New York State Office of Cyber Security
Geographic Information Systems Clearinghouse
GIS Partnership Summary
New York Statewide Digital Orthoimagery Program (NYSDOP)
2009
GIS Partnership Award Winner
Partnership Purpose and Goal
The goal of the NYSDOP is to deliver consistently high quality orthoimagery and other related products in a manner which offers economies of scale combined with flexibility to customize for localized needs. To meet these goals, CSCIC, as the contract holder, has worked in partnerships with numerous Federal, State, County, and Local government agencies. In turn, these partners have formed partnerships of their own to pool resources. Most of the following focuses on financial aspects of partnerships, but the data and knowledge sharing portions of these partnerships have been very valuable
Participants and Resource Contributions
Contribution is financial support unless otherwise noted; nearly all are members of the Cooperative. Many more entities are partners as data users, especially those who have provided useful feedback.
State Agencies: CSCIC, NYSDOT (Funding and technical), NYSDEC (funding, technical, and field staff), Thruway, NYS DOH (technical), Ag & Mkts (technical), OFT (technical), Elmira-Chemung Transportation Council, MTA-LIRR.
Counties: Chautauqua (funding and data), Chemung, Yates (funding and data), Tompkins, St Lawrence, Warren, Schenectady, Otsego, Greene, Fulton, Montgomery, Oneida, Otsego, Ulster, Dutchess (funding and data), Putnam, Westchester (funding and data), Rockland (funding and data), Suffolk, Sullivan, Nassau(funding and data), New York City DOITT and DEP (funding and data).
Local: City of Newburgh, Village of Watkins Glen, Village of Montour Falls.
Federal: USGS (funding and web service), NGA, USDA, DOD (Fort Drum), FEMA.
Time Frame
Date Partnership Began: March 2000
Completion Date: On-going
Deliverables
High resolution and accuracy digital orthoimagery which is delivered to Federal, State, and County agencies and is made available through the GIS Clearinghouse and a web service.
Other products related to ortho production, such as digital stereo-imagery which has been distributed in response to requests for DTM compilation and wetland delineation projects. The rough DTM files need for orthorectification have also been shared for initial site surveys by State agencies. Checkpoints used to confirm the accuracy of the NYSDOP imagery have been shared with USDA to help confirm the accuracy of the NAIP imagery.
LIDAR data meeting FEMA Flood Map Update DTM requirements which has been shared with Federal, State, County, and Local agencies and which is expected to be made available through the Clearinghouse.
Brief Summary of Partnership
The success of the NYSDOP is largely based on the success of the partnerships which support it, thus the partnerships must be considered successful. While funding partnerships have varied from year to year, the constant technical support supplied by the NYSDOT Photogrammetry Section has been key in ensuring high quality deliverables. Funding partnerships have taken two forms: the more common funding to upgrade the base deliverables, and the less common but critically important funding to support the program in more general fashion. While all partnerships are important, examples of local upgrade partnerships which stand out include the Elmira-Chemung Transportation Council’s work with Chemung County (2006) and villages in Schuyler County (2007), and Suffolk County’s work to partner with towns and the LIRR in 2007. When funding partnerships are created to address localized needs, the partners save money compared to a separate stand-alone contract and gain from the involvement of CSCIC and NYSDOT staff. At the same time, the upgraded imagery is widely available because of CSCIC’s commitment to the Data Sharing Cooperative and the GIS Clearinghouse.
The CSCIC-USGS partnership has become critical to the continued success of the NYSDOP. Frank Kenney, the USGS Liaison to New York State, has led the way to making USGS funding for coverage of key urban areas and general support a nearly sure-thing. This predictability has made planning for upcoming years significantly less tenuous. At the other end of the process, USGS has provided a web mapping service which helps make the final orthoimagery even more widely available.
The NYSDOP has evolved based on input from partners. This includes the change from panchromatic imagery in rural areas to natural color, the more recent transition to 4-band orthoimagery to benefit users of CIR imagery, and the reworking of contract language so upgrades could be applied on more customizable areas that often match project and funding footprints. Based on the success of partnerships for orthoimagery production, the NYSDOP contract was expanded in 2008 to include LIDAR collection and processing. This has proved capable of meeting demands from NYS DEC and NYC DEP for data to update FEMA flood maps while also ensuring the data will be made widely available. In addition, CSCIC has been able to use its contacts from previous partnerships to foster collaboration on LIDAR projects.
Including all orthoimagery and LIDAR production through the current 2009 project, the NYSDOP has covered approximately $21.3-million in deliverables and contract services. Funding sources have been distributed as shown below.
Source
Approximate Funding
Percent of Total
CSCIC (NYS Funds)
$ 14,000,000
66%
Other State Agencies
$ 900,000
4%
Counties
$ 4,400,000
21%
Federal
$ 2,000,000
9%
The importance of funding partnerships was shown in stark fashion in late 2008. Outreach for the planned 2009 NYSDOP production had already been done, and funding commitments were in hand from USGS, NYC DEP, Dutchess County, and Ulster County. In December, as budget adjustments were being made at all State Agencies, CSCIC was informed that the expected base funding for 2009 had be eliminated. By leveraging the standing commitments from other entities, CSCIC was able to get enough funding to meet the State’s portion of the costs for the upgraded areas, as well as obtaining funds to update the remainder of the Adirondacks. Without those partnerships, CSCIC would have had a much more difficult task to get any funds restored.
The biggest challenge to successful NYSDOP partnerships has been the lack of accurate projections of coverage. Based on this feedback, CSCIC launched efforts to release plans for future yearly coverage earlier in the process. This effort has been partly successful, but the current fiscal climate has made funding, and thus coverage extents, much less predictable while also making projections more tenuous.