CAAGIS To Main Menu Center for Advanced Applications in GIS Agricultural & Biological Engineering Building Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1146

Staff and Faculty from several Purdue Departments have been associated with cutting-edge GIS projects,in part through the CAAGIS umbrella.

GIS, Database, And GPS Training For Hendricks County. (2003-2004)
A team composed of Brad Lee, AGRY, Julie Haan, Hendricks County, and Theller received funding from Indiana Water Resources Research Institute to train Hendricks County Environmental Health Department in the use of GIS and Global Positioning Satellite technology (GPS.) Theller is managing the project to upgrade the database template produced by Don Jones, ABE in 1998 to be "GIS-friendly." Software to connect it to GIS and GPS equipment was created by Theller and student employees. Theller delivered training to county staff. From this Assistant Professor Brad Lee and Theller received a new grant from Howard County for Theller to adapt their database. Analysis is used in two grant applications currently under review for 2005.

This team was awarded a Merit Award Citation from the President of the Indiana Environmental Health Association, 54th annual meeting. The citation is recognition of efforts to promote the use of GIS and GPS technology to Indiana's County Health Departments. The team implemented GIS technology in Hendricks County and presented several papers. Larry Theller, Brad Lee and Julie Haan (Hendricks County Environmental Health Dept.)

EQIP- An Online Decision Support Tool For Environmental Quality Incentives Program.
For Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS.) (2003-2004)
Bernie Engel, Jin-Yong Choi, Larry Theller & Kyoung Jae Lim, ABE; Rick Farnsworth, FNR, Dwight Welch, CS created a web-based version of the popular NRCS landowner-based Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP.) Using technology pioneered at Purdue, a web-based decision support system was created that steps applicant farmers through a detailed, GIS-based process to identify explicit environmental concerns. Theller provided GIS support and created an innovative statewide map of 19 different environmental concerns. Such a display is critical in planning future outreach. Indiana leads the nation in this effort and was favorably reviewed by NRCS National headquarters, funded a second year, and was instrumental in developing another larger NRCS grant.

Watershed Geodatabase Project

A team composed of Bernie Engel, Larry Theller, ABE; Dwight Welch CS; Richard Farnsworth and Brett Martin, FNR created a terabyte sized geodatabase, built on Oracle database using ArcSDE software. This database allows GIS users (on and off-campus) to access more than 100 map layers and two generations of aerial photos for the entire state, all from one site. The database contains topograghic maps, elevation models, landuse, various years of cropuse and general map layers that are all in the same coordinate system and which cover Indiana.

Impact: This is a revolutionary resource and has positioned Purdue to take a leading role in the delivery of the next generation aerial photo set, which is a 17 terabyte data package that will become available in the late 2005 early 2006 time frame. The ability of student to use "one-stop" shopping for map layers as diverse as 1990 census to the latest "303d impaired stram layer" have dramtically reduced the time new GIS users must spend locating data. Larry Theller collaborated in the design and currently provides GIS Support for the Watershed Geodatabase Project, a joint project in ABE and FNR.

Gis Technology For Carcass Disposal, National Agricultural Biosecurity Center Consortium, Carcass Disposal Working Group (CDWG.) (2002-2003)
In 2000 Larry Theller made a presentation to staff from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA APHIS), State Board of Animal Health, and Purdue School of Veterinary Medicine relating GIS to response to events such as the foot-and-mouth outbreak. Following "9/11," Theller's materials and analysis were incorporated into a multi-university grant proposal to USDA to renovate the national procedure manual for dealing with carcasses in disasters of any type, including terrorism.

The successful grant involved Texas A&M, Kansas State, and a large Purdue component from several Schools. Purdue was, among other things, chosen as the national lead for the GIS portion. Purdue team created detailed analysis of the role GIS could play in ag-related disaster. This was published in a series of papers by CDWG compiled on DVD, titled: Carcass Disposal, a Comprehensive Review.

Impact: Analysis by Bernie Engel and Larry Theller of GIS applications in disease response was included in the new Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) Plant Biosecurity website. (A totally separate effort.) The presentation is titled "Applications In Plant Biosecurity Management" and describes the uses of GIS and GPS. Edited by Robin Walker Thompson, EDEN Plant Biosecurity Course Project, University of Missouri Extension.

Sensitivity Analysis And Priority Waters Map For INDOT Facilities, for Indiana Clean Manufacturing and Safe Materials Institute (CMTI) (2000-2004)
Theller designed and performed environmental sensitivity analyses using GIS technology for the 150 Indiana Dept. of Transportation (INDOT) road maintenance facilities (such as salt domes). Theller designed the GIS workflow and managed 1 to 3 graduate and undergraduate employees. The project analyzed storage and use of road chemicals such as salt in the environment around facilities. To plan for removal of salty washwater, they created a map of sewage water treatment plants and calculated road distance to the nearest one for each facility. Finally, the priority-ranked sensitive areas allow INDOT environmental staff to prioritize time and money.
Theller created two-day training seminars to train over 30 INDOT employees to use GIS. Theller's student employees created a database of Indiana GIS layers for INDOT environmental staff. This additional phase was funded because the 21st Century Fund grant to train Extension Educators had resulted in a series of training materials that could quickly be reused for this grant.

Impact: The environmental sensitivity results are used by INDOT management to minimize the environmental impact of their day-to-day operations. For example, brine rather than salt is now used in several areas for de-icing roads and bridges. Brine is more efficient, instantly putting salt directly on the road rather than in the ditch, and allowing use of salty washwater on the highway as part of the brine. Use expanded from a single area to many areas as a direct result of the analysis of this grant.

GIS Instruction And Local GIS Data To County Educator Staff (2000-2003)
This 21st Centruy grant included faculty and staff from AGRY, FNR, ABE, ENTM, educators from 3 counties, and staff from Office of State Chemist (OISC). Theller identified this need with an interest survey to the 92 counties, solicited faculty involvement, managed the grant, organized IHETS lectures, identified 6 local educators to handle the training sites, and performed the on-site GIS training. This 2 year program included 6-hour hands-on GIS training at six Extension sites. The hands-on training for 22 extension educators was followed by a series of 5 IHETS lectures by faculty demonstrating GIS. Deliverables included CD-ROM of GIS map layers for each county.

Impact: As a result, two GIS-trained educators gave GIS talks at state conferences, at least two did GPS/GIS projects at Purdue Ag Centers, materials were displayed at Farm Progress Show, one educator incorporated GIS in the county 4-H program using hardware from this grant, OISC funded a GIS training grant for staff, the CD-ROM atlas was adapted into a 92 disk compilation currently on sale at media distribution and in use by agencies in at least 50 counties, the cheap GPS units which were obtained were used for multi-year crop scouting projects in Shelby County and in high school GPS technology demonstrations in LaPorte County. In addition Theller adapted the basic training material to train INDOT environmental staff under a grant from CMTI.

"Thanks again for letting us use the GPS units for the 'December at the Dunes' workshop. The kids really enjoyed the program (a few of them actually politely argued with each other over the time they would get to use them...a positive in education). One of the younger 4-Hers actually was running as fast as he could to see his speed on the GPS unit. The chaperons and I got a good laugh out of it." Scott Foster, La Porte County Educator

Wellhead Protection Education And Community Outreach. (2000-2003)
Multiple grants to develop Extension publications for Wellhead Protection outreach and community assistance. The team included Jane Frankenberger, Barbara Cooper, Larry Theller, Brent Ladd (ABE), and Fred Whitford, (Pesticide Programs). Larry Theller brought a community viewpoint to the efforts of the team, through experience gained as leader of this effort in his community, as well as some GIS expertise.

The team was awarded the ASAE Blue Ribbon Award for an outstanding entry in 2000 Educational Aids Competition, Publications division for Bulletins, for "Wellhead Protection for Safe Drinking Water in Indiana" from American Society of Agricultural Engineers. Barbara Cooper, Jane Frankenberger, Fred Whitford, Larry Theller.