When you think of Westchester County,you probably don’t think of it as a placewith farms. It might surprise you then toknow that according to the Department ofPlanning the county has 7,547 acres ofland certified as farmland by the county’sAgriculture & Farmland Protection Board(AFPB).

These farmlands are mainly for commer-cial horse boarding and other equine relat-ed activities, although the horticultureindustry also has a strong presence. Wehave farms which grow fruit, vegetableand other crops follow and Christmastrees.

But the farm lands, of course, just repre-sent a a small percentage (2.6%) of all

county land, and there is little chance of this getting larger due to the lack of a viable network or support system to encourage sustainable and successful farming.

Enter GIS. In collaboration with the coun-ty-owned Hilltop Hanover Farm inYorktown Heights, GIS staff are workingto identify potential “farmland” opportu-nities across the county The criteriadeveloped by Hilltop Hanover staffincludes variables such as designatedagricultural soils, slopes, solar orienta-tion, access to water, and those parcelstwo acres or larger. So as to identifypotential partners in the program, onlyproperties associated with educational,academic, medical, religious institutions,

and selected corporate and business parkswere included in the initial mappingeffort.

County GIS staff used ArcGIS10.1Desktop as the tool for the multi-stepprocess which included several spatialqueries such as attribute and spatial analy-sis, a relate and intersect between differ-ent data layers, and geometry calcula-tions. Once the candidate list of eligibleproperties was generated, staff generateda Web map in ArcGIS.com to share withHilltop Hanover staff. The Web mapincludes all relevant study layers, theWestchester County base map, digital sur-face models, and aerial photos.

Now with a map that identifies nearly5,000 acres of potential farmland, HilltopHanover can start to pursue potentialland/lease agreements to get newlytrained farmers working on farmland inthe communities they live. The potentialexists to have schools provide food toschool cafeterias, hospitals with their own“farmers” helping to augment food fortheir patients and employees, and corpo-rate parks having their own farm standson- site.

“With so many site requirements and con-straints which are incorporated into ouranalysis – and potentially so much land tocover, especially on such a broad county-wide scale – GIS software is a perfect fitin helping us identify potential small-scale farming locations,” says HilltopHanover Farm director Lucille Munz.“We look forward to continued work withGIS staff as we continue to refine and addadditional data layers as part of the studyand help identify "inactive" farmlands tobe put back into production.”

For more information on the study, con-tact Lucille Munz (914) 962-2368 orZhenglu Zhang (914) 995-5347.

Volume 17, Number 2 Fall 2013

DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

313 Michaelian Office Building

148 Martine Avenue

White Plains, NY 10601

Articles and graphics in this newsletter prepared by: Xiaobo Cui, Paul Gisondo, Ana Hiraldo-Gomez, Connor Lynch, Lucille Munz, Dongming Tang, Ilir Tota, Sam Wear, and Zhenglu Zhang.

http://giswww.westchestergov.comWestchester County GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

is published by the Westchester County Department of Information Technology

Robert P. Astorino, County Executive

Robert P. AstorinoCounty Executive

John B. McCaffreyChief Information Officer

Sam WearAssistant Chief Information Officer (GIS)

Department of Information TechnologyGeographic Information Systems

John B. McCaffrey, Chief Information Officer

Hiding in Plain Sight Hiding in Plain Sight Westchester County GIS Helps Identify Potential Farmland 30 Minutes Outside NYC

Local Government Geospatial Projects Continue to ExpandLocal Government Geospatial Projects Continue to Expand

Nearly 150 properties in the county were identified as meeting the initial minimum criteria includ-ing property size, limited slope, suitable agricultural soils, water accessibility (water districts), andsolar orientation. The ArcGIS.com application also integrated other relevant data layers includingaerial photos, digital surface model (as seen in image), and building footprints.

Westchester County GIS produced GIS map books for Village of Croton-on-Hudson DPW andHighway departments. The book series will be used in the field to identify infrastructure features forDPW and Highway field work staff.

data development priorities, and the townof New Castle GIS committee on enterprisegeospatial issues and tax map maintenanceoptions. Both the towns of Lewisboro andOssining assessor offices have requestedCounty GIS staff input on alternative taxmap maintenance options as well.

Many municipalities continue to use thecounty-developed and supported TaxParcel Viewer as a means to make availablelocal tax maps, show basic property infor-mation, and generate mailing labels as partof the abutters function. Recent GIS staffwork also includes the design and publica-tion of a hardcopy map book series formajor infrastructure systems (sanitarysewer, storm water, and drinking water) formunicipalities. The first series was com-pleted for the Village of Croton and print-ed, at a cost to the village, at the county’sDept. of Information Technology printshop.

County staff also continue to provide assis-tance with desktop clients such as ArcGISand Google Earth and are now usingArcGIS.com for several types of maps insupport of local government programs.For more information contact Sam Wear(914) 995-3047 or Connor Lynch (914)995-6532.

Westchester County GIS staff continues towork with local governments on a widerange of cost-effective geospatial projects.Over the past several months, meetings havebeen held with Buchanan, Peekskill,Yorktown, Mount Kisco, North Castle, New

Castle, Larchmont, Lewisboro, OssiningTown, and the City of Yonkers.

Focusing on selected projects, GIS staff hasbeen assisting the villages of Buchanan andMount Kisco on mapping infrastructure sys-tems, helping City of Peekskill staff on GIS

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GIS

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Find a Licensed Contractor Find a Licensed Contractor County GIS has successfully collaboratedwith colleagues in the Departments ofInformation Technology and ConsumerProtection to design and implement a web-based application enabling county residentsto search for and identify licensed contrac-tors based on geography (i.e., zip code ormunicipality.) Currently, a list of 7704licensed contractors are in the searchabledatabase.

Once a contractor search has been complet-ed and a candidate list generated, users canclick on icons to get additional informationon licensed contractors in their area includ-ing contractor’s name, phone number, orlicense expiration date. The application canbe found on the Consumer Protection web-site. For more information, contact JohnGaccione, Dept. of Consumer Protection(914) 995-2164, or Zhenglu Zhang (914)995-5347.

2013 Base Map Update2013 Base Map UpdateUpdate of the countywide digital base mapis in full production based on leaf-off aerialphotography captured in April of this year.The 2013 effort is the first comprehensivecountywide planimetric update since 2004,with IIC Technologies, Inc. currently serv-ing as the prime contractor providing bothaerial photography and base map/planimet-ric mapping services. As of October 1, pho-togrammetric images and planimetricdatasets were compiled for the southern por-tion of the County. All aerial photographyand planimetric products anticipated to bedelivery by first quarter 2014. Examples ofthe products being generated from the 2013project are available for viewing on theCounty GIS homepage. For more informa-tion contact Ilir Tota (914) 995-5605.

Health Navigator LocationsHealth Navigator LocationsWestchester County residents who are unin-sured or self-insured can enroll in a newhealth insurance plan through the NY StateHealth Marketplace. To help residents andsmall business owners understand and accessthis new system, the Westchester CountyHealth Department (DOH) has seven "navi-gators" available at 26 locations throughoutthe county. GIS staff assisted in this effort bydeveloping an application which enablescounty residents to find a health navigator bygeographic location, name, or type (walk-insor by appointment), which are distinguishedby red or blue icons on map. Residents canselect a site from the list and get detailedinformation, including facility name,address, phone number, office hours and lan-guages (Spanish and English). Options fordriving directions are also available. Themapping application can be found on theDepartment of Health Website.

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County Goes Mobile With Mapping AppCounty Goes Mobile With Mapping AppVillage of Larchmont using smart phone app for mapping street signs

Evacuation Bus StopsEvacuation Bus StopsThe Westchester County Office ofEmergency Management, in cooperationwith DPW Transportation and County GIS,recently updated all general populationevacuation bus routes and bus stops in theCounty’s Radiological EmergencyResponse Plan for the Indian Point NuclearPower Plant. The work was based on astudy conducted by KLD & Associates toprovide more accurate routes and stop loca-tions, improve the efficiency of evacuationbus routes for the general public, and moreaccurately determine resource needs toevacuate transportation dependent popula-tions within the Indian Point EmergencyPlanning Zone (EPZ). All new data is nowincorporated into the EPZ module whichresidents can use as part of MappingWestchester County. For more informationcontact Ilir Tota at (914) 995-5605.

DPW Bridge Inventory DPW Bridge Inventory To improve long-term data maintenance andasset management programs, County GISstaff is working with DPW staff on consoli-dating data and related documents pertain-ing to the County’s bridge inventory data-base. Over the years, information on coun-ty-owned bridges has been collected andgenerated by different groups and agenciessuch as DPW, NYS DOT, NYS ThruwayAuthority, engineering companies, and localgovernments. One common identifieramong the different inventories is the NYSDOT bridge index number (BIN) which willbe used to consolidate and update pertinentbridge attribute data including photographsand bridge inspection reports. In the futureit is anticipated the bridge data will beupdated via a mobile application as well asintegrated into other map services and desk-top applications. For more information con-tact Dongming Tang at (914) 995-4437.

New ACS MapsNew ACS MapsBased on Census Bureau data released inJune 2013, a new series of maps highlight-ing an interesting array of housing, econom-ic and transportation themes have been pro-duced by the Planning Department and post-ed online. The maps are based on 2007-2011 American Community Survey (ACS)data at the census block group level. Topicsinclude median household income, povertystatus, means of transportation to work,housing tenure, year structure built, medianhousing value and number of bedrooms.Because the ACS data is based on a sam-pling of households, it is subject to a marginof error, and five years of data are aggregat-ed to produce more reliable results. To seethe new maps, go to either the Census andStatistics or Maps and Aerial Photographssection on the Planning Department home-page.

The Village of Larchmont is mapping street signs with a mobile app developed by Westchester County GIS.Each street sign is being identified as one of 25 different sign types as well as whether or not the signs meetminimum “retroreflectivity” levels. Data is being collected with a Motorola Droid Razr MaxxHD.

With the support of both county depart-ments and local governments, GIS staff hasdeveloped a smart phone mobile applicationwhich can be used to inventory and mapabove-ground street features. The mobileapp is currently being tested as part of astreet sign inventory project in the Village ofLarchmont (Public Works Department).

As designed, the application leverages thecounty's enterprise GIS infrastructure anddoes not require any local client software.Smartphone users first need to downloadeither the ESRI ArcGIS or Collector appboth which are free to download from theApple Store or the Google Play Store. Themobile application also requires users tohave an ArcGIS.com organizationalaccount. Once properly configured, thesmart phone app will automatically connectto ArcGIS.com services, so the user canbegin mapping and data collection.

The Larchmont street sign project lets userscollect street sign locations and attribute bycategory (i.e., stop, speed limit, and parking,one way etc.) using easy-to-use pull-downmenus which speeds up data collection andminimizes data coding errors. The mobileapp also enables users to associate one ormore related documents (photos, videos,MS-Word files, etc.) with the sign. Afterusers have collected data in the field, theyare able to use the same ArcGIS.com webservice on a desktop browser to spatiallyedit or update attribute data. The data col-

lected from the field or updated from desk-top is automatically stored in the County’senterprise GIS databases. The database alsorecords when the sign features were created.

The collaborative workflow (county and vil-lage) to develop the street feature data col-lection mobile app includes:• Design and implement street sign data

model in ArcSDE • Author the street feature data collection

map (MXD) using ArcGIS for Desktop10.1

• Publish a feature service for editing usingArcGIS for Server 10.1

• Create a web map in ArcGIS.com• Download appropriate ESRI smart phone

apps• Registered ArcGIS.com users utilize

smart phone app for mapping or data col-lection

• Data is stored as part of county’s enter-prise GIS database

• Repackage data as shapefiles or KML andreturn to involved agencies/municipalitiesfor local use or republish as part of othercountywide map services or as part ofdesktop applications.

The Larchmont street sign inventory is cru-cial in context of identifying any hardwareand software limitations, user interfaces,and scalability to other similar mobilegeospatial applications. For more informa-tion, contact either Connor Lynch (914)995-6532 or Xiaobo Cui (914) 995-3781.

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Held annually at Purchase College, the Westchester GIS User Conference continues to be one of thelargest gatherings of geospatial users in the lower Hudson River Valley. The day long eventincludes speakers, workshops, vendor displays, and a map gallery. Plans are already underway forthe 2014 event.

2013 GIS User Group Meeting 2013 GIS User Group Meeting More than 150 attend meeting on Purchase College Campus

With attendance up nearly 15% over the2012 event, the 2013 Westchester GISUser Group meeting was held on May 17at Purchase College. Dr. Paul Ryan,Assistant Professor of EnvironmentalStudies, opened the meeting in the NaturalSciences building by welcoming attendeesto the Purchase campus.

The day’s agenda included presentationson a wide range of geospatial subjectsLocal presentations included DeniseKnauer, assessor for the City of Peekskill,illustrating how the city’s assessmentoffice offers online tax maps and relateddata using the County’s Tax Parcel Viewer.Limarie Cabrera, Westchester Children’sAssociation, provided an overview ofagency mapping projects, and JasonKlein, Westchester County Parks andRecreation, detailed mapping efforts onHurricane Sandy damage at Ward PoundRidge Reservation. Christopher Mytych,Chief of the Village of Purchase FireDepartment, highlighted how County GISmaps have been instrumental in inventory-ing the department’s fire hydrants andrelated assets, and Greg Cutler from theVillage of Mamaroneck also presented.

Representatives from both Dolph RotfeldEngineering and Bowne ManagementSystems highlighted local MS4 infrastruc-ture mapping and Al Leidner, president,provided an overview of current activitieswithin the New York State GIS

Association. ESRI staff presented onmobile MS4 data collection, JonathanCobb, Waypoint Technologies, providedan update on recent advancements in GPStechnology and Eric Brady, BergmannAssociates, on state-of-the art efforts inbuilding spatial 3D models.

Sponsor presentations covered recentadvancements in oblique imagery(Pictometry), sea level rise mapping(HDR), developing web mapping applica-tions (Latitude Geographics), and anoverview of OCad Orienteering mappingsoftware (Orienteering Unlimited).

A “Lunch-and-Learn” session was led byCounty GIS staff focusing on how toaccess and use the County’s public facingmap services. Two afternoon vendor-ledSpecial Interest Group (SIG) workshopswere held covering GIS for AutoCAD(Bowne Management Systems) andMunicity GIS Software for LocalGovernments (Software ConsultingAssociates). A special workshop for highschool teachers and educators titled “GISin the Classroom” was well-attended andled by nationally renowned GIS K-12instructor, Lyn Malone.

Copies of the presentations are availablefor download from the GIS Website. Formore information on the 2013 User GroupMeeting, or plans for the 2014 event, emailor call Sam Wear (914) 995-3047.