HLS 6070 DF7 Comments: State Government GIS Applications

Comment on these 2 postings as if you were talking in my voice, do not lose the name above each post. 100 words and 3 sources each. Please separate the sources for each posting:
Emanuel Vradis:
State Government GIS Applications
Illinois Tri-County GIS: It seems that Illinois Tri-County uses GIS for regional planning purposes. For example, they have "future land use maps" and a "FY 16-19 Transportation Improvement Program Project map". They do have a map showing the tract of a tornado from November 2013, however, they do not have any maps showing current or near real time footage of potential hazardous weather.
Pennsylvania Geospatial Clearinghouse GIS: This allows for public access to geospatial information. The primary use of this is to "facilitate data sharing in a streamlined environment, making the process fast and easy for stakeholders". This allows for state agencies, local government, other agencies, and academic institutions to share their geospatial data for no charge. This clearinghouse and the sharing of interactive mapping applications and metadata creates open information for anyone to view. A great advantage to this clearinghouse is the advocacy is cooperation, collaboration, efficiency, and all for no charge. Anyone with an internet connection can access this shared data. 
OLIVER: This is Massachusetts online GIS tool. Updates seem to be made every 15 min to a half hour. There are a long list of layers that are added to the maps to show political boundaries, hospitals, environmental monitoring, coastal features, etc. It seems this would be the best for tracking flooding/coastal flooding because the information is in near-real time. What is also great is that there is a data layer with the most up-to-date FEMA flood zones and flood data. They also have precipitation maps that are constantly updating showing any potential areas where weather could become hazardous, thus allowing the ability to plan for flooding.
OLIVER would definitely be the best for planning a response to coastal flooding. OLIVER has a data layer of up-to-date FEMA flood zones and other flood data. OLIVER updates their GIS maps constantly, allowing for planning to occur when dangerous precipitation is shown on these maps. Out of the three, it seems OLIVER is the only one that is consistently updated for monitoring weather conditions. 
Katherine Suttmeier: 
State Government GIS Applications
Illinois Tri-County GIS – This GIS application for Illinois tri-county is used for integrated planning projects, transportation projects, and environment projects. Their website displays a Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) project that utilizes GIS as well as a web application for Route 336 Corridor Future Land Use in Fulton County. The site also displays a public mapping application of CityLink. Lastly, it presents a tornado from 11/17/13 in Tazewell County that was documented and measured by utilizing GIS. Ultimately, GIS is used in this state for mapping applications for the public allowing them to see maps of their areas and specific routes. From what the website is displaying, there are not any real time footage or maps displaying any traffic, weather hazards, or other necessary knowledge for the public.
Pennsylvania Geospatial Clearinghouse GIS – “PASDA” collaborates and cooperates with all levels of government, non-profits, businesses, and citizens to support the geospatial data and to have access to it as well. It does this to maximize the benefits for the citizens utilizing it. It increases the sharing of data and throughout the Commonwealth through interactive mapping applications, data storage, and metadata/documentation efforts. The website displays a map used for navigation of all areas, zooming and downloading images. These images can be from many time periods. The PA Atlas allows the public to zoom into maps to see data attributes such as traffic counts, state parks, and allows you to create your own map. The website also provides a Mine Map displaying maps of coalmines throughout PA. The website allows you to view aerial photography of PA dating back many years and having choices of LiDAR, iCubed Imagery, and Aerial photography. The data provided on this website is very efficient due to the collaboration between many organizations and businesses. It also means it is updated frequently providing immediate releases of information to the public.
OLIVER – OLIVER is the Massachusetts GIS device for the public. It has hundreds of geospatial data layers that are collected from state agencies or created “in-house”. It is updated frequently within the hour, every hour. Some of the data layers on the list consist of environmental monitoring, cultural resources, regulated areas, coastal and marine features, and many more. It even displays data from a census of the amount of different races, types, and where they live. The map allows you to zoom into any town and search locations. OLIVER is the most up to date allowing the public to track flooding or other hazardous natural occurrences. 
OLIVER would be particularly useful for emergency managers planning a response to coastal flooding because its consistently updating providing the most useful and efficient information that emergency managers would need to know where to go, where is mostly affected, and what areas are impassible due to the conditions. It would allow the authorities to track storms and also see where the damage is occurring from the weather conditions by watching the map as its being updated. OLIVER is definitely the most useful out of the three applications for emergency managers to react to coastal flooding.