Bringin' it to the People: Data on Demand
The
Indiana Spatial Data Portal is an online repository of more than 7.5 terabytes of data: aerial photography,
elevation data, topographic maps, and more. Many of the state and county maps are made up of hundreds or thousands
of large files. Users often didn't realize the amount of data they were trying to download, or had difficulty
locating all the files for a given area.
The site needed a tool the general public could use to locate and download all the files for a given area. It
needed to be easy to use, and provide information about the size and format of the files people wanted to download.
GIS application developers from the Indiana Geological Survey and Indiana University-University Information Technology
Services collaborated to find a solution to the download issue: they created the "multi-file download tool."
With the download tool, visitors select an area like a county or township. The tool then displays all the different data
available for that area. Each listing includes information on file sizes and formats, so you can see what you are downloading
before you start. Then it is as simple as clicking the box next to the files and choosing where to save then on your computer.
The tool runs in the background, downloading all the selected files with minimum fuss.
Results
Bruce Nielsen of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services says, "I believe that a good tool of any kind enables a person
to do more than he could do before, do it easier, and more efficiently. For me, the ISDP Download Tool accomplishes all three of
these goals."
- The download tool allows the public 24/7 access to Indiana's geospatial data
- Within 6 months, 900 users installed the tool, including commercial, government, military, and educational organizations
- Within 9 months, users downloaded nearly 4 terabytes of data
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