Geospatial capabilities for a BEST MANAGED Georgia 1 Georgia Geospatial Advisory Council (GGAC) Business Case for Accurate Digital Elevation Data Acquisition for Georgia Prepared by the Georgia Geospatial Advisory Council (GGAC) Danielle Ayan, GISP, Chair | DRAFT

Geospatial capabilities for a BEST MANAGED Georgia 2 Business Needs for Elevation Data  90% of all U.S. natural disasters involve flooding *  Floodplain mapping, the basis for assessing risk and Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps (DFIRMS), is based on elevation data  ~25% of annual flood insurance program claims are on properties outside the official flood zone * ?OpenDocument

Geospatial capabilities for a BEST MANAGED Georgia 3 Business Needs for Elevation Data  GA avg flood insurance rates: o $616/yr for properties in the flood zone; $333 for properties outside the flood zone  As estimated 2,000 people in Austell lost their homes or sustained significant damage in September’s flood. But only 60 flood insurance policies were in force on Austell properties, federal data show. * ?OpenDocument

Geospatial capabilities for a BEST MANAGED Georgia 4 Business Needs for Elevation Data  Properties that lie within the official flood hazard area having federally backed mortgages are required to have flood insurance.  66 communities across Georgia, most of them small cities outside the metro area, are not in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) X

Geospatial capabilities for a BEST MANAGED Georgia 5 Business Needs for Elevation Data  FEMA moving to the Watershed Approach to prioritizing risk (needs elevation)  Floodplain mapping o Digital elevation mapping is basis for floodplain engineering analysis o Computed water surface elevations are mapped onto the digital elevation surface yielding floodplain study results (both riverine and coastal) o [Insert picture/video] o Directly impacts the Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps (DFIRMS)

Geospatial capabilities for a BEST MANAGED Georgia 6 Other Location Information Impacting Flooding  Location factors affecting Floodplain mapping and flooding o Development o LandUse o Pervious/impervious surfaces

Geospatial capabilities for a BEST MANAGED Georgia 7 Functions Served by Elevation Data  Economic Development  Environmental Protection  Flood Determination  Fire protection

Geospatial capabilities for a BEST MANAGED Georgia 8 Existing Elevation Data for Georgia  Inconsistent o Coastal GA: 2010 | Xm resolution | o Rest of the state: 10-meter National Elevation Dataset | [date] []

Geospatial capabilities for a BEST MANAGED Georgia 9 Economy-of-Scale: Case Study  Coastal Georgia Elevation Project (CGEP) o USGS + NOAA + DNR CRD + CGRC + Local Govts o 1-foot accuracy

Geospatial capabilities for a BEST MANAGED Georgia 10 Why Does Geospatial Matter ?  U.S. Department of Labor has identified Geospatial Technology as a High Growth Industry:  Detailed data about government programs, and geospatial visualization of that data, can provide a clarifying vision for action where action is needed most.  According to the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO), geospatial capabilities represent “a portfolio of capabilities that extends across the enterprise. The investment in this portfolio is growing … in every aspect of government decision making.”* * National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO), “Governance of Geospatial Resources: Where’s the Data? Show Me’ – Maximizing Investment in State Geospatial Resources.” July 2008:

Geospatial capabilities for a BEST MANAGED Georgia 11 Conundrum  Federal government maps predict in parcel-by-parcel detail where the water will travel when a megastorm hits  Not all Georgia counties have digital parcel data

Geospatial capabilities for a BEST MANAGED Georgia 12 Links  AJC Flood Map:  See Chris Diller ($7M from Housing Dept for LiDAR due to flooding)  WI: grants-announced.htmlhttp://news.sco.wisc.edu/news/state-land-information/wisconsin-department-of-commerce-lidar- grants-announced.html    OH LiDAR:

Geospatial capabilities for a BEST MANAGED Georgia 13 Contact Questions/comments should be directed to the Georgia Geospatial Advisory Council (GGAC) Chair: