Integrating Airport Geographic Information System (GIS) Data with Public Agency GIS (2014)

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SUMMARY Airports and the communities they serve have a mutual dependence. This interdependence requires that airports and municipal, county, and state agencies share information. Much of this information is geographic in nature, identifying the locations of assets, facilities, infrastructure, events, or boundar- ies. Specifically, airports require geographic information from surrounding communities to support planning and development, airspace analysis, property acquisition, noise mitigation, environmental protection, customer service, and other procedures. Public agencies require geographic information from airports for transportation planning, compatible land development, emergency response, and zoning. The objective of this study was to investigate why airports need to share data with public agen- cies, how they can effectively satisfy this need, and how they can overcome the challenges that exist. For the most part, airports and public agencies have satisfied their need to exchange data with one another through informal requests of colleagues or peers they have met at conferences or meetings or through a mutual colleague (i.e., word of mouth). Online tools such as websites or portals that support File Transfer Protocol (FTP) downloads or web services (i.e., data returned to fulfill a spe- cific user’s or application’s request) are increasingly being used to facilitate this exchange without formal agreements. The increased use of data, software, and hardware resources in the “cloud” is a clear trend; the majority of responding organizations (25 of 44, or 57%) indicated they have and will continue to tap these resources. Productive exchanges between airports and public agencies at times extend beyond data to include the software, hardware, and human resources required to collect, disseminate, and use geographic information. Many smaller and medium-sized airports, for example, do not have the staff or budgets they desire; so they rely on software and hardware resources of parent municipal or county agencies to host web services and/or applications. In a few cases, human resources (in the form of analysts, database administrators, programmers, and other subject matter experts) have been “loaned” to an airport by its parent agency. Individuals and agencies that have recognized the potential benefits of data exchange often create regional collaborative forums that ensure data resources are known and easily accessible. National forums, such as the Open Geographic Information System Consortium (OGC) also exist, whose mis- sion is to standardize data and system interoperability through consensus among academics, industry professionals, and vendors. Although there is a clear and growing need for airports and public agencies to exchange data, most respondents reported that they cannot find or obtain much of the data they need. This is partially because the majority of the data exchanged today are still identified by word of mouth and transferred by conventional mail or e-mail. Technical barriers have largely been addressed by industry standards, cloud-based technology, low-cost file storage, and high network bandwidth. However, despite the proliferation of enabling technologies, barriers were discovered that restrict effective data exchange between airports and public agencies. Airports and public agencies alike report that organizational impediments, such as cumbersome agreements, legal constraints, rigid standards and procedures, restrictive policies, and lack of resources, are more challenging to overcome than technical barriers. Individuals who share INTEGRATING AIRPORT GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM (GIS) DATA WITH PUBLIC AGENCY GIS

2 a collaborative spirit and are willing to invest their time and resources in establishing forums, com- mittees, and online resources have demonstrated that these barriers can be overcome. The findings presented in this report are based on a literature search as well as interviews and survey responses. The survey achieved a 94% response rate, with 44 from the 47 airports, agencies, organizations, and vendors contacted. Some organizations that have been particularly successful in exchanging data are highlighted as case examples illustrating specific practices that others may want to emulate. Some of the relevant findings from the case examples are: • A culture of open data and software sharing can provide airports and other GIS practitioners with significant value at a reduced cost, increasing the return on investment of their GIS programs. • Airports can obtain help from local agencies in developing GIS data to meet FAA requirements and deploy useful applications that leverage these data. • Common GIS data and application needs of different departments can be addressed together to save the overall organization money while leveraging useful data and applications. • An institutionalized commitment to data sharing is needed to establish the standards, procedures, and policies that support data exchange. • Frequent collaborative meetings promote agencies’ development and deployment of quality data. • Advance planning and coordination can allow regional collections of aerial imagery to meet specialized airport and FAA requirements.