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Project
Background
RATIONALE:
In
the Joint Strategic Plan for Management of Great Lakes Fisheries
(1981, revised in 1997), United States Canadian federal, state,
provincial, and intertribal agencies agreed to share data,
particularly through compatabile, automated information systems.
To faciliate sharing of data and holistic management of the
Great Lakes basin, GIS-based classifications of aquatic ecological
units are being assembled. This will include map-delineated
spatial units and associated habitat and biological attribute
data for terrestrial, tributary rivers, nearshore, and offshore
ecosystems. This system would serve as the fundamental base
map on which to compile and view landscape-scale inventory
of Great Lakes Basin aquatic resources.
OBJECTIVES:
1.)
Develop seamless, standardized, habitat-based GIS projects
for the Great Lakes.
2.)
Develop a collaborative plan and establish institutional arrangements
for long-term data sharing, development, distribution, training
and maintenance of Great Lakes GIS databases.
PROJECT
STATEMENT :
The
many groups and organizations responsible for conserving resources
in the Great Lakes basin have traditionally managed resources
in their jurisdiction independently. Although much data have
been collected, little integration or data sharing has occurred.
To
facilitate a holistic approach to managing the Great Lakes
basin, a GIS-based Decision Support System (DSS) is being
developed.
A
GIS database should, for the first time, allow the integration
of data developed by the numerous U.S. and Canadian agencies
responsible for conserving this system.
In
addition to integrating existing data from federal, state,
provincial, tribal, and non-governmental organizations, this
information system will also provide a means of inventorying
and monitoring basin habitat (e.g. terrestrial, tributary,
nearshore, and offshore systems).
The
primary objective of the GLGIS Project is to integrate data
from each lake basin into a common database to provide an
inventory of basin-wide aquatic resources. Additionally, many
new layers and tools are also being developed to ensure that
the DSS is a powerful tool for analysis of whole-system responses
to management alternatives.
PROPOSED
WORK :
The
Great Lakes GIS Project will provide comprehensive GIS projects
for each Great Lake and the entire Great Lakes basin and provide
recommendations for long-term distribution and maintenance
of GIS-based data.
In
order to accomplish these goals, we will complete the following
tasks:
1.)
Compile existing digital base maps and ecological classifications
of Great Lakes habitats;
2.)
Coordinate with multiple, related, ongoing initiatives to
track progress, assist where possible, and remove redundancies;
3.)
Inventory available data and perform work needed to more fully
develop the overall Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat GIS;
4.)
Develop a prototype GIS for distribution via the Internet.
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