New York State Office of Cyber Security
Geographic Information Systems Clearinghouse
2006 NYS GIS Coordination Program
Survey Results
In May, 2006, the NYS GIS Coordination Program held their annual planning meeting to prioritize activities for the coming year. In order to gather input and feedback from our customers, a survey was developed for response. The following report is a summary of the survey responses received. These responses were invaluable in establishing priority GIS projects for the coming year.
The NYS GIS Coordination Program would like to thank all of the respondents for participating in this important process. If you missed out on the opportunity to participate this year, we will be surveying the NYS GIS Community again in May 2007. Please keep an eye on the NYS GIS Clearinghouse for more information and thank you in advance for your participation. Your input really does help to steer our program!
Total Number of Responses Received: 136
Which of the following sector do you represent?
| Total | Percent | |
| State Government | 43 | 46% |
| For-Profit | 25 | 27% |
| County Government | 21 | 23% |
| Academia | 16 | 17% |
| Not-for-Profit | 11 | 12% |
| Local Government | 10 | 11% |
| Federal Government | 5 | 5% |
| Other | 5 | 5% |
How would you rate the NYS Digital Orthoimagery Program with regard to meeting your organization's imagery needs on a scale from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent)?
| Total | Percent | |
| 1 (poor) | 3 | 3% |
| 2 | 2 | 2% |
| 3 | 11 | 9% |
| 4 | 55 | 47% |
| 5 (excellent) | 46 | 39% |
Have you used imagery other than the NYSDOP and mid-1990’s NAPP imagery in your work during the last year?
| Total | Percent | |
| Yes | 51 | 43% |
| No | 68 | 57% |
How would you rate the NYS Digital Orthoimagery application on a scale from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent)?
| Total | Percent | |
| 1 (poor) | 1 | 1% |
| 2 | 2 | 2% |
| 3 | 27 | 23% |
| 4 | 45 | 38% |
| 5 (excellent) | 25 | 21% |
| Have Not Used | 17 | 15% |
If you have NOT used the NYS Digital Orthoimagery Application, please provide a reason.
| Total | Percent | |
| I Direct Download the Imagery | 15 | 45% |
| Did Not Have A Need | 12 | 36% |
| Did Not Know It Existed | 5 | 15% |
| Does Not Meet My Needs | 1 | 3% |
| Does not support the browser software | 0 |
Used ALIS Street Centerline Data
| Total | Percent | |
| Yes | 73 | 59% |
| No | 50 | 41% |
If you answered “No” to the previous question please provide a reason.
| Total | Percent | |
| Did not have a need to use this data | 29 | 60% |
| Cannot become a NYS GIS Data Sharing Cooperative Member | 13 | 27% |
| Did not know this data existed | 4 | 8% |
| Not a NYS GIS Data Sharing Cooperative Member | 2 | 4% |
Would your organization notify us of ALIS data updates?
| Total | Percent | |
| Yes | 89 | 79% |
| No | 23 | 21% |
Have you used the NYS GIS On-Line Help Desk?
| Total | Percent | |
| Yes | 82 | 66% |
| No | 42 | 34% |
If you answered “No” to the previous question please provide a reason.
| Total | Percent | |
| Did Not Have A Need | 30 | 70% |
| Did Not Know It Existed | 5 | 12% |
| Does Not Meet My Needs | 4 | 9% |
| Does Not Support My Software | 4 | 9% |
If you answered “Yes” to the previous question how have you used the NYS GIS On-Line Help Desk?
| Total | Percent | |
| Submitted Question AND Searched Knowledge Base | 43 | 52% |
| Searched Knowledge Base | 33 | 40% |
| Submitted Question | 6 | 7% |
How would you rate the NYS On-Line GIS Support on a scale from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent)?
| Total | Percent | |
| 1 (poor) | 0 | |
| 2 | 2 | 2% |
| 3 | 14 | 17% |
| 4 | 27 | 33% |
| 5 (excellent) | 38 | 47% |
If a free of charge one day training workshop was made available which of the following would be most beneficial to your organization?
| Total | Percent | |
| Field GIS Data Collection | 45 | 10% |
| GIS Project Management | 40 | 9% |
| CAD-GIS Integration | 39 | 8% |
| Web-Based GIS | 37 | 8% |
| Cartographic Design | 36 | 8% |
| 3D Modeling With GIS | 36 | 8% |
| Free GIS Data | 35 | 8% |
| Census Data & GIS | 32 | 7% |
| GIS Collaboration Between Organizations | 28 | 6% |
| Remote Sensing for the Decision Maker | 25 | 5% |
| Introduction to Metadata Creation | 24 | 5% |
| GIS and Remote Sensing in Public Safety | 18 | 4% |
| Introduction to Digital Orthoimagery | 18 | 4% |
| Decision Making Using GIS | 18 | 4% |
| Other | 18 | 4% |
| Introduction to GIS | 10 | 2% |
| GIS for K-12 Educators | 7 | 2% |
Have you participated in any GIS Day activities in the past or would you participate in future GIS Day activities?
| Total | Percent | |
| Haven’t Participated in any GIS Day Activities | 48 | 30% |
| Interested in Participating in Future NYS GIS Day Activities | 44 | 28% |
| Participated in NYS GIS Day | 38 | 24% |
| Participated in National GIS Day | 23 | 15% |
| Not Interested in any GIS Day Activities | 5 | 3% |
What are the most useful sections of the NYS GIS Clearinghouse?
| Total | Percent | |
| Searchable GIS Data Sets | 88 | 17% |
| NYS Digital Orthoimagery Program | 79 | 15% |
| NYS GIS On-line Help Desk | 52 | 10% |
| Data Sharing Cooperative | 50 | 10% |
| NYS Digital Orthoimagery Application | 49 | 10% |
| Raster Imagery | 41 | 8% |
| Who’s Who in GIS Directory | 38 | 7% |
| Data Sharing Cooperative Participant Inventory | 34 | 7% |
| Related Sites | 18 | 4% |
| Coordination Program | 16 | 3% |
| Education & Training | 15 | 3% |
| GIS Communications | 14 | 3% |
| Calendar | 13 | 3% |
| Map Product Sales | 4 | 1% |
GISNY-L Email List Traffic
| Total | Percent | |
| Too much traffic | 6 | 5% |
| OK | 54 | 46% |
| Good | 44 | 37% |
| Excellent | 14 | 12% |
The more popular responses for the following questions are listed below.
What do you see as the top priorities for the GIS Coordination Program to address in the coming year?
| Total | Percent | |
| Outreach / Training / Education / Conference / GIS Promotion | 33 | 28% |
| Data access, sharing & distribution (download) | 43 | 36% |
| Orthoimagery (download, future funding, sensitive tiles, turn-around) | 30 | 25% |
| Data development, documentation, maintenance & improvement | ||
| Standards Development, Promotion, Metadata & Enforcement | 12 | 10% |
| Clearinghouse / Website redesign (web services, GIS portal) | ||
| ALIS Data Release & Maintenance | ||
| GIS Civil Service issues (titles, salary) | ||
| Development of Land Use Land Cover data | ||
| Private Sector Access to Data |
Recognizing that funding is limited, please suggest ideas for low cost GIS initiatives that the NYS GIS Coordination Body can work to implement in the coming year.
| Total | Percent | |
| Local outreach, training, workshops & better communication | 43 | 70% |
| Provide funding courses for potential projects | 8 | 13% |
| ALIS maintenance | 5 | 8% |
| GIS internships between academia and state/for-profit | 3 | 5% |
| Website redesign | 2 | 3% |
Please list GIS data sets for your business needs that are not already available to you.
| Total | Percent | |
| Cadastral | 28 | 27% |
| Soils | 20 | 19% |
| Land use / Land cover | 14 | 14% |
| Utilities and Infrastructure | 10 | 10% |
| Wetlands (Federal, NWI, updated DEC) | 9 | 9% |
| LIDAR / Satellite | 8 | 8% |
| Building footprints | 6 | 6% |
| Elevation | 5 | 5% |
| Flood / Drainage maps | 3 | 3% |
Please list CSCIC-owned GIS data sets you use and find the most outdated
| Orthoimagery |
| NYSDOT Raster Imagery |
| USGS Raster Imagery |
If you feel the NYS Digital Ortho Program did not meet your organization's imagery needs, please provide specific details.
| Total | Percent | |
| Consistency in imagery type or chroma | 3 | 30% |
| Too long to download files | 3 | 30% |
| Faster turnaround time | 2 | 20% |
| Improve searching capability | 1 | 10% |
| Move from MrSID to JPG2000 | 1 | 10% |
What barriers exist (if any) that would prevent your organization from participating in a data maintenance update program?
| Total | Percent | |
| Lack of resources (staff, money, time) | 43 | 88% |
| Access to data | 4 | 8% |
| Confidentiality issues | 1 | 2% |
| Methods and east in submitting data (CD vs Internet) | 1 | 2% |
What can CSCIC do to encourage or increase your participation in providing data updates?
| Total | Percent | |
| Reminders / Contact email | 12 | 26% |
| Keep the process easy | 10 | 22% |
| Allow access to more/qualified users | 7 | 15% |
| Funding | 7 | 15% |
| Training Sessions | 5 | 11% |
| Incentives (flowers, party, free ortho upgrade) | 3 | 7% |
| Secure Internet interface | 2 | 4% |
| Show the benefits to users | 2 | 4% |