ASGIS User Group Meeting Minutes
9:00 am October 29, 2004
ASCC Land Grant Conference Room

Palau Community College GIS Projects/Presentations by ASG agency participants

Group I: Tali presented Neils portion of the presentation since Neil was away on a field sampling trip in the Manu’a Islands. The briefing was on Neil’s mosquito project using ArcMap. ArcMap was used to demonstrate the hyperlinks and data points and boundaries created in Palau. The data points represented sampling of Dengue and Phillarisis in Aunu’u. Tali then proceeded to present her portion of the project that used recently collected data from the Project Notification and Review System (PNRS) database to create a GIS link. ArcMap was used to illustrate select by area and location, creation of buffers, linking databases to shapefiles, adding GPS points to other GIS data layers, and hyperlinks to photos from PNRS site visits. Pete’s portion of the presentation dealt with finding land ownership for parcels in Aunu’u. Information provided included landowner name, acreage, and land use.

Group II: Fa’afetai and Wei presented on the use the indexing system for an addressing system, monitoring and planning for utilities connections. David presented on the use of GPS and GIS for telecommunications supply tracking.

GIS Day 2004 – November 17th

GIS Day will be moved to the Lee Auditorium from 9am to noon. The agenda for the event is below. The event was moved because of the conflict at ASCC with the use of the gym in the morning.

7:00-8:00 Setup
9:00-9:10 Welcome~ Master of Ceremonies Troy Curry, DOC
9:10-9:15 Invocation TBA
9:15-9:25 Opening Remarks Taeaotui Punaofo Tilei, DPW
9:25-9:40 GIS Presentation AS GIS User’s Group
9:40-10:00 Keynote Speaker Ali’imau H. Scanlan Jr.,DOC
10:00-12:00 GIS Demonstrations GIS User’s Group
(Open to the Public)

Revamp effort of SDI and Executive Order

A working group was formed to work on the SDI for American Samoa. The goal will be to promote the SDI to the status of an Executive Order. The working group includes David Alaga (ASTCA), Pete (DPW), Wei and Fa’afetai (ASPA), David Kulberg (ASCC), Troy and Tali (DOC ASCMP). The first meeting is scheduled for Tuesday November 9th at 10am at ASTCA.

Formulation of technical groups within ASGIS User Group

The ASGIS User Group decided to form 2 subgroups within the main ASGIS User Group. The 2 subgroups will be the utilities and environmental. The purpose of these groups is to work on technical issues and interagency collaboration on common interests.

NOAA T-HAT hazards tool and future ArcIMS sites in Territory

Members of the user group are encouraged to view the NOAA website created that hosts the American Samoa Hazards Tool. This is an ArcIMS website that enables anyone with an internet connection to view GIS data layers for infrastructure (buildings, roads) and hazards (flood maps, landslide risk maps, etc.) The website is located at the following URL: http://ekman.csc.noaa.gov/t_hat

The T-HAT is a lightweight internet mapping application based on geographic information systems (GIS) hazard data used in American Samoa’s recently completed Hazard Mitigation Plan. This tool was created to help the American Samoa Coastal Management Program (ASCMP) in their planning and permitting processes on the island of Tutuila, the largest and most populated island in American Samoa, by allowing staff and constituents to identify potential multi-hazard risk for any location on Tutuila. This tool is a result of a partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Services Center, NOAA Pacific Services Center, and ASCMP. This tool is portable in that, where GIS data exists, it can be implemented on other Pacific islands. For more information contact John.Marra@noaa.gov , the coastal hazards specialist at the NOAA Pacific Services Center.

ASGIS User Group Website updates

Several webpages have been updated for the ASGIS User Group website. Pages include GIS Procedures, GIS Day 2004, News, and Geographic Facts. The website has had over 2,100 visitors in the last 5 months.

Agency Updates

ASPA – Fa’afetai and the wastewater division are currently working on generating coordinates for past benchmark surveys. There are surveys being completed for the East side of Tutuila for the Water Division.

ASCC – David summarized the recent NOAA CSC trainings that took place at the IT lab at ASCC. There will also be a GIS II class offered for Fall 2005.

DPW – The land survey group will be working on mapping activities for the Manu’a Islands.

DOC – The GIS Division recently installed a HP DesignJet Plotter. Examples of the new Quickbird imagery were brought to the ASGIS User Group meeting. The imagery examples illustrate the displacement of the imagery in relation to GIS data layers that are currently in the ASGIS databank. Documentation is being created to illustrate this displacement for submittal to NOAA PSC.

Next ASGIS User Group Meeting November 15 th at 9:00am in the ASPA conference room (Generator Building)