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Christina Spielman of NYPIRG and Jane Solkolow, OASIS Coordinator. Photo taken by David Stolarz

 

GIS Partnership Summary

Open Accessible Space Information System (OASIS)

2004 GIS Partnership Award Winner

 

 

Partnership Purpose and Goal:

The Open Accessible Space Information System (OASIS) collaborative was initiated in December 2000 under the leadership of the USDA Forest Services’ Urban Resources Partnership (now overseen through the Forest Service’s Urban & Community Forestry program). The vision and goal for OASIS was to harness the growing power of online mapping tools and geospatial technology so average citizens, neighborhood groups and others could both improve and better care for open spaces - such as community gardens, wetlands and parks - in and around New York City. OASIS has since grown to a regional scale.

Participants and Resource Contributions:

A partial list of participants/contributors includes:

Federal Government: USDA Forest Service* (funding, staff), US Environmental Protection Agency* (funding, data), US Army Corps of Engineers* (data), US Geological Survey* (data), USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service* (funding), National Park Service*.

NY State Government: NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation* (data).

NY City Government: NYC Dept. of Parks and Recreation (data), NYC Dept. of Finance (data), NYC Dept. of City Planning (data), NYC Dept. of Information Technology and Telecommunications* (data), NYC Dept. of Environmental Protection (data), Greenthumb (data).

Non-profit: NYPIRG’s Community Mapping Assistance Project* (staff, hardware, data, website development and management), Council on the Environment of NYC (data, staff, outreach ideas), Open Road (data, staff, outreach ideas), New Yorkers for Parks (staff, data, outreach ideas), Municipal Art Society (data, staff, funding), Green Map (staff), NYC Environmental Justice Alliance (staff), Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance (data), Trees NY (staff), Regional Plan Association* (data), Sustainable South Bronx (data), NY Restoration Project, Historic House Trust (data), Neighborhood Open Space Coalition.

Academia: CIESIN – Columbia University * (data, technical support), SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry* (data – analyzed in conjunction with the Forest Service), CRSSA – Rutgers University (data), Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Private Sector: ESRI (software, technical support), Community Cartography (data), SpaceTrack (data), istudiodesign (technical support)

* indicates member of NYS GIS Data Sharing Cooperative.

Time Frame

Date Partnership Began: December 2000
Completed: OASIS is an on-going partnership and project.

Deliverables:

The OASIS participants have pooled their resources to create a free accessible interactive map for the NYC metro area (www.oasisnyc.net). No other single source provides access to the information provided by OASIS for New York City – almost four-dozen layers of spatial data about the city’s “green infrastructure.” Website users can do the following and more on OASIS:

  • Search for open space by neighborhood;
  • identify the elected officials who represent parks and community gardens;
  • view high resolution aerial imagery to locate trees and other vegetation;
  • identify detailed land use data (including potential open spaces such as vacant lots);
  • view wetlands, wildlife areas, and historic landmarks; and
  • compare Census demographics with open space and other land use patterns.

Brief Summary of Partnership :

The Open Accessible Space Information System (OASIS) in New York City is a coalition of more than 40 nonprofit organizations, government agencies, businesses, educational institutions, and individuals. Its centerpiece is the first citywide website ( www.oasisnyc.net) that enhances environmental stewardship by providing a common, free, online, spatial data inventory. The OASIS website helps people see and understand their neighborhoods by visualizing data through mapping over the Internet. It makes information available to communities that cannot afford expensive mapping tools and/or access the complex pool of government and private sources of spatial data necessary to understand and plan for open space.

The OASIS partnership addresses several problems. For community organizations and local residents, it makes green infrastructure data accessible to groups that are without geographic information system (GIS) resources. In this way, it strengthens these groups’ ability to participate in government decision-making, now that they are armed with information and analysis on the use of space in their neighborhood. For example, community gardeners use the OASIS website to locate vacant lots that are in close proximity to their gardens, and print these maps for meetings with local legislators.

For government, it helps reduce the costs and redundancy of open space mapping efforts across agencies. It helps these agencies identify incomplete or inaccurate spatial data, especially at the neighborhood/community scale.

For all parties, it helps reduce the need for independent greening and mapping efforts that had led to inefficient data creation due to replication of efforts and incomplete or inaccurate open space data and maps. It enables communities to nurture open space with modern technology and information by creating maps of open space on demand, and identifying key open-space resources and stewardship activity near a user-defined location.

The OASIS pilot project has exceeded its original goals. The website is accessed an average of 100,000 times per month by more than 10,000 unique monthly visitors. Users include community gardeners, community planners, parks advocates, government agency staff, reporters, Boy Scouts, and student researchers. Organizations have used OASIS as an educational tool, training hundreds of students in basic mapping and natural resource inventory techniques. Lesson guides based on this work now serve as a model for similar mapping efforts being proposed and developed throughout the country. In addition to website users, several dozen of the OASIS partners regularly commit resources, time, and ideas to ensure that the project grows and increases its value.

Additional Information Available On-line : www.oasisnyc.net

Contact Information :