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Data Sharing
Indiana is leading the way in extending the value of its Geographic Information System (GIS) data by setting up a process that collects and aggregates local geospatial data, distributes that data within state government and to the public, and contributes the data to federal data portals. This benefits Hoosiers by saving them substantial tax payer funds by “reusing” the same maps and data many times and benefits others by strengthening our national geospatial data holding.
The Indiana Geographic Office joined with other GIS partners to 
begin an effort to bring together important data created by Indiana counties. This effort sought to develop and publish four new statewide geographic data layers: land parcels, address points that connect a street address with a geographic coordinate, street centerlines with street name and address ranges, and local administrative boundaries such as school and election districts. Since its inception, 87 of our 92 counties have agreed to share this information so that Indiana citizens and others will receive the added benefit of these data that had not previously been available as statewide data sets. As a result of this Data Sharing initiative, these new data layers are already being used by State Police, Indiana Department of Homeland Security, Department of Natural Resources, and the Secretary of State’s office, as well as Indiana universities and the private sector.
These new data layers, along with other geographic information are freely available to the public from the IndianaMap (www.IndianaMap.org) and, as a result, have effectively lowered the cost of doing business in Indiana as documented in a recent return on investment study (http://www.igic.org/projects/indianamap/IndianaMapNews.pdf). Indiana companies have recognized the benefit of over 230 layers of publicly available, highly accurate, and current geospatial information offered for viewing and download at the IndianaMap.
The true value of the statewide data sharing initiative was revealed recently when Clark County needed to respond quickly to the March 2012 tornados that devastated parts of southern Indiana. “We wanted to be able to quickly produce field maps and other geospatial data products to help our community, the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, and FEMA understand and best respond to the rapidly changing situation in our county,” said Vicky Kent Haire, Clark County Assessor. “Having accurate land parcels, road centerlines, and other data already integrated in statewide data layers before the event saved a lot of time in a situation in which every minute was critical.”
DATA
Four important geospatial data layers have been compiled from data maintained by various county agencies in Indiana as part of the Data Sharing Initiative between Indiana Geographic Information Council (IGIC), Indiana Office of Technology (IOT), Indiana Geographic Information Office (GIO), Indiana Department of Homeland Security (IDHS), Indiana Geological Survey (IGS) and participating Indiana counties.
These layers
are provided "as-is". Be sure to read the full metadata for each layer.
Metadata and the download link for the four layers can be found at the IndianaMap:
Address Points
http://maps.indiana.edu/Infrastructure/Streets_Address_Points_IDHS.html
Street Centerline
http://maps.indiana.edu/Infrastructure/Streets_Centerlines_IDHS.html
Land Parcels
http://maps.indiana.edu/Reference/Land_Parcels_County_IDHS.html
Administrative Boundarie
http://maps.indiana.edu/Government/Boundaries_Miscellaneous_IDHS.html
BENEFIT OF THE PROJECT
Service to Citizens - Response to large natural disasters, like recent Indiana flooding, often takes coordinated response from local officials, responders, volunteers, Indiana National Guard, local and State Police, Federal agencies, the Red Cross, Animal Rescue, and many more - and that takes coordinated data. In a time when every second counts, the IndianaMap can help assure those who need it are reading from the same playbook - they'll have consistent, quality, timely information for decision-making. The IndianaMap helps coordinate information for response to help save lives and property of those communities that participate.
"GIS, in this response, on this disaster and other disasters, is extremely valuable, as you know. We will certainly use this data, because we like to use the best available data and that's the data that's most always State and Local. Because a lot of the [emergency response] people that come into a disaster are from other states, they're just simply not familiar enough to know that Brown County is south [of Indianapolis] and Hamilton is north. They just don't know that sort of thing. So we answer an awful lot of questions. We also look analytically at where people are who have been impacted by disasters, and that's what we've done here." - Sean Donovan, Joint Field Operations, FEMA, speaking about the value of State and Local GIS data.
MEDIA COVERAGE
The Long and Winding Road – To Data Sharing Success in Indiana
FME Insider Newsletter- Fall 2012
A Very Spatial Podcast
A Very Spatial Podcast is a weekly source for information on Geography and geospatial technologies. Geography touches most things done everyday, but rarely thought of. This podcast seeks to point out how it is filtering into digital and daily lives.A VerySpatial Podcast – Episode 192 (Full Episode)
