Geospatial: Tracking the oil muck with GIS

A Homeland Security Department program that allows emergency response officials from states and localities to readily share geospatial data is helping officials coordinate responses to the BP oil spill. Officials from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida have been using DHS' Virtual USA program to share data related to the oil spill, according to David Boyd, director of the Command, Control and Interoperability Division in the department’s Science and Technology Directorate. Federal officials from DHS, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have also used Virtual USA in the response work, he added. The Virtual USA program that allows states to share geospatial data and metadata and create data mashups is being used to coordinate responses across states’ boundaries. Boyd said historically the coordination would have been done over the telephone, but now officials can work with a common set of images and metadata. Boyd made the comments at the Open Government and Innovations Conference in Washington. (Source: Federal Computer Week, 05/05/10) Note: Stennis Space Center is home to multiple geospatial technology activities.