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According to the Town of Cary, opioid overdoses increased by 70 percent in 2017, with fatal overdoses increasing by 40 percent. To find solutions to opioid addiction in the area, Cary is undergoing a six-month test phase to monitor opioid concentrations in wastewater, funded as one of the 2018 Mayors Challenge finalists.
Early this year, Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said opioid addictions and overdoses are one of Cary’s highest priorities. Since then, town staff have looked for new ways to tackle this health issue, until one employee learned from a Homeland Security office that some communities have tried to test for opioid levels in wastewater.
This led to Cary’s current project, which will analyze wastewater in local sewers and detect concentrations of opioid usage. Mike Bajorek, Cary assistant town manager, said the goal is to have geographic information of where opioids are being used in town.
“We hope to collect and analyze in areas of close to 5,000 people. Then, if we find a spot where opioid usage is high, we can add other factors we have from our demographic data and get a clear view of who is there and what is going on in that area,” Bajorek said.
Then, that information will be handed off to public health officials to create programs targeted to specific areas.
Read full story at CaryCitizen…
first published week of: 03/05/2018
The Charlevoix City Council voted Monday to move forward with design recommendations for the new combined public services facility, which will house the city's public works, street and electric departments.
The decision to move forward with the new facility was motioned by Aaron Hagen of the First Ward with all city council members, except Leon Perron, of the Second Ward, in agreement. Plans call for the facility to be situated along Carpenter Avenue.
OHM, previously Northwest Design Group, was paid $17,500 in 2016 to evaluate the best location for the new combined public services facility.
After having evaluated the needs of the public works and electric operations, the group recommended the Carpenter Avenue location, based on its proximity and advantages in existing structure and utility costs. The new facility would incorporate needed office and storage space.
Read full story at News-Review…
first published week of: 01/15/2018
If you want a reliable Geographic Information Systems - GIS product for your business you must take time to assess several alternatives. It doesn’t have to be complicated, and can be as quick as matching their features in a table like the one below. You will also get a good idea how each product works.
For instance, on this page you can find EDAMS GIS’s overall score of 6.3 and compare it against FuturaGIS’s score of 7.0; or EDAMS GIS’s user satisfaction level at N/A% versus FuturaGIS’s 100% satisfaction score. The assessment will allow you to see the pros and cons of each software, and decide which matches your requirements better. Aside from the robust features, the application that’s simple to grasp and use is always the better option. In case you you would like to quickly locate the optimal Geographic Information Systems - GIS according to our review team we suggest you try out the following services: QGIS, AlignStar, TerraSync.
Read full story at Finance Online…
first published week of: 02/05/2018
Recent changes to the boundaries of the Palafox Historic Business District on the city of Pensacola's geographic information systems map have sparked clashing views on the consistency of City Hall's rules for developing real estate.
At issue remains how clear city staff have been with development corporation Two Hundred Garden West Inc. on the process for redeveloping land anchored by the Escambia County School District's former headquarters at 215 W. Garden St.
The News Journal first reported Sept. 24, 2016, that the school district had approved selling the nearly 4.9-acre site to Two Hundred Garden West for $3.4 million.
The development group has yet to close on the property, but in the News Journal's initial report, local attorney and developer Jim Reeves, president of the corporation, revealed the group's intent to redevelop the site into a mixed-use apartment development.
The developers previously believed the parcels resided in the Governmental Center District, which they said influenced their plans for the project. On Dec. 21, several hours before the group would present to the Pensacola Architectural Review Board for permission to demolish all structures on the site, the city altered its GIS map, which now depicts the location as also sitting within the Palafox Historic Business District.
Read full story at Pensacola News Journel…
first published week of: 01/01/2018
The Times Leader (Willkes-Barre, PA)
Diamonds to the Luzerne County Geographic Information Systems (GIS)/Mapping department for putting basic GIS data in a searchable, interactive map format for the entire county. For most people, GIS data is a case of getting too deep in the weeds, but such information, including basic property lines on an overhead-style map, is a fundamental part of modern day information analysis. Making it readily available to anyone with an Internet-connected computer is a terrific sign of transparency by an agency that, by it’s name alone, may strike most as obtuse and arcane. The more governments can get online, the better democracy is served.
The GIS/Mapping Department’s mission is to provide professional enterprise Geographic Information Services to both the general public and numerous internal customers.
Responsibilities of the GIS/Mapping Department include:
See the online GIS portal here…
first published week of: 04/23/2018
igitalGlobe’s WorldView 3 satellite captured this image of Sydney, Australia in January 2015.
( DigitalGlob)
DigitalGlobe has formed a partnership with Ecopia Tech to use proprietary Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms and cloud computing to create building footprints. By using Ecopia’s U.S. Building Footprints powered by DigitalGlobe, customers will have current information on structures in their areas of interest.
Ecopia, a developer in DigitalGlobe’s Geospatial Big Data platform (GBDX) ecosystem, established a process to create building footprints quickly and at scale by leveraging machine learning in combination with DigitalGlobe’s cloud-based 100 petabyte imagery library. According to Ecopia, the service provides actionable insights for observing, analyzing, and monitoring business processes such as supply chain management, urban planning, and asset monitoring for industries that include energy, insurance, real estate, telecom, and location-based services.
Read full story at Via Satellite…
first published week of: 04/16/2018