Clients
GIS Needs Assessment Case Studies
Cal EMA Enterprise GIS and CAL-SABER Web Application
Challenge
The California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) needed an Enterprise GIS integrated with it core IT and business workflows that would offer it in-house capability to quickly disseminate critical geospatial datasets and applications in support of its mission of statewide emergency mitigation, response, and recovery.
Solution
Farallon developed an Enterprise GIS and data model for the thousands of GIS layers that the Cal EMA warehouses, along with a web-based GIS viewer to visualize the location and extent of incident data such as wild fires, accidents or swine flu outbreaks. Farallon also developed a prototype Android-based mobile application for collection of real-time field data during an emergency training exercise.
Moulton Niguel Water District Strategic Plan
Challenge
Moulton Niguel Water District needed a plan for creating an integrated enterprise GIS to simplify office functions related to operating its water, recycled water and wastewater services.
Solution
Farallon's GIS Strategic Plan provides the District with comprehensive and flexible enterprise GIS architecture, governance structure, data development and maintenance plan, staff training plan, and overall budget forecast for implementation of the system. The plan details the return on investment and specific deployment steps necessary.
Kern County Master Address Database Needs Assessment
Challenge
Kern County had no single complete, accurate, and current address list that could be used as the authoritative list of business and residential locations for providing essential services. This limited the ability for Count departments to coordinate efforts and integrate information across business systems.
Solution
Farallon Geographics completed a Master Address Database needs assessment and budget plan for a single, centralized address source or MAD to solve the problem of duplicated and error-prone addresses.
Getty Conservation Institute Web-Based GIS for Managing Jordanian Antiquities
Challenge
The Getty Conservation Institute working with the World Monuments Fund and the Jordanian Department of Antiquities wanted to develop a new national GIS to assist in inventorying, monitoring, and managing the thousands of archaeological sites in Jordan
Solution
Farallon is developing a Web-based, bilingual (Arabic-English) system that will be used by inspectors, archaeologists, scholars, and government planners involved in cultural heritage management and research. The scalable solution using open source software, will subsequently be adapted for use in Iraq and possibly other countries in the region.
Caltrans PEAR-STEVE Systems Evaluation
Challenge
The California Department of Transportation, Division of Environmental Analysis required a comprehensive system requirements evaluation for two projects: the Preliminary Environmental Analysis Report (PEAR) tool and the Standard Tracking and Exchange Vehicle for Environmental System (STEVE) project.
Solution
Farallon performed a comprehensive system requirements evaluation of the PEAR-Tool and STEVE projects and prepared a detailed System Requirements Specification report that documents the programs' functional and non-functional system requirements, use studies, interview data, and the perceived limitations of the program.
Integrating MDOT’s business data with its geographic data using Oracle Spatial
Challenge
The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is responsible for planning, designing, building and operating the state's transportation network. MDOT's existing LRS implementation was not geographically referenced . This limited their ability to automate data validation or perform real-time spatial analyses of their network.
Solution
Farallon developed a data model to support MDOT's transportation system workflows and integrated the data with Oracle Spatial. Farallon also developed dynamic segmentation procedures to link tabular data (e.g. traffic reports) to on-the-fly to visualization of road segments. MDOT can now access mapping and business data dynamically.
MTC SAFE’s Bay Area Freeway Service Patrol fleet management evaluation
Challenge
MTC SAFE's Freeway Service Patrol Program uses an Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) system that allows the California Highway Patrol to verify that tow service trucks are at their designated locations. The FSP needed a comprehensive diagnosis of their existing telecommunications network, especially the AVL system.
Solution
Farallon examined the current software, provided diagnosis, made recommendations for technical and logistical improvements, and to develop and implement a fleet management program, as well as integrate with external incident management systems.
ISO Innovative Analytics risk management geoprocessing using Oracle Spatial
Challenge
ISO Innovative Analytics, a risk management insurance company, wanted to analyze massive amounts of unstructured historical data (both spatial and non-spatial ) in order to develop a flexible, customized and configurable nationwide set of potential risk factors. This would be used to improve the way insurance companies currently rate auto insurance policies.
Solution
Farallon developed a series of pre-processing services and custom data structures for the intensive geoprocessing using Oracle Spatial 10g. Tens of millions of individual policy locations were combined with historical claims records to determine predictive correlations between potential risk factors and location of policy holders.
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Oracle Spatial Technical Support
Challenge
PG&E needed to develop robust GIS applications and tools for identifying and analyzing its power pole transmission line data. They also wanted training for their internal staff in how to develop custom GIS applications while still maintaining data validation and business rules.
Solution
Farallon worked with the PG&E team using Oracle Spatial 9i with PL/SQL database programming to develop several custom applications, including a Java JSP-based map viewer for analyzing transmission line data. Technology transfer and training was an integral aspect of the project.
Parsons-UXB Joint Venture on Kaho’olawe Island Reserve Demilitarization GIS
Challenge
Farallon worked with Parsons-UXB to develop an online mapping system that managed the cleanup of unexploded ordnance (UXO) on the small Hawaiian island of Kaho'olawe.
Solution
Using a web interface, users who click on a grid square get a summary of information at a glance, while those who click on a piece of UXO get information and photographs about that item including GPS coordinates and images depicting everything from vegetation to the destruction date, as well as proximity to historically signficant Hawaiian sites and artifacts.