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113A-
Information Highway
Perhaps at the forefront of all technological advances for
improvement in the accessibility of geospatial data is the
North Carolina Information Highway.
The North Carolina Information Highway (NCIH) is an
initiative with the substantial potential for improving the
economic vitality of the state and the quality of life of its
citizens. It creates the leverage for North Carolina to
influence the balance of economic power among the
states.
As a result of a comprehensive, multi-year planning
endeavor and the successful performance of several pilot
projects, the state through the major telephone
companies is upgrading its telecommunications facilities
to an advanced public switched broadband network. This
migration from the statewide telecommunications
systems for transmitting voice and data signals to an
advance technical infrastructure, featuring high-volume
fiber-optics and high-speed message handling
equipment, is resulting in improved capabilities for
carrying massive amounts of digital information (including
images and full-motion video) throughout the geographic
boundaries of the state, as well as providing global
interconnections.
The network is based on advanced digital technology for
managing and transmitting the high volume of traffic
demanded by state departments, local city and county
governmental entities, educational facilities, federal
agencies, and other participating public and private
organizations. The underlying technologies use fiber-
optic cables for carrying the data and sophisticated ATM
(asynchronous transfer mode) switches and SONET
(synchronous optical network) transmission systems for
managing the traffic. Although the state's integrated
digital network serves over 250,000 telephones and
provides data communications for over 25,000 terminals
and personal computers and a broad diversity of sizes
and types of other computers, its underlying technical
components are capable of communicating only a few
million bits of information per second. As a point of
contrast, the transmission of images and two-way video
requires facilities capable of transporting billions of bits of
information per second. Wire-based phone lines and
satellite technologies are unable to meet the transmission
volumes necessary for communicating high-resolution
image photographs and transmitting good quality, full-
motion, and full-color videos at acceptable costs and
speeds.
In order to handle the high volumes of digital traffic
required efficiently and cost-effectively, the network
employs fiber-optic lines. While voice-grade telephone
lines typically transmit information at a few thousand bits
per second, and microwave and satellite transmission
speeds reach several million bits per second, fiber-optic
links transmit information at rates up to many billion bits
per second. A single, hair-width strand of fiber-optic cable
can carry as much information as thousands of wire-
based phone lines. Fiber-based transmission can send
voice, data, image and video information quickly,
accurately, and reliably.
Advanced hardware and software is required to organize
and process the mega-volumes of information that are
transmitted throughout the state.
At present, 136 video teleconferencing rooms have been
established in locations such as public high schools,
medical facilities, state departments, community
colleges, and universities. Several sites in the state are
. now equipped with GIS capabilities and are beginning to
take advantage of the technology for transmitting large
amounts of geospatial data in real visualization time.
Applications on the NCIH will utilize the vast resources
available from GIS databases. Potential applications on
the NCIH include examining water quality concerns,
improving health care delivery, and cultivating economic
development. To meet the demands of the these
applications, large volumes of data describing the
location and characteristics of rivers and streams,
demographics, land use, land cover, transportation,
water and sewer lines are accessible. Digital imagery
(high resolution) may become the largest geospatial
dataset expected to be transmitted on the NCIH. First
generation digital orthophotography (1 meter pixels from
aircraft) are now available statewide and a 2nd
generation is likely to be complete by the year 2000.
GIS use of the NCIH was recently demonstrated at
Governor Hunt's reception of delegates during the
second meeting of the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure
Conference, hosted by North Carolina in October of
1997. The demonstration connected representatives of
the Department of Transportation and a local regional
planning agency with live voice, video, and GIS
canvasing capabilities. The representatives debated
the pros and cons of several alternate highway corridors
that were needed to improve the transportation conditions
in a city within the region. Each representative was able
to communicate by voice and video through the use of
office based GIS workstations. Additionally, each
representative was able to utilize a GIS interface to
utilize aerial imagery, environmental data , and cultural
data contained in the Corporate Geographic Database in
order to convey concerns regarding the impact of each
alternate route. Both planners were able to discuss the
placement of the highway right of way corridor and
eventually reach a consensus on the selected corridor.
The NCIH is a critical component of the strategic plan for
geographic information and is the vital link needed to
connect GIS databases. The NCIH promises to support
advanced problem solving capabilities using spatial data
such as maps for locating facilities and addressing
complex environmental problems (NC Controller, 1996).
Through the NCIH, public on-line access to government
information by citizens and businesses will be available
as a service from the home.
Network Agreements for Access to Data
CGIA has traditionally offered access to the Corporate
Geographic Database under a Wide Area Network
agreement with individual organizations.
Wide Are Network agreements are established by CGIA to
encourage direct access to the Corporate Geographic
Database. | Under these agreements, organizations
located nearby or across the state can access the
Corporate Geographic Database in real time for download
or viewing. The agreements have been used to explore
the technical and policy issues surrounding network
access to geospatial data. The connections to the
Intemational Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXII, Part 7, Budapest, 1998 141
