4-page Case Study - Posted 1/25/2008
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Environmental Protection Agency Improves Data Visualization with Mapping Technology
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for ensuring public access to environmental information associated with facilities and sites across the country. For years, EPA provided a Web-based data-access tool that combined facility-level environmental information with online maps. However, the technology in use provided only static maps with limited interactive functionality. EPA recently replaced its outdated technology with Microsoft® Virtual Earth™ technology, which offers high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery, dramatically faster response times, and easy integration with environmental data sets. As a result, EPA expects a more consumer-friendly data resource, an innovative foundation for future growth, and a more efficient IT platform.
Situation
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established in 1970 to consolidate a variety of federal research, monitoring, standard-setting, and enforcement activities to ensure environmental protection. Today, EPA employs 17,000 people across the U.S., including its headquarters in Washington, D.C., and 10 regional offices.
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We were able to integrate the new Virtual Earth technology into the online Envirofacts site within three weeks. For the federal government, that’s lightning speed. |
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Pat Garvey
Manager, Facility Registry System, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |
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One of EPA’s responsibilities is to ensure public access to environmental information associated with facilities and sites across the country. To meet this need, EPA has established the Facility Registry System (FRS). Through a Web interface called Envirofacts, the FRS provides public Internet access to a single source of comprehensive information about facilities and sites subject to environmental regulations. FRS has over 2.1 million unique facility records, which are based on integrated information from 18 different EPA regulatory systems as well as state-level data sources.
FRS and Envirofacts provide a public Web-based tool for citizens to find hazardous waste, water discharge, air emissions, and other environmental data on any of the facilities in its database, in any area of the U.S. The FRS data is combined with mapping applications to show spatial relationships of various sites and facilities. However, until recently the Envirofacts mapping technologies have been limited in their functionality for users.
According to Pat Garvey, Manager of FRS, “We have had mapping applications on Envirofacts for about 10 years, but the performance of those applications has not been what we would like. For example, when a user would submit a query to draw a map of a particular area, he’d be lucky to get a result in 20 to 30 seconds. And even then, the result would be a static map; there was no ability to drag, zoom, or perform any of the other functions you’d want from an interactive mapping application.”
The FRS management team wanted to offer the public an integrated view of facility-level environmental data combined with detailed, interactive maps. To achieve this goal, FRS needed a mapping technology that would provide performance and ease-of-use that far exceeded its existing system. Says Garvey, “We were looking for three primary elements. First, we needed a technology that would provide great functionality for users. Second, we needed a development kit that would allow our staff to easily integrate the mapping tools with our existing ESRI-based geographic information system (GIS) technologies. Finally, we wanted the ability to offer easy public access to the tool.”
Solution
FRS evaluated a range of technology solutions, quickly narrowing the options to Google Earth and Microsoft® Virtual Earth™ mapping software. Microsoft Virtual Earth is an integrated set of online mapping and search services that provides two and three-dimensional city models, and satellite and aerial imagery. Organizations can use these combined models to build applications that layer business data directly over Microsoft Virtual Earth.
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The speed of the new platform is no comparison to the older technology. It only takes a second to refresh an entire map, versus the 20 to 30 seconds it might have taken in the past. |
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Pat Garvey
Manager, Facility Registry System, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |
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According to Garvey, the Microsoft Virtual Earth platform met all of EPA’s critical needs, particularly in the area of user experience. “First and foremost, the Virtual Earth aerial imagery and 3-D views are absolutely terrific in their clarity, performance, and functionality. Seeing them in action was just a ‘wow’ experience for us,” Garvey explains.
The FRS team was also attracted to the rich development tools available with Microsoft Virtual Earth. “Our developers saw immediately that the Virtual Earth [interactive software development] kit was easy to use, and would allow us to quickly integrate the new mapping technology with our existing data sets and resources,” says Garvey.
Garvey’s team completed development of the updated Virtual Earth–based Envirofacts site rapidly. “The Virtual Earth API [application programming interface] made it easy to swap out our old, clunky mapping technology and install the new Web-based applications. We were able to integrate the Virtual Earth technology into the online Envirofacts site within three weeks. For the federal government, that’s lightning speed,” says Garvey.
The new Envirofacts tool presents a simple search interface, where users can enter the names and locations of facilities on which information is desired. The tool plots the facilities found in the search on an interactive Microsoft Virtual Earth geospatial map. Users can choose road or aerial views. Key environmental data is indicated for all facilities shown on the map (see Figure 1). According to Garvey, “In addition to the new imagery features, the speed of the new platform is no comparison to the older technology. It only takes a second to refresh an entire map, versus the 20 to 30 seconds it might have taken in the past.”
Benefits
Although the new mapping solution has only been in place for a few months, EPA is already seeing improvements in site performance and efficiency. Moreover, the technology is setting a standard of innovation that EPA hopes will pay dividends for years to come.
Enhanced Customer Experience
User experience with the Microsoft Virtual Earth platform has been a dramatic improvement over prior technology, according to Garvey. “On the old platform, we had mapping applications integrated with Envirofacts that were very slow in performance, limited in their functionality, and not very good in their clarity.” Garvey continues, “Virtual Earth gives our users a Web-mapping experience that allows them to control what they are seeing. They can see sites or areas on a flat map of streets; they can see it in aerial view with street-level imagery; or they can see the 3-D view. We think that having those multiple options gives our users better clarity of visualization.”
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| Figure 1 EPA Envirofacts screenshot |
Garvey sees opportunities for the user-experience benefits to be extended across different departments within EPA. “I showcased Virtual Earth to a large EPA conference at the end of August. Since then I have had phone calls from people in the Agency who have never interacted with me before, asking for more information about Virtual Earth. We are looking at different applications of the technology. For example, showing a map-based visualization of a news event—be it a compliance, enforcement action, or an explosion—could make the EPA home page so much more consumer friendly.”
Innovating for the Future
Since EPA had been reliant on an outdated and inflexible mapping technology, use of public-facing environmental maps has been limited. However, Garvey sees the Microsoft Virtual Earth platform as a potential catalyst for innovative use of interactive mapping across EPA. “I think we are just at the tip of the iceberg. The President of the United States wanted to see maps of New Orleans after the Katrina hurricane. The amount of time and energy that went into those maps was enormous. With this kind of interactive technology available, we could just show him the information online, while making the same maps available to the public.”
Garvey continues, “One of our biggest challenges on September 11, 2001, was communicating to the public the environmental damage caused by the terrorist attacks, such as the location of the air plume from the World Trade Center and the chemistry of its dissipation. With Virtual Earth, we have an opportunity to have an EPA home page for public access that we haven’t even dreamed of yet.”
Cost Savings Through IT Efficiency
The EPA is anticipating strong improvements in utilization of IT resources as a result of its transition to Virtual Earth. Says Garvey, “I’m hoping that the Virtual Earth project cost is going to show a high return on investment. For starters, we will be able to reduce some of the working capital funds that have been required for constant fixes and updates to our outdated mapping technology. My development costs are also very low due to the efficient Virtual Earth API, which allowed us to replace all these old clunky applications in less than a month. Through all these savings, I’m optimistic that the Virtual Earth license will literally pay for itself.”
Garvey also sees efficiencies inherent in relying on Microsoft to maintain and update the Virtual Earth environment. “Transitioning to Virtual Earth allowed me to leave the EPA servers for the mapping functionality, and move to a company [Microsoft] that invests heavily in technology. Microsoft servers are always going to be more powerful and high performing than anything the government maintains for these purposes. Having that aspect of the platform from Microsoft and not utilizing the old servers at EPA that it keeps up for GIS is absolutely terrific.”
Garvey concludes, “My job is to manage good environmental data about regulations and permits and releases. I don’t want to have to manage data on zip code lines and street networks, or photography imagery. Microsoft takes that whole headache away and manages it for me.”
Microsoft Virtual Earth
The Virtual Earth platform is Microsoft’s next generation mapping and location service. It combines the MapPoint Web Service with exciting new innovations around satellite and aerial imagery, dynamic map styles, and enhanced local search. Using the Virtual Earth platform, companies and government organizations can create an immersive online mapping and search experience that enables their customers to easily discover, search, explore, share, and visualize business location data and locally relevant information.
For developers, Virtual Earth supports a variety of programming environments and can be easily integrated into business applications, like customer relationship management and supply chain management applications.
For more information about Microsoft Virtual Earth, go to:
www.microsoft.com/virtualearth
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com
For more information about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, visit the Web site at:
www.epa.gov
