[Durham INC] Durham Receives First Delivery of New Statewide Aerial Imagery

Tue Feb 8 12:51:30 EST 2011

CITY OF DURHAM

Office of Public Affairs

101 City Hall Plaza

Durham, NC 27701

News Release

For Details, Contact:

Amy Blalock

Sr. Public Affairs Specialist

(919) 560-4123 x 11253

(919) 475-7735 (cell)

Amy.Blalock at DurhamNC.gov

For Immediate Release:  February 8, 2011

Durham Receives First Delivery of New Statewide Aerial Imagery

First Statewide Collection of High-Resolution Color Imagery for North
Carolina

DURHAM, N.C. - Thanks to the efforts of the City of Durham's Emergency
Communications Center, each county in North Carolina will receive new
statewide aerial imagery - the first statewide collection of high
resolution color imagery for North Carolina. 

The Durham Emergency Communications Center, with its 911 counterparts
across the state in mind, applied for and received a grant for $12.3
million to update statewide aerial imagery from the N.C. 911 Board in
late 2009, as an investment in technology for all emergency call
centers. The shortcoming at that time was a patchwork of aerial imagery
from different years, differing sharpness, and different means of public
access. The new imagery, captured in early 2010, was processed to meet
North Carolina specifications for digital orthophotography and achieve a
complete, consistent, current, and accessible set of pictures accurately
placed on the earth.  

Since the Durham Emergency Communications Center applied for the grant
on behalf of the entire state, it will receive the first county delivery
of the new statewide aerial imagery tomorrow at the quarterly meeting of
the North Carolina Geographic Information Coordinating Council. The
meeting will take place on Wednesday, February 9 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
at the New Education Building in Room 755, located at 301 N. Wilmington
Street, Raleigh.  

According to James Soukup, director of the Durham Emergency
Communications Center, the new images will help 911 centers across the
state respond faster and better with this new information now at their
fingertips. "Location is the most critical piece of information in a 911
call. Consistent statewide data ensures that all North Carolina
residents will be better served by this project," Soukup said. "This
important, ambitious endeavor is also a credit to the N.C. 911 Board
seeing the value of providing this as one mission that enables North
Carolina cities and counties to access the updated information."

Delivery of the high-resolution imagery to the other 99 counties will
proceed through the end of April. In addition to delivery to 100
counties, online public access will be available through N.C. OneMap at 
www.NCOneMap.gov by May 2011. Public uses of the new imagery will
include emergency services, agriculture management, forestry,
transportation services, utility mapping, real estate mapping, and many
more applications.

According to Tonya Pearce, assistant director of the Durham Emergency
Communications Center, the keys to the success of this project were
timely and effective collaboration of public agencies, and intensive
work by numerous private contractors. "Under contract to the City of
Durham, two state agencies worked in tandem to manage the collection of
59,000 images. The N.C. Center for Geographic Information and Analysis
in the Office of the State Chief Information Officer served as the grant
manager and managed the data distribution and online public access. The
Geospatial Management and Technology Office in the Division of Emergency
Management in the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety
managed multiple qualifications-based contractors to acquire and process
the aerial imagery, to perform quality control and packaging, and to
assure positional accuracy of the products."  

In addition, the N.C. Geodetic Survey in the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources managed improvements to North Carolina's
continuously operating reference stations for GPS accuracy and camera
testing capacity, and managed seven additional private contractors that
measured the accuracy of points visible on imagery compared to their
surveyed locations.  

To assure consistency, the Land Records Management Program in the
Secretary of State's Office provided an updated, comprehensive set of
technical specifications for the digital orthophoto base mapping.
Further, the North Carolina Geographic Information Coordinating Council
provided guidance and technical advice, particularly through its
Statewide Mapping Advisory Committee. The N.C. 911 Board provided
oversight to the contracts and advice on outreach to the 911 call
centers across the state.  

According to Pearce, the City of Durham advised the project team in
product requirements for 911 purposes and in technical requirements on
behalf of all local government users of imagery. These team members
included Pearce, GIS Manager Marcus Bryant with the City's Technology
Solutions Department, and GIS Analyst Duane Therriault, also with the
City's Technology Solutions Department.

For more information about this project, contact Pearce at (919)
560-4500, ext. 16273 or via e-mail at Tonya.Pearce at DurhamNC.gov.

About Durham Emergency Communications Center 

The Durham Emergency Communications Center is dedicated to promoting,
preserving, and protecting the safety and security of all citizens in
Durham. The center provides 24-hour, seven-day-a-week 911 access to
citizens and user agencies in and around Durham County. Services include
emergency and non-emergency requests as well as dispatch for police,
fire, EMS, and other City/County support agencies. To learn more, visit 
www.DurhamNC.gov/departments/911. 

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