Best Practices in Site Data Management, Analysis, and 2-D and 3-D Geospatial Visualization Tools from Hazardous Waste Site Investigation Activities Carolyn K. Offutt, ORD/NERL/ESD/LEB, Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center, on detail from OSWER/OSRTI Introduction Site Assessment Managers, (SAMs), Remedial Program Project Managers (RPMs), and On-Scene Coordinators (OSCs) manage and analyze data to support many different programmatic functions - predicting contaminant migration processes and pathways, assessing health and environmental risks, estimating remediation costs, and allocating scarce clean-up resources most efficiently. Geospatial tools allow site managers to visualize complex information to support these functions. Over the last decade, geospatial technology has come into its own as an indispensable resource of the Superfund program. This poster illustrates a sampling of best practices. Four Quadrants of Visualization Techniques Representative best practices are arrayed in this poster into four quadrants defined by the two dimensions of analytic complexity and accessibility. In the lower left quadrant are FUNCTIONAL techniques. These techniques are basic workhorses that are neither exceptionally powerful nor exceptionally accessible, but which may be all that is needed. In the upper left quadrant are the most complex ANALYTICAL technologies. These typically demand more processing power or more extensive data than are commonly needed for functional techniques. They are also typically less accessible to wide audiences. In the lower right quadrant are the INTERACTIVE technologies, whose value is in making functional techniques widely and easily accessible via the Internet. Interactive technologies are needed for wide communication of functional information among stakeholders and the public. In the upper right are the INNOVATIVE technologies that provide both analytical complexity and accessibility. These include methods for making complex analyses widely accessible, such as to the public. ANALYTICAL Practices that require more complex analyses and/or more extensive data X QJ Q_ E o o A3 O '¦P TO C < Wf Visualizing detailed local geology & contaminant data reveal risks (e.g.. groundwater contamination via containment layer hole). Visualizing spatial extent of contamination using sample data helps eslimate mass and volume of contamination Statistical analyses ol well sample data slww highest contaminant uncertainties (fed areas), and help in Sitting new welt locabons accurately & cost-etfectwety INNOVATIVE Practices thai deliver more powerful analytic capabilities to users over the Web indus«on of interactive 3-D mode«s within Web-based irte duia management systems gives useirs arcsss to the results o1 complex analyses n Various web technology (e g , lAfeh-based GtS) allow users to- thare site-specific dala without tfw need for expensive or complicated software Using web'Cased GlS, wth interactive query capability, users perform complex spatial & rtsfc analyses without (raining on multiple tools FUNCTIONAL Practices that provide basic presentations of eommonty-used geospatial site information Mapping mtAi-ptogram info (0 g . Superfund RCRA) ovef population/land use (Jensaty maps shows m • v' -"V-X wheat land remediaGon coutd contribute to new economic development Mapping area-wide Superfund s»tes thai are treating groundwater for VOCs shows potential tor ccst-sha~ng aooti prefects I 1 'J'".:.].iJ In b_ GJS contouring software shows sile contamination and potential off-site nsks INTERACTIVE Practices that Web-enabte functional types of analyses to aid community involvement activities •V-sw • • :-iJ! ' ; ' J / L . ... ¦ i ¦ YWjb.bssed tools sucfi as GATHER allow (he pubiscto find sites near them and 183m about their ament status. LT-nS Qnkne dotwrtenl libraries fj allow project team members from dflerenl places )o collaborate efficiently and more cost effective^ FIELDS provides a free & easy interface to combine sample data wlh GIS, quickly s»tcw>ng contamnnaljon extent Accessibility What is a Visualization "Best Practice"? in this poster, a "best practice" is a technology that helps site managers: 1) accomplish something of programmatic value that could not otherwise be done, and/or 2) reduce the cost or improve the quality of an analysis done by other means. Geospatial analysis is entering the mainstream of environmental information management because it does both these things. Geospatial Technology Supporting Programmatic Needs At its best, the strength of geospatial visualization is its immediacy (i.e., its ability to clarify complicated issues and focus attention on what is most important more quickly than could be done otherwise). In reviewing best practices, two themes emerge: 1) variations in the analytic complexity of different available technologies, and 2) variations in the accessibility of these technologies to different audiences. A geospatial technology does not have to be the most complex or the most accessible to qualify as a best practice. It must simply offer the right combination of complexity and accessibility to fulfill a particular programmatic need. Notice: Although this work was; reviewed by EPA and approved for publication, it may licit necessarily reflect official Agency policy. Mentionof trade names cr commercial products does not constitute endorsement cr recommendation by EPA for use. j epascienceforumj^^-iC" 5. 2 Collahoratiue Science / t \ XJ PROtfc « Collaborative Science for Environmental Solutions y m ------- |