MDCH-GIS Meeting Minutes, Compiled by Kyle Enger

MDCH-GIS meeting minutes, compiled by Kyle Enger

I neglected to pass a sign-in sheet, but here's who I recall being at the meeting on 14 August 2006:

Tom Largo, Robert Scott, Courtney Pendleton, Rachel Potter, Carolyn Dulai, Katie Macomber, John Spitzley, Erik Foster, Ed Hartwick, and myself.

Ed discussed some aspects of ArcView licensing, presenting info from the files that he emailed to us previously. A few key points:

- 7 people responded to a brief email survey; 4 people wanted the Spatial Analyst extension, 2 wanted the Geostatistical Analysis extension, 2 wanted the ArcPublisher extension, and 2 wanted the Tracking Analyst. 2 people also wanted ArcPress; however, that is now included in ArcView 9.1.

- Spatial Analyst and Geostatistical Analyst have a large amount of overlap.

- Existing Single-user licenses can be converted to concurrent licenses for a one-time cost of $1600.

- Concurrent licenses have potential to save money by allowing more people to use the software, but potential problems exist (determining how many licenses to buy, need to maintain a license server that tracks who's using the software).

- A big question regarding concurrent licenses is management buy-in, and figuring out how much various divisions of MDCH should contribute to a concurrent license scheme. We're not sure how to get that (or if it's worth the trouble to try to get it).

- This topic will be discussed further at future meetings.

Erik Foster gave a presentation on use of mapping and geographic analysis to track West Nile virus (WNV) and Lyme disease. Key points:

- GIS maps are used to display data on dead bird reports and WNV testing results. Many of these can be found at:

- Analysis of potential Lyme disease risk areas was presented. Lyme disease is transmitted by ticks.

1. A surface denoting estimated population density of ticks was generated, using the geographic locations where ticks were found.

2. An assessment of habitat suitability (0-100%) for the ticks was generated using data such as land use type and soil type (e.g., ticks aren't likely to be found in parking lots).

3. The Map Calculator function of ArcView was used to combine the two maps (multiplying population density by habitat suitability). This resulted in a map that showed just tightly defined areas where ticks are likely to be. This would be useful for guiding tick control efforts, which are expensive.

Kyle Enger briefly showed the MDCH-GIS webpages, which are awaiting approval to be placed in MDCH webspace. The group will be notified once that is accomplished. There are 3 pages; a main page, a GIS links page, and a meeting minutes page.