Atlas Content Projects

The Atlas Program has two outputs: content and capability
This page focuses on content


preamble

Projects


Content Projects

Content projects produce geospatial information (e.g. maps) and perform spatial analysis. Their purpose is to enable decisions.

Agriculture

Agricultural production and consumption in King County has been of interest for some time. Initially focused on identifying farmland and its use, the Agriculture project has expanded to include more detailed data for source, infrastructure, and consumption. more

BSA Food Drive

The Boy Scouts of America Chief Seattle Council Alpine District runs an annual food drive (Scouting for Food). This multi-year map effort intends to increase annual tonnage collected by the scouts for local food banks. There's also interest in expanding the mapping to the other districts in the Chief Seattle Council. more

Clear Cut

Forest practice permits are being submitted to clear cut a number of acres in Squak Mountain. Downstream residents have expressed concerns regarding the hydrological impacts to May Creek with special focus on the May Valley area. more

Community Planning

Creating a sense of place can be highly beneficial to community planning. Atlas is providing maps and spatial analysis in support of such planning. more

ESD 112

There are a number of Educational Service Districts in Washington State that provide services to school districts. ESD 112, Research Center for Leadership and Learning, has interest in improving its effectiveness through GIS. Atlas is providing maps and spatial analysis. more

Faith-Based

One Challenge USA, in conjuction with the Union Gospel Mission, is interested in spatial display and analysis of data related to faith-based organizations in support of their mission. The project starts with geolocating over 1,700 churches in the greater Puget Sound area. more

Forest

The Forest project will investigate and create a comprehensive set of forest maps and spatial analysis for a portion of the plateau east of the City of Renton. The project will help educate local community residents, including aid in understanding the type of forestry-related questions and decisions they may be interested in. more

Four Creeks

The Four Creeks Community Service Area has the missions of 1) enhancing opportunities for meaningful participation by residents in decisions that effect the futures of their communities and 2) improving access to services and information provided by public organizations.

Atlas produces a comprehensive set of thematic and community/neighborhood maps with the assumption that enhancing residents' community knowledge will stimulate participation.

In addition, since the map data is predominately provided by public organizations (e.g. King County) Atlas provides value by making that data accessible to residents. more

Heritage

Most historical GIS would be impossible without historical maps. These are usually available only in hardcopy form or digitized as PDFs, JPEGs, etc. The ability to take this information-rich media and accurately locate it on spatially-accurate current maps offers a great opportunity for organizations like historical societies. Atlas has a project to do that work in support of a local historical museum, and a project that uses historical maps to help enable community planning. more

Historical Survey

One resident was interested in overlaying current survey data with an original survey of their community done in the 1800's. Atlas georeferenced the old survey map against the current survey data. more

Impervious Surface

During a King County Surface Water Management rate increase, discussions, a small citizen task force worked with SWM to help improve quality. One critical issue is the capability to calculate the percentage of impervious surface on any given parcel. The project is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of that ability. more

King Conservation District

Atlas is enabling GIS capabilities for King Conservation District. Initial work was to provide maps showing parcels with Farm Plans. more

Odor Sourcing

Odors in and around the Cedar Grove subarea have been a nuisance for over a decade. Reducing and eliminating those odors would improve if the capability to source and identify the odors were improved. more

Streams and Basins

Minor errors in stream and/or basin boundaries have been discovered as maps are created. The project is to do a complete update of stream and basin boundaries in King county. more

Stewardship MOU

A local community group signed a Memo of Understanding with Four Creeks and King County Department of Natural Resources & Parks to steward a tributary, a park and a road. Atlas provided hydrology, recreation, and transportation maps in support of the MOU. more

TDR Analysis

The King County Transfer Development Rights program has been of concern to some residents since its inception. Atlas produced maps to aid in the analysis and recommendations for the program. more

Tibbetts Creek

Rumor has it that some portion of Tibbetts Creek was diverted into May Creek near their headwaters. If so, the additional water would be of concern to May Valley residents who have suffered increasing seasonal flooding. The project is to determine whether the diversion actually occurred and, of so, its impact. more

Trails

The Four Creeks area is surrounded by an extensive trail system that includes Cougar, Squak, Tiger, and Taylor Mountains, along with a trail network around Lake Desire. In addition, horse boarding services can enhance the quality of their services, with a corresponding increase in boarding value, via an intra-valley soft trail system linked to a massive trail system to the north and south. The Trails Network project is focused on the quality of the network and information available about it. The Four Creeks UAC has identified the development of a ring of interconnected trails throughout the area as an objective with King County. more

Walking Routes

The City of Issaquah in Washington State is surrounded by mountains with an extensive network of walking trails. Funded by a donation from the Issaquah Environmental Council, this project uses network analysis to create a network of walking routes inside the city. more

Water Stewardship

One of the FCUAC programs, Water Stewardship includes support to local stewardship efforts. This includes gathering current sampling data and selecting the location of two volunteer water sampling efforts on May and Issaquah Creeks. more

WWRC Projects

The Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition (WWRC) is the primary non-profit providing management of the predominance of state funds for wildlife and recreation projects. Atlas provided an update to their primary map and web site when the 2010 census modified the WA State Legislative districts. more

GRCC GIS Student Projects

  • Agriculture
  • Clear Cut Impacts
  • Community Planning
  • Food "System"
  • Food Drive
  • Forest
  • Historical Survey
  • May Valley Trails
  • Odor Sourcing
  • Streams and Basins GIS Data
  • Stewardship - Community
  • Stewardship - Farm
  • Surface Water Management
  • Transfer Development Right Analysis
  • Tibbitts Creek Path Analysis

Non-Profits

  • Boy Scouts of America
  • Community Alliance to Reach Out and Engage
  • Four Creeks Unincorporated Area Council
  • Greater Maple Valley Area Council
  • King Conservation District
  • Renton History Museum
  • Stewardship of Wetland Areas by Neighbors
  • Washington Wildlife & Recreation Coalition

Public Organizations

  • City of Issaquah
  • Educational Service District 112
  • Green River Community College
  • King County