New Specialist Brings Smart Mapping Tools to Wisconsin
 

Geographic information systems (GIS) are the most powerful tool in modern coastal zone management. The smart, flexible, high-tech mapping tools collect, store, analyze and disseminate information about any place on Earth—its applications limited only by imagination.

“GIS can be used for practically anything, from mapping disease breakouts to modeling nonpoint-source pollution contributions in a coastal area,” said David Hart, Wisconsin’s new full-time GIS outreach specialist.

Hart is using GIS to help people live more wisely in the coastal zone.

Hart, who previously worked with Sea Grant on coastal GIS applications through the UW-Madison Land Information and Graphics Facility, became a Wisconsin Sea Grant employee in August. He is now based at the Aquatic Sciences Center on the UW-Madison campus.

Wisconsin Sea Grant is one of the only programs in the country with a full-time GIS specialist on its outreach team. Hart’s appointment reflects the program’s dedication to the use of new tools to understand coastal processes.

Hart worked for nine years with the Land Information and Graphics Facility and holds a Ph.D. in Land Resources from the UW-Madison as well as a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of New Orleans.

“We’re very fortunate to have Dave on our team,” said James Hurley, assistant director for research and outreach at Wisconsin Sea Grant. “The GIS specialist position really adds breadth to the services we offer the people of Wisconsin.”

GIS applications in coastal zone management range from analyzing aerial photography to understand shoreline erosion processes, to modeling nonpoint-source pollution inputs according to land surfaces, to linking tax assessment files to property maps, in order to plot the value of coastal lands.

“Because it’s a visual aid, GIS helps people really understand coastal issues and how these problems affect their property,” said Hart.

To find out more, email Dave Hart or call him at (608) 262-6515.  Or visit the Wisconsin Coastal GIS Application Web site.
 

Back to News Room | Go to UW Sea Grant homepage

To be added to the Littoral Drift mailing list, contact:

Linda Campbell / Communications Office
University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute
Goodnight Hall, 1975 Willow Drive
Madison, WI 53706-1103, U.S.A.
Telephone (608) 263-3259
FAX (608) 262-0591

or email us at lecampbe@seagrant.wisc.edu

Last updated 20 December 2002 by Karl
All contents copyright 2000 University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute

http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/Communications/news/LDstories/2002/Hart.html