Developing Enterprise GIS Infrastructure for the Florida Department of Health Chris DuClos, M.S. Florida Department of Health Division of Environmental Health Presentation for: 1 st Annual ESRI International Health GIS Conference November 13, 2001

The History of GIS at Florida DOH - The SUPER Act Program  SUPER Act = State Underground Petroleum Environmental Response Act (NOT federal Superfund program)  Created in 1986 by Florida Legislature; samples wells around contaminated petroleum facilities  Florida has ~23,000 contaminated facilities

The File Pile...

GIS & GPS to the Rescue!  Handheld computers with GPS units used to record attribute data & Latitude/Longitude  Data is exported from handheld to database  GPS Database connected to ArcView GIS software  ArcView used to produce hardcopy maps  GIS Analyst hired to improve basemap data layers

GIS Grows from SUPER Act Program to the Entire Bureau  GIS Analyst for SUPER Act gave presentations highlighting how other programs in the Bureau of Environmental Epidemiology can benefit from GIS  Other programs agreed to participate in GIS (esp. childhood lead, pesticides, epi surveillance)  Bureau agreed to standardize on ESRI products to save money and facilitate data sharing  Two high-profile GIS projects led to a period of expansion

Division of Environmental Health GIS  The Bureau of Environmental Epidemiology’s GIS Analyst became the Division’s GIS/GPS Coordinator  The GIS/GPS Coordinator visited with all programs in all five bureaus to promote GIS  The GIS/GPS Coordinator expanded GIS in the Division and created a Department-wide GIS Workgroup  The GIS Workgroup grew to over 75 members

The GIS Workgroup  GIS users in other Divisions became more educated  By participating in the DOH Workgroup, employees received access to GIS data housed on Environmental Health server  Demand increased beyond the ability of Environmental Health to support  The Division of Information Technology finally took notice…

GIS Standards Discussion Group  Formed from larger GIS Workgroup  Standards drafted by Discussion Group and then revised several times  Comments and suggestions accepted from larger GIS Workgroup  Final revisions made and submitted to the Department of Health’s Information Technology Standards Workgroup

Integrating GIS as Part of the Enterprise  IT asks Environmental Health to submit a plan for Enterprise GIS  EH had a vested interest because we needed to modernize GIS resources  Enterprise GIS as part of an Integrated Health Information System (IHIS)  IT hires a GIS Consultant to get the Enterprise plan moving

Enterprise GIS Resources - Data  Geographic Data Technologies Dynamap 2000  Florida Geographic Data Library (from University of Florida GeoPlan Center)  1994/95 and 1999 USGS Aerials  USGS Digital Raster Graphics (DRGs) - scanned quadrangle maps  Program Databases

Enterprise GIS Resources - Software  ArcGIS 8.1 (ArcView & ArcInfo)  ArcIMS  ArcExplorer  Accumail Address Validation/Cleanup Software

Ongoing Support  Desktop Support for ArcGIS  Updating ArcIMS websites  Documenting Data Backup Requirements and Operational Support Requirements  Establishing Security Access Profiles and System Problem Notification Procedures

Training Issues  Workgroup meetings  Local training options  Onsite training  Cooperation with other government agencies to hold joint training

Enterprise GIS Software/Data