GIS / GPS Tools
St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Project
As part of the preparation for relicensing the STL/FDR project, the New York Power Authority (NYPA) realized the need and value of utilizing a Geographic Information System (GIS) to aid in the assembly, management and analysis of required data. Spatial assessment and calculations based on the data are necessary components of completing a relicensing project and GIS is well suited to these tasks.
Develop a GIS Environmental Database Plan that detailed the efficiencies and power of utilizing GIS technology correctly to assist in fulfilling the many requirements of the FERC relicensing process. An inventory and assessment of existing data was performed to evaluate its utility.
In January 1995, Devine Tarbell & Associates, Inc.’s (DTA) personnel prepared the STL-FDR Project Relicensing GIS Database Plan for NYPA. The goal was to describe how to develop an efficient, comprehensive GIS database that would interface with the requirements of FERC and aid NYPA’s personnel responsible for the relicensing efforts. The Plan described the important steps necessary to allow a GIS to succeed as an useful, cost effective tool. Forming the foundation of the Plan was a Needs Assessment of necessary environmental databases to allow tailoring of the system to assist in the complex FERC process. These areas were then redesigned to reflect the data needs as dictated by the specific STL/FDR Project. This included an inventory and evaluation of existing digital and hardcopy data. Assessing what additional data was needed and what would be the most cost-effective methods to develop the data helped streamline the most costly component of developing a GIS.
Other core issues addressed were database standards for scale, accuracy, and database sources. Database framework and organization schemes were then proposed including the incorporation of field data into the GIS.
A prototype study was outlined that would demonstrate the GIS system and provide accurate indications of time and costs for data collection and integration, GIS analysis and data output and mapping.