Geospatial Mapping of the Coastal Communities of Alabama 40 Auburn University Students Collect Infrastructure Facilities Data in Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, & Dauphin Island during Jan.-July 2010 Project Duration: Presentation to Campus Technology, 7/20/2010 EDA Grant #: G004824

Problem Statement  Hurricane storm surge and wash of sand and debris inland frustrates clean-up effort  Heavy Equipment damages fixtures covered by debris and sand  $9 billion spent by federal government in mitigation efforts since 1998  50% or more of the damage inflicted on critical utilities during the clean-up effort

Current Condition Each utility company has print or electronic maps in different formats Little coordination during clean-up effort No information sharing system in place to deliver plans to clean-up personnel

AU-EDA Project Goals ProblemBenchmark / Goal There is no regional model of infrastructure data sharing among multiple partners in coastal regions. Identify issues related to data storage, sharing, and security Sign MOAs with cities & utilities Critical community infrastructure data needs to be collected, stored and backed up as new buildings, roads, and utilities are installed. Collect & store infrastructure data from multiple partners in the Alabama coastal community Upload data to Virtual Alabama During a disaster, ad-hoc facilities and practices often bypass physical and access controls used under normal operations. Identify members of recovery team Retrieve stored data effectively Train members of the recovery team on effective use of the GIS data Mark infrastructure elements right after a disaster

Scope of Project: Alabama Coastal Area

Project Team: Two year project David Mixson, Walker JacksonP.K. Raju Chetan S Sankar, Amit Mitra, Luke Marzen Barry CumbieSteve Henderson, Diane Brown

Training Provided to Students Prior to Being Deployed at Site Student workers were provided hands on training from team leaders on how to use the Topcon-GMS2 units Student workers were provided instruction manuals on the units to reference while working in their groups of two. Lastly, student workers were provided an icons list, so they could easily identify infrastructure elements while working on site.

Data Collection at Gulf Shores During Week One (Feb ) Team leaders: Darrell Rigsby and Satish Kuchi Student Workers: (Team 3) Sarah Tway, Mark Stevenson, John Neubauer, Grant Martin and Tim Ledlow (Team 5) Andy Dyer, David Rose, Michael Porter and John Davenport Data Points Collected: 605 Walking Miles Covered: 4

Data Collection during Week Two (Feb ) at Gulf Shores Team leaders: Darrell Rigsby, Satish Kuchi and Kati Jones Student workers: (Team1) Kanesha Belyue, Caitlin Duff, Carter Rice and Alex Johnson (Team 4) Tyler Gibson, Grant Moore, Lauren McManus and Sara Yousey (Team 6) Milaika Pickard, Drew Turner, Eric Hirstein and Satish Kutchi Data Points Collected: 1592 Walking Miles Covered: 9.16

DateData Points Collected Walking Miles March 5– March April April April June June Total11,66188 Similarly …….

Data Collected So far in the Project Data Collected So far in the Project Data Points Collected:11,661 Walking Miles : 88 Total Manhours:540

Example of Collected Data

Future Plans Data Collection in Bayou La Batre, Dauphin Island Upload data to Virtual Alabama Provide data to city & utilities Develop Recovery Strategies Develop training materials Train appropriate personnel on use of GMS-2 units & retrieve data

Benefits: Student Learning Students get to work with GIS technologies Give back to community Learn ArcGIS and other technologies Improve communication skills Improve team working skills Enhance leadership skills Students stated that they understood goals and learned significantly

Heightened awareness of financial crisis that hurricanes can cause a community Good Experience: ◦ Being responsible for a real world project ◦ Using technical devices  Topcon GIS Unit  Laser Unit ◦ Learning to communicate as a team Student Project Impressions

Team members had a favorable impression of the experience Team working skills improved Team members proud that our work can be used to help the economy of coastal Alabama

Benefits: Advance Productivity, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship 40% of reconstruction costs can be eliminated if geospatial data are available on-line Time to recover from damage is expected to be halved due to the availability of these data Will make economic impact of this project very attractive The concept of geospatial mapping of a coastal area is innovative; Project team members learn to apply theories learned in class to solve a practical problem

Campus Technology Home Page Campus Technology Innovators

Questions & Contacts Chetan S. Sankar, Principal Investigator, David Mixson, ATAC, Co-PI, Amit Mitra, Assoc. Dean, Co-PI, P.K. Raju, Co-PI, Barry Cumbie, Senior Investigator, Steve Henderson, GIS Coordinator, Gulf Shores, (251) Luke Marzen, Senior Invesigator, (334) 844