CICEET Progress Report for the period 3/01/09 Through 8/31/09

Project Title: Integrating Geospatial and Web-Based Technologies to Improve Land Use Planning in Coastal New Hampshire
Principal Investigator(s): Fay Rubin, Complex Systems Research Center, UNH
Project Start Date: September 1, 2007
Report Compiled By: Fay Rubin

Contributing team members and their role in the project:

• Fay Rubin and David Justice of Complex Systems Research Center (CSRC), UNH – primary role in the current reporting period has been in managing the project, and completing the impervious surface data set for Rockingham County
• Bill Salas, Pete Ingraham, and Steve Hagen of Applied GeoSolutions (AGS) – primary contribution in the current reporting period has been in the design and implementation of the initial web tool
• Shane Bradt, Julia Peterson, and Amanda Stone, Cooperative Extension (CE), UNH – primary role during the current period has been to review the initial web tool and submit requested modifications to AGS

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

1. Complete impervious surface (IS) data
2. Apply impervious surface data to land use categorization to derive IS coefficients
3. Develop and test online GIS planning tool

Progress on each objective is reported below:

Progress on Tasks
1.Complete impervious surface data
Impervious surface (IS) data has been completed for the 37 towns in Rockingham County. The data was derived from 2005, 1-foot resolution aerial photography. The mapping identified 27,740 acres of IS for the county, representing 5.96% of the total area (465,171 acres) and 6.25% of the total land area (444,033 acres). Figure 1 shows the density and distribution of coverage throughout the county. As expected, the heaviest concentrations lie in the southwest and northeast parts of the county.

We did not conduct a formal accuracy assessment of the IS data, as the post-classification clean-up phase was lengthy and required extensive scrutiny of the large-scale source data. As such, we are confident that areas mapped as impervious based on the project definitions are indeed impervious, while errors of omission are rare.

The resulting IS data is available for distribution in town-based tiles in two formats: raster and vector/shapefiles. The raster files are generally in the 3-5 mb range, while the shapefiles are considerably larger (up to 32 mb). FGDC-compliant metadata has been generated for both formats.

Our initial plan was to distribute the vector data through the GRANIT web data distribution system. However, we did not anticipate the file sizes being as large as they are, which makes web-based distribution cumbersome for most users. Accordingly, we are making stakeholders aware of the data through available mechanisms (e.g. "news" on the GRANIT web site, email notification to GRANIT subscribers, etc.), and are presently using standard media to distribute the data as we seek a more efficient solution.

2. Apply IS data to land use categorization to derive IS coefficients
The IS data was used in conjunction with the 2005 county-wide land use to derive weighted IS coefficients for each of the developed land use classes. The resulting coefficients are presented below.

Land Use Code	Land Use Description	IS Ratio
1110	Multi-family, medium to high rise apartments and condominiums (4 or more stories)	0.409308
1120	Multi-family, low rise apartments and townhouses, but not duplexes (1 -3 stories)	0.315815
1130	Single family/duplex	0.122621
1140	Mobile home parks	0.211783
1150	Group and transient quarters	0.468265
1190	Other residential	0.424402
1210	Commercial retail	0.609971
1220	Commercial wholesale	0.515597
1230	Services	0.441586
1240	Lodging	0.544732
1250	Government	0.436072
1260	Institutional	0.473892
1270	Educational	0.426875
1280	Indoor cultural/public assembly	0.57804
1290	Other commercial, services, and institutional	0.23686
1300	Industrial	0.472095
1370	Mining	0.012134
1410	Air transportation	0.42235
1420	Rail transportation	0.023216
1430	Water transportation	0.451147
1441	Limited & controlled highway right-of-way	0.983433
1442	Road right-of-way	0.972005
1445	Park & ride lot	0.688722
1446	Parking structure/lot	0.830107
1447	Auxiliary transportation	0.070404
1449	Other road transportation	0.687282
1450	Communication	0.226569
1460	Electric, gas and other utilities	0.051116
1470	Water and wastewater utilities	0.11113
1480	Solid waste utilities	0.106261
1490	Other transportation, communications, and utilities	0.903169
1510	Industrial park	0.495765
1520	Office park	0.559193
1530	Shopping mall	0.880792
1580	Other industrial complexes	0.570652
1590	Other commercial complexes	0.749342
1610	Multiple stories, residential in upper stories only	0.637776
1690	Other mixed uses	0.134151
1710	Outdoor cultural	0.161993
1720	Outdoor public assembly	0.232176
1730	Outdoor recreation	0.080497
1740	Cemeteries	0.07139
1790	Other outdoor and other urban or built-up land	0.90286
1800	Vacant Land	0.232217
2900	Other Agricultural Land	0.141118

(Note:  Other Agricultural Land was included in the calculation of coefficients
because of  the farm-related buildings mapped in that category.)

Both the IS data set and IS coefficients have been delivered to AGS for incorporation into future development scenarios as well as the project web tools.

3. Develop and test online GIS planning tool
Staff from AGS completed the initial phase of work on the proposed online site planning tool – currently named the Site Planning Tool for Seacoast NH. The basic site infrastructure is now complete and usable. The web-based site planning tool is run though the user's browser and is platform-independent. Developed using open-source tools, including python, html, java-script, perl, Google Maps, University of Minnesota's MapServer, and PostgreSQL with PostGIS extension, the system is design to directly prompt the user for a limited amount of information (i.e. the boundary representing the applicant's tract) and return to the user a printable pdf report containing maps and pertinent information about the proposed tract. The functionality is intentionally focused and limited, resulting in an application that is easy to use and produces results quickly.

Key characteristics of the site tool include:

1. The user is first prompted for an address near the proposed tract. This can be a town name or a street address.


2. The user can then pan and zoom within the ìslippableî map window, until they can clearly see the tract on the background Google Maps imagery.


3. The user is prompted to use the ìdrawing toolsî to outline the tract on the Google Maps image.


4. When finished outlining the boundary, the user submits the tract for analysis.


5. The boundary drawn by the user is communicated to the web server and compared to our database of regulatory spatial data. Areas of intersection are registered.


6. A pdf is generated at the server and is returned to the userís web browser. The pdf report includes a summary of the tractís proximity to critical areas, maps, and metadata.

The project team met on July 23, 2009, and spent a portion of the meeting reviewing the status and the current functionality of the tool. At a dedicated meeting on August 12th, a subset of the project team conducted a more thorough evaluation of the tool, resulting in a comprehensive summary of suggested modifications and enhancements.

The feedback gathered during this meeting focused on two central issues: 1) keep the tool focused to the task at hand (allowing communities to produce a report on development sites) and 2) establish a clear, logical sequence for the use of the tool. Several interface changes were suggested which should greatly simplify the use of the tool for new users, as well as many other design enhancements and simplifications.

Knowledge dissemination activities
Because the web tool is still being modified and finalized, it has not yet been presented at any public venues. However, Shane Bradt of the project team is scheduled to present on the project and the beta version of the online planning tool at the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership 2009 ìState of the Estuaries Conferenceî on October 16, 2009, in Somersworth, NH.

Changes to approach
Our basic approach remains in place with no major changes to the site concept since our last progress report.

Collaboration with stakeholders
There has been limited collaboration with target stakeholders during this period, as efforts were directed at building the web tool. However, we expect significant interaction during the next and final phase, as the tool is tested, reviewed, and enhanced.

Project Objectives for Next Reporting Period
The summary produced from the August 12th meeting will be used by AGS to update the online tool during the month of September , with a beta version of the tool scheduled to be available by early October. At that point, the pilot testing will begin. The pilot testing group will be composed of our primary community partner (Exeter), board members of towns with which we have met over the past year, interested parties within our own organizations, and likely a few project team members of other CICEET land use planning grants.

During the last two months of the project, we will incorporate feedback from the pilot testing phase into the final version of the Site Planning Tool for Seacoast NH. We will address those elements that are ìactionableî given our available resources, but certainly anticipate (and welcome) requests for functionality enhancements that will require additional support to accommodate. Cooperative Extension partners will also use this final period to conduct publicity to make other towns in the coastal watershed aware of the web tool and the related project products.

In summary, our objectives for the next reporting period include:

1. Complete enhancements to the beta version of the Site Planning Tool for Seacoast NH


2. Pilot test tool


3. Incorporate appropriate feedback into tool and publish final version


4. Publicize availability of the final version
   

Other issues