Submission to NWFL GIS User Group Digital Media Competition Spring 2017

As the District 5 School Board member on the Okaloosa County School Board, I am very concerned about our lack of capital funding to address our aging infrastructure.   In Okaloosa County, 84% of the schools are forty years old or older.   We are tied with Gulf County with 64% of our square footage over 40 years old.   Unfortunately, Okaloosa County also has the oldest bus fleet in the state.  School districts in 61 of the 67 counties in the state have some method of obtaining additional sources of revenue.  My competition entry is a map detailing the different sources of additional revenue counties in Florida have for their respective school district.  I hope this visual will encourage Okaloosa County registered voters to become concerned about the state of public school facilities in their county.  Public education is the foundation for economic growth and sustainability in a community.  The Okaloosa County school district ranks #2 in the state for academic performance.  We have proven that all students can succeed and have phenomenal instructors, support staff, and administration.  Our students and staff need facilities that are safe and create an educational environment that enables them to achieve their goals.

Additional Sources of School Revenue for Counties in Florida

UPDATE:

NWFL GIS User Group Digital Media Competition - Spring 2017 Student Winner

GIS Internship - Press Release

QUALITY CONTROL IN GIS:

Shalimar, FL – When lives and property are at stake, every second counts. Properly posted address numbers can be a vital link to your safety. A missing, incorrect or poorly marked address can delay emergency response when seconds can literally mean the difference between life and death!  Using EDEN, an address verification application developed in-house, multiple departments within Okaloosa County are collaborating to ensure that structures on properties within the county are correctly marked and identified in GIS systems.  The Growth Management, 911 Public Safety, and GIS departments use EDEN to alert each other of an addition or change to a given property in their respective systems.  According to Okaloosa GIS Technician II, Colleen Pardue, “Addressing is the foundation for all who live and work in the county.”  In order to keep addresses up to date, the GIS department acquires a new digital image of the county every three years and reviews the image to update the existing WebGIS map.   Melissa Thrush, an intern with the county’s GIS department for the spring of 2017 is working 10-20 hours per week to identify missing or incorrect marked addresses. 

About Okaloosa County GIS

Okaloosa County’s GIS department is leading the way for GIS use in municipal systems in our county.   The department is planning to increase staff to meet the growing needs of GIS within the county.  Melissa contacted the GIS department directly seeking an internship position to gain experience and further her GIS knowledge.  The department is composed of three workgroups that provide GIS data and services to the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) as well as other internal and external organizations within the county, including the Health Department, local Chambers of Commerce, School District, Public Works, Water and Sewer, Property Appraiser, and Tax Collector offices.

About WebGIS and 911 Public Safety

In the interest of public safety, Okaloosa County has passed a Property Numbering System Ordinance, number 91-06.  This ordinance requires that all homes and businesses display a correct, visible street address.  The address numbers must be clearly visible from the public or private right-of-way on which the building fronts.  Likewise, it is vital for GIS systems used by 911 dispatch to accurately locate the driveway and structure where public safety is needed.  GIS Services Coordinator for Okaloosa County, Kimberly Steele, states “without proper addressing, GIS functions would not run as smoothly”.  Scheduled quality control verification ensures that GIS systems are up to date with the most accurate location information.  Additionally, quality control verification can reveal inconsistencies between different GIS systems and procedures can be put in place to safeguard data integrity.

Contact

To learn more about this collaborative effort, please contact

Melissa Thrush, GIS Intern

Kimberly Steele, GIS Services Coordinator

1250 Eglin Pkwy N Suite 303

Office: (850) 651-7570

Fax: (850) 651-7576

mthrush@co.okaloosa.fl.us

ksteele@co.okaloosa.fl.us

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GIS Day!

I created my own GIS Day celebration on Wednesday April 12^th, 2017.  With three of my four children as a captive audience we gathered around the kitchen table.  My plan was to show them what GIS/Mapping was like before Google maps, smartphones, and even personal computing devices; yes, I am that old.

We began by looking at a printed map of the southeastern United States that I had to pay $8 for at the local gas station.   We then pretended we were traveling from our home in Niceville, FL to Grandma’s house in Raleigh, NC.   During my childhood, my dad would have my sisters and I look at printed maps and plan our trip.   My mom preferred to avoid interstate highways, so we often had interesting routes to calculate.   I showed my kids the map scale in the legend and how I would use it to estimate our travel distance and time for two routes; one via Atlanta, GA and the other through Jacksonville, FL

Next, we opened Google Maps and I showed them how Google has not only enabled you to instantaneously view map route distances and travel times, but you can also view restaurants, hotels, shopping, etc. nearby.   I explained that you didn’t have these options when traveling in my childhood.   We also briefly looked at Google’s My Maps where you can create customized maps.  https://www.google.com/maps/about/mymaps/

The printed map displayed latitude and longitude lines which we discussed and then compared to the lat/long lines on our family globe; yes, we actually have one.  My kids already think I am so old, but I explained that I grew up with only a globe, atlas, and maps.   Now they can see virtually anything, anywhere.   We briefly discussed the equator and the prime meridian as my 8- year-old has been discussing geography and topography recently in 2^nd grade while creating his own “continent”.  

Our discussion then segued into satellites and GPS.   I showed them images from the recently deployed GOES-16.   A recent NPR post showed images from the lightning mapper.  http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/06/518776626/watch-tracking-lightning-strikes-from-space

Seeing the lightning images sparked a conversation about the light spectrum.   Everybody but me knew that bees can see ultraviolet wavelengths.   The infrared lightning images sparked my middle school girls to let me know about the “thermal camera” in Photo Booth on my iMac and how it always shows the kitchen is hot.

We then went to the GOES website and found a multitude of links that were terrific. http://www.goes-r.gov/spacesegment/glm.html

The kids really liked the Lego Model under the Outreach tab.   There also are great student and educator resources.

Since my high school student missed our Wednesday event, I thought I should add that after reading Week 5’s GIS in Education reading assignments, I shared some links with her since she is taking AP Human Geography.   GIS had been briefly discussed in her class but the ConnectEd site had some impressive Social Studies lessons.  http://www.esri.com/connected

Always fun to learn with and from others.  The kids were engaged and I learned, too!

Reid/Thrush GIS Day - April 12, 2017