In the last four years, the state has experienced unusually strong population growth, increasing at 2.4 percent per year or more than twice the national average. This growth is part of the pattern of long term rural growth of the nation. It is the result of small industrial growth in rural towns, a surge of tourism and second-home construction, an increase in the number of urban people who choose rural areas for retirement, and an increased ability of "lone eagles" to sustain a living through telecommunications linkages. The challenge of growth faced by Colorado is common to the problem faced throughout the United States wherever population growth is pronounced (see Appendix 1 for map).
Planning for growth in the rural Colorado as for anywhere in rural America requires an extensive amount of intergovernmental coordination. The issues impacting growth management cross jurisdictional boundaries. Federal, state, regional, and local interests are involved.
These jurisdictions are proactive in the use of GIS here in Colorado and are poised for joint data sharing and collaborative decision-making through the use of data networking. At the state level, Governor Roy Romer has made the management of growth his number one priority through his Smart Growth and Development Initiative. At the federal level, seven federal natural resource and environmental management agencies have formed a partnership with their corresponding state of Colorado agencies known as the Colorado Ecosystem Partnership. The Partnership's purpose is to improve the federal/state working relationship. Finally, at the local level, these issues have begun to be addressed through regional coalitions of local government and private interests. Thus, we have assembled here in Colorado a broad federal/state/local team with the data and the need to address the growth issue.
To apply GIS through the NII to the growth management issue as it impacts rural areas, there is a fundamental need for a common information framework. This framework includes content, the means of accessing the content, and the expertise in using that content. Content must have adequate breadth and detail to be useful for a wide range of applications. All parties need access to an information infrastructure. And, all parties must share or exchange data from which they conduct their analyses, so that they may be confident that their analyses include the concerns and parameters of other parties.
See Appendix 3 for further detail on GIS and Appendix 4 for a graphical depiction of the overall framework and model.
We believe the ability to access, manipulate, analyze and view data pertaining to land-use and natural resource management, locally, using simple client software, will provide powerful motivation to officials, businesses, citizens, and students to model and formulate positions on issues impacting the balance of natural resource preservation and economic growth and development. We further believe that common data and analyses concerning natural resources protection and economic growth can help reduce significant social conflict that often lies at the intersection of these two domains. This applications area wholly enabled by and dependent on the NII lays the foundation for a more informed citizenry and improved governmental decision-making on these issues at the all levels.
Technical Feasibility. We believe that Colorado's existing state-wide 56kbps Internet infrastructure (see Appendix 2) is feasible technically for the support of the GIS applications proposed. GIS, based, for example, on ESRI ArcInfo, uses TCP/IP as the data exchange protocol and is thus a good fit with the Internet. GIS tools use relational database technology. Data requests return only the information needed, reducing the need for bandwidth. The bulk of the overlays or layers of a GIS will be vector images which also have a low bandwidth requirement. Orthoviews and other image data can be distributed in advance during non-peak hours. Such images are often used for added visual reference but are not needed for GIS manipulation and analysis. The GIS technology employs client/server architecture, which is appropriate for the Internet environment. Finally, file sharing, enabled by an information infrastructure, is especially important in the GIS domain, due to the merging and overlapping of data layers required in GIS analyses, and due to the cost of these data layers.
Ability to Serve as a Model. This project is investigating Smart Growth and the use of GIS technology, an entire domain of application of the NII equal in importance and difficulty to education, health care, or electronic commerce. FY94 NTIA/TIIAP awards did not reflect the importance of this domain; few if any awards were made in this area. But work in this area is needed because a viable information infrastructure, while necessary for this application, is in and of itself not sufficient: the infrastructure must be applied, and it is the technical detail and organizational practice of this application that is the focus of our project. Colorado is in the position to model or reflect the problems typical of the many regions of the nation experiencing high growth. Finally, Colorado is in a good position to explore federal ties because the regional offices of relevant federal agencies are in Denver and it is and has been very easy to meet with and work with them on a regular basis with no travel cost. This will enable Colorado to work out procedures which can then be used by other states.
We will use the existing (and appropriately enhanced) Internet and community net infrastructure of the state to access and move data between federal, state, regional, and local levels. At the local level, we will provide access beyond governmental users to include citizen users (through the libraries and community nets) and schools.
Finally, we will apply the data to real problems at the local level in three demonstration communities. See Appendix 6 for Detailed Task Plans for each partner; Appendix 7 for Project Timeline.)
Task 1: Using a GIS Framework and the Statewide Internet Infrastructure, Identify, Acquire, Integrate Data Relevant To Decision-Making In Test-Bed Localities
Subtask 1.1: In order to focus the project on data which is most relevant to growth management decisions, survey key decision-makers at municipal, county and regional levels to inventory the routine decisions they make that are affected by growth in population. Responses will be scaled to characterized decision processes in complexity, specificity, and breadth of effect. Examples include: intermodal transportation planning; outdoor recreation; open space planning; prison siting; ski area planning; comprehensive plan development; agricultural use planning; habitat management; abandoned mine effluent management; noxious weed management; infrastructure expansion; promoting and managing tourism; land development; utility planning; locating and routing comprehensive emergency services (hospital, fire and police); and surface and ground water resource management.
Subtask 1.2: Inventory, catalogue and identify gaps in available geographically-referenced automated and non-automated data sets and other information sources relevant to the characterized decision-making processes of Subtask 1.1. Determine the utility of these data to decision makers through Internet discussion groups, meetings, telephone discussions, and conferences. Example data sets include: Colorado Economic and Demographic Information System, Local Government and Special District Boundary System, TIGER census data sets, county-wide parcel mapping, Significant Wildlife Habitat Mapping, Biological Conservation Database, hydrologic data sets, Colorado River Decision Support System, Environmental Health Indicators, and Human Health Indicators.
Subtask 1.3: Perform the necessary translation, conversion, automation, and where absolutely critical, development to provide geographically-referenced data sets that are useful to the identified decision-making processes.
Task 2: Deploy Tools For Transforming Data into Useful Information
Obtain and transfer existing analytical tools and methods appropriate to support identified decision-making processes in target localities. Integrate common GIS tools with common Internet interfaces such as Mosaic and with the technology of community networks. Data analysis tools such as GIS "viewers" are key to transforming data to useful information. Many tools, especially for GIS, are too expensive, too technically demanding, or require expensive computational platforms for effective rural, local use. Thus, evaluate potential application of emerging GIS tools, exploring three GIS products (ArcInfo Viewer, GIV, and Abicas) to identify what characteristics lend themselves to appropriate use in rural settings.
Task 3: Distribute GIS Data and Analytic Tools Through the Colorado's Developing Rural Information Infrastructure to Ensure Broad Accessibility
State and regional sites will collaborate on the technical issues involved in developing geographical information and in porting it to the World Wide Web (WWW) and to community networks. Technical assistance will be provided by Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (producer of the ArcInfo GIS product).
Subtask 3.1: At the state level, purchase and establish an operational GIS and Web server at the General Government Computing Center to serve as a mirror site for data sets from the state agency partners in this project. Using the Colorado Data Network (the state's governmental data network in the capitol area) connect participating agencies with 56kbps facilities. These agencies are not yet positioned to offer direct public access to their data stores and the housing of a server at the state computing center is transitional while state agencies implement networking, establish firewalls and other measures to protect proprietary information and ensure privacy.
Subtask 3.2: At the regional level, provide in the three test-bed communities, as needed, 56kbps connectivity between the Internet backbone and the regional GIS data servers. Gateway the GIS data to the community network, library, and school information infrastructure to provide access to the GIS data sets. Targeted end-users include: county and city managers and planners, citizens groups, non-profit land trusts, tax assessors, realtors and real estate developers, state, independent, and private sector planners, schools, and general citizenry.
Task 4: Apply in Local Education and Decision-Making
Subtask 4.1: Training is the prerequisite to effective application of data and analytical tools to local and regional decision-making relative to planning, growth management, and natural resource conservation investments. In this task, we will leverage the training capacity and resources of local schools, colleges and libraries, state GIS professionals, and our private sector GIS vendor partners. Training audiences will include local public policy decision-makers, as well as local citizens groups, non-profit land trusts and students.
Subtask 4.2: Effect the transfer of data and the conduct of analyses necessary to support local decision-making in specific and priority decision-making settings. Through the Regional Data Centers, provide the technical assistance needed by local decision-makers to access, analyze, and apply the data available to current, dominant, or significant decisions.
Rural Experience. This proposal leverages CATI's four year-old investments in 12 rural Colorado communities to promote community and economic development. The Colorado Rural Telecommunications Project (CRTP), funded at $330,000 per year, provides the rural local and regional partners in the present proposal. At the state level, our partners are the lead agencies in Governor Romer's Smart Growth and Development Initiative, all having missions and data relevant to rural development.
Web Experience. CATI has recently launched a $100,000 project funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration to develop a "tool kit" for rural communities to apply telecommunications. The tool kit includes a process guide for sustainability, a process guide for evaluation, a resource guide, and 16 case studies. All of this material will be delivered as HTML documentation on a WWW site located in Steamboat Springs (http://www.yampa.com/aerie/index1a.htm). Our objective is for this site to be the Web location of choice for rural communities to access information about applied rural telecommunications.
Project Manager. Dr. J. Jeffrey Richardson, Director of Information Technology Programs, will serve as the project manager for this grant. He developed the CRTP, serves on the Board of Directors of Colorado SuperNet, and has 8 years experience with CATI in fostering public private partnerships in information technology programs. (See Appendix 5 for detailed biography.)
State Level Partners. The participating state agencies come prepared to act as a team to further the objectives of Governor Roy Romer's Smart Growth and Development Initiative. See Appendix 5, for agency and key contact descriptions and Appendix 6 for detailed task description for each participat ing agency. Participating agencies include:
Regional and Local Partners. Partnering with identified state entities are three regional coalitions with experience in rural telecommunications and natural resources/land use management issues. These regions possess unique natural ecological systems. These regions are also experiencing rapid population growth spawned by their proximity to the mountain resorts of Steamboat Springs and Telluride. The San Luis Valley is an agrarian region looking to diversity its economic development potential while maintaining its unique natural values. All three regions are active participants in and beneficiaries of over three years of rural telecommunications applications development through the Colorado Advanced Technology Institute's Colorado Rural Telecommunications Project. (For region and key contact descriptions and for detailed task descriptions see Appendices 6 and 7.)
Private Sector Partners. Partnerships include two GIS vendors committed to exploring the issue of appropriate technology in rural settings.
Federal Partners. Through the on-going working relationships between Colorado state government and federal agencies active in the state formalized as the Colorado Ecosystem Partnership we have established special links with the federal government for the purposes of this grant. Participating with us on this effort are the following:
Demand-Pull. The structure of our federal-state-local partnership is demand-pull: end-user decision-making needs are identified by the regional centers and used to structure information, content and presentation. Our project addresses the conditions of end-users through its focus on "appropriate" technology (e.g., easy-to-learn viewers that run on PCs), use of existing infrastructure (e.g., community networks), and the decision-making needs of the community.
Reduction of Disparity. Our model will reduce the disparity between rural and urban/suburban areas in access to geographically-referenced data, formerly available only in the more affluent urban and suburban jurisdictions. We also address disparity through our focus on a broad user population supported through multiple training venues (libraries, regional centers, schools).
Broad Support. We have developed broad support for this project at the state, federal, and local levels. Community support is evidenced through the partnerships we have assembled, which were begun years earlier due to CATI's activities with Colorado SuperNet and the Colorado Rural Telecommunications Project. Community participation involves diverse sectors, and in fact brings together traditionally competing interests: natural resources and economic development. Our approach also engages school children, library patrons, and the general citizenry. State participation has already been described. Federal support is critical in a state where approximately 75 percent of the western part of the state is federal land. Accordingly, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Census Bureau and other federal agencies will participate in our effort. In addition, The Nature Conservancy, a national land conservation organization, has expressed its broad support for this proposal. (See Appendix 8 for sample letters of support.)
Sustainability. CATI's Process Guide for Sustainable Tele-Community will be used to strengthen the underlying community information infrastructure of the rural regions of the state. The key to sustainability at the regional level is multi-county collaboration and economies of scale. The skill set and equipment needed to maintain a regional center is beyond the scope of single counties, but, as is being demonstrated by the Southwestern Colorado Data Center, is feasible when multiple counties collaborate in supporting a shared resource. At the state level, the participating agencies will be focused on developing cash funding strategies that permit open, free-of-charge information dissemination, perhaps through a fee structure for institutional users.
Dissemination. Our dissemination effort will focus on making broadly available and supporting the use of the Expected Products listed in Section 4.0 above.
Use of WWW. Our principal vehicle of information dissemination will beUse of WWW. Our principal vehicle of information dissemination will umenting the project's ongoing evolution and products (the state-regional model, the decision-making scenarios and how they are supported, technical detail on appropriate technology, strategies for combining spatial data sets, pointers to national data sets, etc.) on-line as HTML docmentation. CATI's current rural telecommunications applications Web project is generating a national and global audience for this new work.
Technology Transfer. Technology transfer within Colorado will occur through the on-going and formal project activities (two state-wide workshops annually) of the Colorado Rurtions Project (a total of 18 communities by July 1995). National technology transfer will be coupled to our EDA grant outreach activities in the 10-state Denver Region of thopment Administration. The focus of all technology transfer will be our GIS information framework as a model for a new and important application of the NII.
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Revised: 10/15/97