Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
respondents (58.8 %) said that they would use the Maumee Basin Online GIS
for watershed planning efforts. Some were not sure how they were going to use
the site, while others were going to look more closely at the data layers it provides.
Other ways of utilizing this resource were for producing maps, public outreach, and
teaching. The responses for not using this site were because they aren't directly
involved in watershed planning, this doesn't go along with the organization's
mission, or they already have their own comprehensive datasets. The type of
mapping needs the participants saw in the future ranged from infrastructure, adding
certain datasets, personnel and resources, among others. The datasets that the
respondents felt would help in watershed planning included more high resolution
imagery, underground utilities, and more water quality data.
9.6 Discussion
In analyzing the results of the survey, it became clear that there is a definite need for
GIS in watershed planning efforts. Those who responded to the survey represented
employees from each category, including working for the federal government or
being consultants in a private firm. This supports the fact that watershed planning
efforts come from a culmination of people with various skill sets, expertise, and
professional responsibilities who are working in the watershed at varying spatial
scales and for a range of purposes. With that said their responses to watershed
concerns really depended on who they worked for or what projects they were
involved with. It wasn't a surprise that funding was a primary issue since every
agency or firm seems to be in a budget crunch.
When beginning to ask about GIS, a few respondents dropped out of the survey.
It could have been a time constraint issue, but it could also have been that these
respondents really didn't know or understand what GIS is. For the most part, the
respondents who continued the survey had been working with GIS for at least 1 year
and therefore felt comfortable answering this set of questions. The question about
how the respondents use GIS data was insightful in the fact that many respondents
used the data for statistical analysis. This along with the frequency of using GIS
really shows the technical abilities that some of respondents have in this watershed
area. The question about improvements to the respondents GIS capabilities really
varied and was based on their level of GIS at the time of the survey, with many of
them wanting training of some kind.
The spatial data resources section was in part to see what data resources the
respondents were currently using, but it was also a way to educate the respondents
on other resources they might not have known about by providing the website
addresses to these sites. Since most of the Western Lake Erie Basin is in Ohio, it
was no surprise that ODNR GIMS site was used by more respondents than the
Indiana GIS Atlas. Those responding to requesting data from other agencies
or individuals suggest that the data sharing capabilities are there if you know the
right people. In response to data themes, it was expected that hydrography and
