UF Geoplan Center Creates Florida Geographic Library On CD-ROM

July 17, 1998

GAINESVILLE —Floridians curious about their state’s environment will have another tool at their disposal, thanks to a new computer library designed by the University of Florida. Researchers have created a collection of CD-ROMs that contain more than 80 categories of detailed geographic information on the environment in each of the state’s 67 counties.

UF has been able to make the information available to taxpayers, schools, libraries, developers, elected officials and anyone who may be curious about Florida’s environment.

The information can prepare residents for environmental or developmental proposals before county and city commissions, as well as be a teaching tool for schoolchildren. The environmental information was collected by multiple state and federal agencies, non-profit organizations and private companies, but each agency had a different system for storing their information.

The GeoPlan Center, a Geographic Information System (GIS) research and teaching facility at UF’s College of Architecture, collected these individual layers of information and fit them together in one format for each of Florida’s 67 counties and put the data on CD-ROMs, known collectively as the Florida Geographic Data Library (FGDL),.

“All the data was in a different format because each agency had different reasons for collecting the data,” said Paul Zwick, principle investigator for the project and co-director of the GeoPlan Center.

Zwick said extensive amounts of time, computer resources and technical knowledge were needed in order to use the data.

Information included on the CDS varies according to each county’s environment, but some topics available are land use, soil data, roads, habitat and tax data as well as satellite images and aerial photographs.

Such topics can help with future development and policy making.

About five years ago, with the support of Florida’s Department of Transportation and Department of Environmental Protection, the university began organizing all the data in a Geographic Information System format.

Zwick said GIS software could cost a county as much as $1,000, but the CD-ROMs come with a viewer that allows anyone to view the data without needing GIS software.

Richard Schneider, a UF associate professor of urban and regional planning, said this makes planning and policy making more democratic. He said people who lacked the time and resources needed before FGDL was complied now will have a chance to assist in public decision making.

The CD-ROMs, available for $20 per county or $1,000 for the entire state, come with instructions, glossaries and tutorials. A similar product developed by the GeoPlan Center is the Florida Conservation Atlas, an educational CD-ROM containing information about Florida’s habitat. The GeoPlan Center offers a continuing education class on the FGDL and GIS software. For more information, visit the FGDL Web site at www.geoplan.ufl.edu/projects/fgdl.htm.