GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Tracking the Globe

GIS researchers use satellite images.

Geographic information science was pioneered at ORNL in 1969, more than a decade before the commercial geographic information system (GIS) industry blossomed. A GIS is a computer system that can assemble, store, manipulate, and display geographic information, including images collected by satellites and aircraft. ORNL has used GIS to integrate multi-disciplinary research projects addressing issues of local to global scale.

In the mid-1980s, ORNL researchers performed studies for the U.S. Army Toxic and Hazardous Materials Agency to help it decide the safest way to dispose of nerve gas weapons stored in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Oregon, and Utah. Researchers used GIS methodologies to examine truck and rail routes between sites and evaluate the safety of transporting the weapons to a central incinerator. The Army adopted ORNL's recommendation to build an incinerator at each site to avoid the potential dangers of transporting material to one site.

In the late 1980s, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Services funded studies to relate coastal fish population declines to increased urbanization and agricultural alteration of coastal landscapes. ORNL researchers led the technical effort that resulted in a standardized database of land cover change for all U.S. coastal areas.

A key to dealing successfully with any disaster is to accurately estimate the daytime and nighttime population of the affected area. Combining GIS and remote sensing technologies, an ORNL team developed Landscan, the most accurate and detailed of global population databases, to help decision makers. LandScan enables ORNL's Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability (HPAC) software to help emergency planners "see" where and how much of a chemical or biological agent will disperse and also which populations need protection. HPAC is used by some 2000 employees with U.S. and foreign governments and military branches in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and with state and local emergency planning and response units. LandScan is used by the United Nations and government agencies worldwide.

Beginning of Article
 

Web site provided by Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Communications and External Relations.
[ORNL Home] [CAER Home] [Privacy and Security Disclaimer]