Public: www.cgrp-gis-external.lanl.gov

LANL: www.cgrp-gis.lanl.gov

Overview

A GIS organizes information

associated with specific geographic

locations into a database that can be

queried by topic and location. The

results can be displayed as maps with

overlays of various kinds of information,

allowing the spatial relationship of the

data to be seen.

For example, highly detailed topographic data and fine-resolution remote sensing photographs, each shown as an array of

tiny grid squares or pixels, necessarily contain huge amounts of information. When

combined by the GIS, these two kinds of files can be scaled, aligned and merged to

create a realistic 3-dimensional image, essentially a photograph draped over a digital

terrain model. Such a computerized visualization can be colored, annotated with text,

overlaid with information generated from other databases, seen from various viewpoints, and even animated so that it tilts and rotates. A GIS needs fast computers

able to handle the large amounts of data. The data storage capacity of this system is

2.3 terabytes of information. A terabyte (TB) is a million megabytes (MB). 

By using web links, remotely located smaller 

computers can easily access the powerful computers

and complex software required for such work. The

GIS has therefore been designed to respond to

queries from users’ desktop computers for specific

datasets and mapping functions, whether or not they

have GIS software themselves. For security and

access control, data can be placed on an internal

Laboratory computer net or on an external, public

access net. This separation permits Laboratory

researchers to have access to full GIS functions and detailed data, but provides some

GIS functions and browsing of GIS output as well as some input by public users. 

Accessing the Data

As a result of the May 2000 Cerro Grande Fire, an immense

amount of data are being generated in regard to the fire’s

complex, ongoing effects on soils, water, vegetation,

structures, and property. A geographic information system

can show the time and spatial relationships of these

datasets, allowing changes caused by the fire to be

analyzed and visualized. As more and more datasets are

added, the number of ways to cross-compare them increase dramatically. 

The GIS utilizes computer technology that makes these specialized data available

to Laboratory and external users via a simple web interface. The intent is to provide

a Laboratory resource for consolidating important fire-related data. This will assist

scientists and emergency managers in anticipating long-term forest fire effects and

in dealing with future emergencies in the Los Alamos area.

Reason for GIS

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The Los Alamos National

Laboratory’s Cerro Grande

Rehabilitation Project (CGRP)

involves many subprojects. One

of them is a geographic information

system for electronically storing

and displaying geographicallyrelated data about the fire’s effects.

The data are used for research,

planning, emergency response,

and for informing the public. They

are available on the internal Lab

computer network, and parts

are also available via our

external web site.

These web sites provide access

to the repository of geospatial

data relating to the May 2000

Cerro Grande Fire. This repository

includes data generated by the

Burned Area Emergency

Rehabilitation (BAER) Team during

and shortly after the fire as well as

data resulting from the ongoing

environmental monitoring

programs related to the fire. These

data are available in two forms:

(i) direct download of individual

geospatial files from a data catalog

and (ii) analysis and visualization

of multiple data files within a webbased geographical information

system (GIS). The GIS can be

accessed, within the Lab, via

an internet map server (IMS)

capability.

LosAlamos

NATIONAL LABORATORY

Text by Randy Mynard and

Gordon Keating, EES-10.

How it Works
Researchers can combine data in new ways to analyze patterns and trends not evident in separate databases.

Analyses can lead to predictive tools for hazards, such as storm runoff patterns from burned areas, and flood

threats in watersheds. Vegetation changes can be monitored and could be combined with burn severity data, rainfall

data, and elevation to anticipate regrowth patterns and areas of possible future fire threat. The GIS enables data to

be extracted, combined in new ways, and displayed as desired by the user. Analytical results of researchers’

computer models can also be stored and displayed, such as predictions of soil transport caused by runoff.

Computer models and GIS can thus provide valuable planning tools for managers and other officials. 

The public interest is well served by having GIS fire and post-fire data available to help us all to understand

the natural recovery processes underway and the long-term effects of the fire.

Benefits

The CGRP-GIS project does not provide information in a vacuum. The suggestions, needs, and contributions

from the project stakeholders (data providers and GIS users) are extremely important to the success and the

value of the project. 

The stakeholder feedback tool harnesses the collective intelligence of all involved stakeholders by identifying the

most important issues, how they are related, and how they relate to the different stakeholders. It facilitates

consensus building through a clarification of both agreements and conflicts. Further, it gives CGRP-GIS personnel

an easy way to document decisions and define new directions for application development. 

In the first step, stakeholders individually review online databases, maps (GIS), and other relevant information.

Where possible, stakeholders provide additional information to the data repository for review by others. Next, in Step

2, stakeholders pick, rank, and organize issues relevant to the process and express opinions. This process is made

more efficient by an online (Web-based), open-response survey that allows freely typed input to questions about

important issues in the project. Individuals are given the opportunity to describe new issues as well as to rank those

provided in the survey. These open-response surveys are synthesized and analyzed in step 3 to identify areas of

conflict and consensus. In Step 4 the results of the analyses are posted on the CGRP-GIS web site for feedback to

individual stakeholders. Steps 2, 3 and 4 can be repeated as the stakeholder community reacts to areas of conflict

and agreement and individuals modify their positions. Finally, in Step 5, newly defined needs are met by acquiring

additional data or developing of new software applications to help the stakeholders make better-informed decisions.

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Feedback and Consensus Building

For information contact: CGRP-GIS@vega.lanl.gov.

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