and print custom maps, find more information about map features, and download map data for use in a geographic information system (GIS). In addition to a variety of geoscience layers that can be turned on and off, each interactive map has many base layers to choose from, so you can customize your map in any number of ways.

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first published week of:   02/13/2012

Dot-mil accounts no longer to be used on dating site

According to Defense Department officials, the Pentagon plans to distribute a new policy on personal social media use that tells troops to hide certain identifying information when interacting online, Nextgov reported May 25. The directive was expected to be released in late May. Increasingly, hackers are gleaning sensitive work details from social networks by drawing inferences from posts, such as military unit locations, and by penetrating the actual sites. Defense officials acknowledged they are aware of a reported MilitarySingles.com breach that may have exposed soldiers' dot-mil e-mail addresses and passwords. Future instruction that specifically addresses use of commercial social media will direct all Defense employees to “use non–mission related contact information, such as telephone numbers or postal and email addresses, to establish personal accounts, when such information is required.” Despite the forthcoming policy, dot–mil e–mail addresses may still appear in some personal communications, partly because family members and guests using the Army Knowledge Online service are issued military addresses, a Defense spokesperson said

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first published week of:   06/04/2012