The data consortium consists of Denver Regional Council of Governments members and regional partners with an interest in geospatial data and collaboration. The data consortium newsletter improves communication among local GIS professionals and features updates from all levels of government as they relate to data and geospatial initiatives in our region. This newsletter is published quarterly.
census 
The U.S. Census Bureau's geocoding services
Article submitted by Jim Castagneri, geographer at the U.S. Census Bureau. Jim can be reached at 720-962-3882 or james.d.castagneri@census.gov. 

The U.S. Census Bureau has offered an online geocoding tool since 2014. Last summer the Census Bureau added an application program interface to provide additional functionality and customization for programmers. This service is intended for application developers who want to leverage the geocoding capability of the Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER) system.
 
This service is designed for coding a provided address, or file of addresses, to a latitude/longitude coordinate based on data that has been loaded into the geocoding engine from a master address file/TIGER benchmark database. The optional inclusion of the geographic lookup (geoLookup) adds information to the result relating to various Census and political geographies that cover the latitude/longitude coordinate. GeoLookup results can also be obtained directly by searching on the latitude/longitude coordinates.

See the U.S. Census geocoder for full details. 

LandUse DRCOG's new Parks, Recreation and Open Space layer
Article submitted by Dorothy Friday, GIS specialist at DRCOG. Dorothy can be reached at 303-480-6797 or dfriday@drcog.org. 

DRCOG's Regional Planning and Development team has developed a new schema for the DRCOG Open Space dataset. Starting with the existing dataset, the team redefined the attributes to differentiate between open space, athletic fields, preserved lands, recreation centers and many other land uses. The new schema is illustrated in detail below, and the data can be found and explored as the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space (PROS) dataset on the regional data catalog in May. 

"The PROS dataset is local data, described and attributed to help with local planning and operations," said DRCOG planner Andy Taylor. "Adding the ability to differentiate among the features from these local datasets in a clear and consistent way helps us, and others, to ask regional and cross-jurisdictional questions and understand regional trends."

CITATION: (These categories were derived using guidance from Carys Swanick, Nigel Dunnet, and Helen Wooley's "Nature, Role and Value of Green Space in Towns and Cities: An Overview," Built Environment, 2003; and Donna Erickson's Metro Green: Connecting Open Space in North American Cities, 2006.)

DRAPPDenver Regional Visual Resources news
Article submitted by Ashley Summers, GISP, PMP, information systems manager at DRCOG. Ashley can be reached at 303-480-6746 or asummers@drcog.org. 

DRCOG launched the Denver Regional Visual Resources (DRVR) site in October 2015. This relatively new feature on our website is a repository of infographics, web maps and data stories that explain the state of our region in an interactive and dynamic way. We've been slowly refining the site and its visualizations to better suit your needs and have more changes planned. In the meantime, we have two news items to share with you.

1. Much to our surprise, Westword named DRVR the "Best View of Denver by the Numbers." We're proud to be recognized and excited about the opportunity to share our visualizations with a larger audience in our region.

2. We've recently updated our Community Profiles visualization. Now you can explore several years of U.S. Census data for a community. Check it out!
planimetricDenver Regional Aerial Photography Project 2018

The Denver Regional Aerial Photography Project (DRAPP) 2018 starts next spring but it's never too early to start planning! DRCOG is currently working with the DRAPP steering committee and 2016 partners to evaluate and adjust project parameters. 

For those who haven't participated before, here's a quick summary of DRAPP. In the spring and summer of every even-numbered year, DRCOG facilitates a project to acquire high-resolution aerial imagery for our 7,000-square-mile region. The project takes two years to plan, execute and deliver the imagery, but it's worth the wait. The resulting data is four-band, leaf-off, snow-free and meets strict positional accuracy standards set by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Check out the project extent to see where we acquired 3-inch, 6-inch, and 1-foot resolution imagery. Learn more about our 2016 project.

If you've been a project partner in the past or want to be one for the 2018 project, please let me know. You are invited to a kick-off meeting on May 11; watch for an official invitation to be emailed soon. If you don't already receive DRAPP emails and you want to be on the distribution list, please email me at asummers@drcog.org. 

For more information on DRAPP, visit the DRCOG website.
MeetingGovernor's Office of Information Technology launches new website
Article submitted by Windy Fischer, senior GIS analyst at the Governor's Office of Information Technology. Windy can be reached at 303-764-6842 or windy.fischer@state.co.us. 

The GIS Coordination and Development Program of the Governor's Office for Information Technology (OIT) is pleased to announce the launch of its new GIS website and data explorer. The GIS website helps users discover GIS data while also providing a place for state agencies, county and municipal partners, and other stakeholders to find GIS support. The site provides a menu of services including enterprise data sets, data management, web application development, hosting and business support services. The program's primary goals are to help Coloradans find GIS data and to reduce the cost and labor of duplicating data-related projects within local and state agencies.

Key features of the new site include:
  • Products and services offered by the GIS Coordination and Development Program (GCDP)
  • Quick access to GIS data and applications, including:
    • Colorado Information Marketplace
    • OIT GCDP enterprise datasets, services and a public geocoder
    • GIS Data Explorer showing local data available
    • Colorado Broadband Map
    • GCDP-hosted applications (for example the Trustlands GIS App for the Colorado State Land Board)
  • The OIT GCDP events calendar to view details of upcoming and previous events, previous event media, and status of GCDP's enterprise datasets
  • Ability for state agencies and stakeholders (municipalities, counties and partners) to request services

YourArticleFYI on federal bills H.R. 482 and S.B. 103
Article submitted by Ashley Summers, GISP, PMP, information systems manager at DRCOG. Ashley can be reached at 303-480-6746 or asummers@drcog.org. 

H.R. 482 and S.B. 103 are federal companion bills that were introduced in mid-January and are currently referred to their respective financial services committees. The bills --- both entitled "Local Zoning Decisions Protection Act of 2017" ---   begin with nullifying a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rule that was published in 2015. 

Notable is Section 3 which states, "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no federal funds may be used to design, build, maintain, utilize, or provide access to a federal database of geospatial information on community racial disparities or disparities in access to affordable housing." 

Several organizations have voiced their opposition to these bills, including the American Association of Geographers, the National Low Income Housing Coalition and many more. There is also a MoveOn.org petition seeking signatures. 
story7Go Code Colorado announces finalists
Article submitted by Andrew Cole. Andrew can be reached at 303-869-4908 or andrew.cole@sos.state.co.us. 

On April 10, Go Code Colorado announced 10 finalist teams from Challenge Weekend, held in five cities across the state in early April. 
 
Two teams from each of the five Challenge Weekend sites in Colorado Springs, Denver, Durango, Fort Collins and Grand Junction will next participate in Go Code Colorado's expenses-paid Mentorship Weekend.

Go Code Colorado, a program run by the Colorado Secretary of State, challenges entrepreneurs, software developers and innovators to build apps that deliver public data into the hands of business decision-makers.

"Each year, Go Code Colorado participation and enthusiasm increases across the state," said Wayne Williams, Colorado secretary of state. "The high-caliber app and business concepts created during challenge weekend will further encourage government entities of all sizes to make their data available to developers and entrepreneurs so its inherent value can be fully utilized."

More than 230 individuals participated in Challenge Weekend, building apps and business concepts with their teammates, coding and analyzing data. Finalist teams demonstrated ideas that demonstrated feasibility and attractiveness to the marketplace, used data to create value for business decision-makers, and set new standards in innovation for Colorado businesses.

Finalists within the Denver region were <div>ersity, a hiring tool to help companies build diverse teams and Magpie Supply, a solution to solve transportation problems for farmers in Colorado.

The 10 finalist teams will meet again for Mentor Weekend April 21-23 in Boulder with Go Code Colorado partners Google, CA Technologies, Techstars, House of Genius and Boomtown to further develop their apps and businesses.

A May 24 final competition will take place at the Denver Performing Arts Center, during which a panel of judges will select three winning teams to receive a contract with the state that includes $25,000 per team.
story8Your Article Goes Here!

The Denver Regional Data Consortium newsletter is facilitated by DRCOG but written by GIS professionals like you. This quarterly newsletter reaches more than 200 people and has a higher-than-average open rate. It's the perfect place to show off your projects, highlight your great work and contribute ideas to the GIS community in the Denver region.

The next newsletter goes out in July. Please contact Ashley Summers at 303-480-6746 or asummers@drcog.org to contribute.
For more information on any of the topics mentioned in this newsletter or if you have an idea for an article, please contact Ashley Summers, DRCOG information systems manager, at 303-480-6746 or asummers@drcog.org

Disclaimer: The information provided in this newsletter is compiled from multiple sources and is intended for informational purposes only.  DRCOG assumes no responsibility or legal liability for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information in this newsletter.