Happy B-day, GIS! Invaluable computer-based technology continues opening “data windows” for ADWR scientists
On November 19, members of ADWR’s Information Technology Division celebrated a “holiday” the likes of which only true-blue tech geeks can truly appreciate: GIS Day, a day that is set aside to recognize “Geographic Information Systems” – or, GIS – a computer-based technology that is having a dramatic impact our ability to analyze complex data in meaningful ways.
“ADWR has a long history of celebrating GIS Day,” said Veronica Nixon, the Department’s GIS Supervisor. “We take it very seriously. We do a little seminar or newsletter every year to educate our staff about GIS. We also like to have a little fun and bring together all the GIS users here at ADWR to build the sense of community.”
In fact, GIS technology is no longer something for just the techies to celebrate. Not only does GIS open windows for scientists seeking to create, manage, analyze and map all sorts of data, but it is likewise opening windows for the general public. The technology does that by creating graphic illustrations of data that help make it understandable to the average non-scientist.
In a taped address in 2020 to the Arizona Geographic Information Council, ADWR Director Tom Buschatzke made that very point:
“ADWR personnel use GIS day in and day out to solve complex hydrological and water resources related problems,” said Director Buschatzke to the AGIC audience.
“GIS plays a critical role across numerous divisions, including groundwater modeling, field data collection, adjudications, permitting, and Wells data collection,” he said.
“It is not an overstatement to say that GIS is the backbone for ADWR’s data analysis and investigations of groundwater conditions throughout the State.”
ADWR is a leader in ground-subsidence monitoring, maintaining the largest state-run program in the nation using satellite Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data.
In 2018, the Department published an ArcGIS Story Map depicting land subsidence in the Willcox Groundwater Basin, where ADWR had recently completed work on a comprehensive groundwater-flow model.
Focusing on the prevalence of land subsidence in the Willcox Basin, the story map uses interactive imagery as a complement to textual descriptions of the area’s subsidence issues. Together, they help paint a clear picture of the dramatic subsidence issues facing the region.
The origins of GIS go back to 1969, when ESRI, the GIS software giant, began its work building ArcGIS, the world’s most powerful GIS software.
While ADWR focuses much of its GIS work on water- and geology-related subjects, GIS is a technology that is used to create, manage, analyze, and map all types of data.
It connects data to a map, integrating location data with all types of descriptive information. The result is a foundation for mapping and analysis that is used in science and almost every industry. GIS helps users understand patterns, relationships, and geographic context. The benefits include improved communication, efficiency, management, and decision-making.
“Most of our applications are public facing and they’re also used by our internal staff,” offered Nixon.
With the ITD-GIS section’s encouragement, ADWR has been aggressively expanding its uses of GIS technology into a variety of department divisions.