Enhancing ACIS Maps: Increasing Usability through a GIS Portal

Abstract

Since 2003, the High Plains Regional Climate Center (HPRCC) has been producing the Applied Climate Information System (ACIS) Climate Summary Maps for users all across the country. The maps allow users to quickly and easily assess climate conditions for various time scales that range from weeks to months to years, as well as spatial scales varying from state to regional and national levels. Although popular among the climate and drought monitoring community, the maps are utilized by a number of sectors, including academia, agriculture, government, resource management, and utilities. Over the years, the HPRCC has received a number of requests from users looking to customize and enhance the ACIS Climate Summary Maps. With funding provided by the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), the Center is now able to produce and distribute GIS versions of the ACIS Climate Summary Maps. Maps in GIS formats help to meet user needs by allowing them the opportunity to create custom color scales, choose specific regions, and combine information from various sources with the data available in the mapped products. The GIS data are available via a GIS Portal and GeoServer, which are accessible from the HPRCC website.

The Use of Geoinformatics in Coastal Atmospheric Transport Phenomena: The Athens Experiment

“…Furthermore, nowadays the improvements in these scientific fields have made available a wide spectrum of plugins for GIS which allow the performance of complete steps during model simulations [23]. Additionally, web-enabled geo-databases improve data use, since they provide quick and efficient access to information to various groups, supporting cost effective decision-making [24]. Finally, since satellite technology is evolving faster than numerical modeling, continuous update of numerical models is required in order to be benefited as much as possible from the enriched availability of satellite data sets [11].…”