Data Points: U.S. Federal Government Geospatial Activities June 2015

It was a big week for the federal government to announce, or for publications to find and detail, GIS-based solutions.  Only one is accessible to the public, but this recap illustrates that GIS trends in the private and consumer sphere are finding their way into U.S. federal government agencies, too. Which trends?

This roller-compacted concrete spillway dam
might be in DamWatch. Source: USDA/NRCS

• complex online geospatial tools
• sensors and alerts
• openness paired with privacy protection
• crowdsourcing
• open source
• open data

The announcements relate to maintaining citizen health when disasters threaten electricity, protecting dams and 

citizens and making better maps of our national parks.