I don't live in the area, and to my deep failing, I am doing nothing personally to improve the situation in any way.
But if I were there I would want the information to, among other things: -publicize my community's beaches lack of, or presence of, oil on the local beaches. Either to attract tourists who are scared away by the oil, or to attract tourists who want to gawk at the oil. -use the fish and game data on where dead birds are found as a measure of environmental impact, or a proxy for same. -use the data to be able to do independent assessment as to whether the fishery closure zones are adequate. As part of the local food movements being able to say 'here is where our oysters/clams/shrimp are from, and see on the map how they are outside of the closure zones, plus outside of all identified oil' using independent data would, I think, be of great interest to the growing number of people who care where there food comes from and who are terrified at the oil spills impact on the food chain. -identify sensitive areas in my locality and lobby for prophylactic measures to protect them. -migratory bird biologists can know if their long term studies are now f*cked by pollution of their study species flyways, or are unscathed. -Phenologists can use the data to see what impact the spill has on biological processes over time. There has been work done on studying the effects of spills over time, but the work has had severe problems with methodology among other things. For example, the 1991 Gulf War oil spill was the second largest in history. A study in 1993 found 'little long term environmental impact' but later studies are in extreme disagreement with these assessments. Being able to compare areas which do/did get landfall oil with areas which are/were spared landfall will be useful to monitor the long term impact of the spill, and enable scientists - including especially 'backyard naturalists' and local nature groups - the people who are closest to these ecosystems to do semi blind studies. There is substantial reason to belief that all ecosystems are, and will be, under extreme and increasing stress in the future as a result of human and natural activities and cycles (yes, global warming I am looking at you :-/) and so it is likely that all of these ecosystems are going to be different in 5-10-15 etc years than they are today, so being able to know which changes are general climate change related and which are from this specific event is important. -documentation for litigation and damage recovery. Exxon managed to spin out their legal case for _20 fucking years_, destroying the lives and livelihoods of a comparatively small group of people in a remote part of the country. The BP spill is effecting millions of people, with potential for much more to come. Having this data public so it can't go down the memory hole of one company is vital to help people perfect their legal claims against the company. -Should I go on? Open data is good _because it is open_ On Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 5:00 PM, SteveC <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Jun 15, 2010, at 3:00 PM, Rich Gibson wrote: > > > Ian, > > > > The key lesson of open geospatial data is that we don't know what > creative things people will do with open data. > > > > Out of respect for you I will try and soften this, but your writing > 'there's nothing you can 'do' with it to change the state of affairs' > represents a lack of cluefulness on your part. > > What would you do with it? > > > > > Rich > > > > On Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 11:34 AM, Ian White <[email protected]> > wrote: > > you are kidding, right? if there was ever a need for open geospatial > data, this is most definitely not it. much as it would be nice to have, > there's nothing you can 'do' with it to change the state of affairs. > contrast this with access to transit, crime, base map, environment, > etc........ > >> > >> == > >> Ian White :: Urban Mapping Inc > >> 690 Fifth Street Suite 200 :: San Francisco CA 94107 > >> T.415.946.8170 :: F.866.385.8266 :: urbanmapping.com/blog > > > > On 15 Jun 2010, at 11:15, gis pundit wrote: > > > >> > >> This is very disturbing. If ever there was a need for open geospatial > data, this is it. > >> > >> I wonder what possessed the Federal & State Agencies to agree to upload > their only copies of the location data their responders are collecting in > the field to a BP-controlled GIS server? > >> > >> If it wasn't so illegal, I'd say that BP corporate firewall was just > begging for a few good hackers to "fix" this problem :) > >> > >> > >> > >> >-------- Original Message -------- > >> >Subject: FW: Letter on BP Oil Spill GIS Appears, Disappears > >> >Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:17:14 -0400 > >> >TO: NWCG GIS Task Group > >> > > >> >FYI > >> > > >> > > http://www.scientificblogging.com/chatter_box/bp_gis_and_mysterious_vanishing_open_letter > >> > > >> >http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/54563 > >> > > >> >Introduction: > >> > > >> >Andrew Stephens and Devon Humphrey, both Geographic Information Systems > >> >(GIS) professionals with 40 years combined GIS experience, were the > >> >primary architects of the GIS Unit and lab at Incident Command Post > >> >(ICP) Houma. Mr. Stephens has 20 years GIS experience, teaching GIS to > >> >organizations worldwide, and is an expert in GIS deployment, start-up, > >> >training and workflow design. Mr. Humphrey has 20 years background in > >> >Oil Spill GIS with Texas General Land Office, where he was on the > >> >development team of an award-winning oil spill GIS. He has also been an > >> >instructor since 1994 at the National Spill Control School at Texas A&M > >> >University, Corpus Christi. The ‘Spill School’ is named in the Oil > >> >Pollution Act of 1990. > >> > > >> > >**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------** > >> >Deepwater Horizon GIS Data Concerns > >> >From: Andrew Stephens and Devon Humphrey > >> >Date: June 9, 2010 > >> >Subject: BP control of GIS data > >> > > >> >To Whom It May Concern: > >> > > >> >Executive Summary > >> > > >> >This letter is being submitted to make it known that several key > factors > >> >of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Incident Command > >> >Structure (ICS) are not being met in the Unified Command process of the > >> >BP Deepwater Horizon Incident. Specifically regarding the treatment of > >> >Geographic Information System (GIS) data, current configuration and > >> >process limit, or exclude completely, the flow of information about the > >> >extent and status of the disaster to government entities, emergency > >> >responders, and the public. > >> > > >> >GIS is essential to the oil spill response effort and to the recovery > of > >> >public resources. Almost every map and geographic display representing > >> >the Deepwater Horizon Incident is sourced by GIS data. Current GIS > >> >management processes indicate that BP is treating GIS data as > >> >proprietary information, and these data are currently being stored > >> >behind the BP corporate firewall. It is our understanding that public > >> >agencies, for example, The US Fish and Wildlife Service and The > >> >Louisiana National Guard, are literally submitting the only copy of > >> >agency field data, via wireless-enabled mobile GPS devices, directly to > >> >a BP GIS server behind the corporate firewall in Houston. Examples of > >> >these data are; dead bird and fish locations with photos, boom > >> >placement, engineered construction barriers, including dates, and other > >> >descriptive information and photos. > >> > > >> >State Emergency Operation Center (EOC) staff, Parish EOC staff, and > >> >other Emergency Responders and Recovery Specialists do not have access > >> >to these GIS datasets, contrary to all NIMS guidance, protocols and > >> >principles. > >> > > >> >Per NIMS, redundancy of incident information is to be managed jointly, > >> >and fully accessible by the Federal On Scene Coordinator (FOSC), the > >> >State On Scene Coordinator (SOSC), and the Responsible Party. > Technology > >> >allows implementation of this design to occur instantaneously and > >> >automatically (see attached diagram). The intent of this letter is to > >> >inform The President, the National Incident Commander, the FOSC, the > >> >SOSC, and the public, of the need to establish and enforce NIMS > >> >compliant access policies over all Deepwater Horizon oil spill GIS > data. > >> > > >> >The Geospatial Intelligence Officer (GIO) and the GIS Unit Leader, who > >> >proposed NIMS-compliant GIS architecture to Unified Command, and > >> >supported access to these GIS data, have been removed from the Houma > ICP > >> >by BP IT department managers. > >> > > >> <ATT00001..txt> > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Geowanking mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Geowanking mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org > > > have fun, > > Steve Coast / stevecoast.com > >
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