The parks GIS data layer, left, has been updated to a more detailed protected lands data set called Outdoor Recreation & Conservation Areas or ORCA, at right.
It supports tasks as simple as navigating your car from one end of town to the other or as complex as planning a regional emergency response during a natural disaster.
It informs local and regional planners responsible for developing land use and transportation policy and families looking for a new hiking trail.
A Geographic Information System (GIS) connects things and people to geographic locations to create a visual representation that can bring clarity to sometimes-complex concepts.
Across the Portland region, GIS professionals in city and county offices partner to create a standardized set of regional GIS data that Metro's Data Resource Center maintains as the Regional Land Information System or RLIS.
Some 75 regional data contributors and subscribers to RLIS Live gathered at the Metro Regional Center mid-December to learn about the latest map layers and web services that will help them describe the region to policymakers, land developers, emergency response teams, and hikers.
Pat Mitchell, RLIS subscriber and head of the Portland field office for the Oregon Department of Agriculture relies on the street map layer the most in his work laying out insect traps.
"I plot every trap I'll set on a map first," said Mitchell during a break in the meeting. "Then I physically place them using the map as a guide." In 2012, Mitchell placed more than 6,000 insect traps throughout the three-county Portland region.
Regional collaboration
The yearly meeting is also an opportunity for data contributors to meet subscribers, learn how they're using the data and provide a customer service touch.
"It's a chance to meet the subscribers who are using our data and get an idea of what they need," said Christine Amedzake, GIS analyst for the city of Troutdale. "We can hash it out on the spot and I can go back and make the changes."
Metro's Data Resource Center has collaborated with regional partners to develop, use and distribute RLIS data for almost 25 years. Today, the DRC works with 30 RLIS partner organizations.
Chris Dunlop, GIS coordinator for Oregon City and long time subscriber and data contributor, is interested in the web services Metro offers to subscribers, specifically the historical aerial photos.
Aerial photos of the region from 1994 and 1996 to 2008 show development over time.
Data collected at 5,000 feet
Aerial photos of the region from 1994 and 1996 to 2008 are stored on Metro's servers and can be accessed by subscribers so they don't have to store the large files on their own servers.
"We have all of our aerial photos cached locally on our own servers," said Dunlop, "so it's already fast to download those. But we don't have photos from '94 to '98. Now we can (access) Metro's and not have to store them."
The efficiency for subscribers in using the historical aerial photos web service speaks to the need for a server environment that can support the requests of a growing subscriber base.
In September alone, DRC staff reported, their servers received approximately 120,000 requests from RLIS subscribers. Metro staff maintain multiple servers and claim a record of almost 100 percent up time.
The number of requests are expected to grow as new subscribers register and existing subscribers learn more about the more than 100 data sets available.
Daniel Stoelb, a 9-1-1 GIS database analyst, drove up from Oregon's Office of Emergency Management in Salem to attend the subscriber meeting. "We're trying to get as many reference layers as possible," said Stoelb, "and looking at what other layers would be useful for our (emergency call and dispatch center) Public Safety Answering Points."
25 years of RLIS data
The third annual subscriber meeting was an opportunity for DRC staff to look back to the beginning of the RLIS program at Metro in 1988, the automation of access to the data with the creation of (what was then called) RLIS Lite in 1996, and its availability through subscription a few years later.
"There were 12 data sets included in that first release in '96," said Paul Couey, manager of the Data Resource Center. "By contrast, the November 2012 release of the RLIS Live contained 131 data sets."
Prior to 1996, RLIS data cost $15,000. An annual subscription to RLIS Live today is $480 for unlimited data access through the RLIS Discovery site with no restrictions on the number of users per subscription. A selection of free map layers increases accessibility to the data.
For more information on RLIS Live or to subscribe, call 503-797-1742 or visit www.oregonmetro.gov/rlis.