• Introduction
• Report (pdf)
• Traditional Maps
• Map Server
• Web Map Server (WMS)
• Web Feature Service (WFS)
• Photo Gallery

Introduction

As winter recreation becomes more popular and technology puts people further and higher into the backcountry the rate of avalanche mishaps has increased. Alaska has the highest per capita avalanche death rate in the nation and ranks second only to Colorado in deaths per state. Located in the mountains of Alaska’s Kenai Penninsula, Turnagain Pass has been responsible for a disproportionate number of these deaths. My project idea was to create some useful GIS data and maps for avalanche forecasters, rescue workers, and the general public. Until this project there were no public maps of Turnagain Pass with the unofficial names of peaks, ridges, and bowls recreational users commonly go by. It is my hope that labeling these features will help recreational users and rescue workers in the advent of a mishap. In addition, I wanted to learn more about Enterprise GIS technologies so I created an online Map Server for interactive online viewing of the GIS data, a Web Map Server (WMS) for connecting directly to desktop GIS software via the internet, and a Web Feature Service for server side GIS software such as ArcIMS.

This project cannot predict avalanches but rather aspires to give people with proper avalanche knowledge some useful tools to assess avalanche hazards. This project alone is not designed to predict avalanches in any way, shape, or form as terrain is only one ingredient to trigger an avalanche. I would like to thank the many avalanche experts, backcountry skiers, and gis professionals who helped me with this project and made it possible.

Warning: This data is low resolution. Not all avalanche paths are mapped. Do not trust your life on this data.

Traditional Maps
I created these maps with ArcGIS 9.1 and Spatial Analyst Extension.

Map Server

Helpful Hint:Use the Ctrl key to select multiple layers.

Web Map Server (WMS)

A Web Map Server (WMS) allows for use of data from several different servers, and enables for the creation of a network of Map Servers from which clients can build customized maps based on the Open GIS Consortium's (OGC) Web Map Server Interfaces Implementation Specification.

You can use any WMS client such as ArcMap or ArcExplorer Web below:

1. Launch ArcExplorer Web
2. Click the plus icon a couple times and enter:
http://localhost/cgi-bin/mapserv.exe?map=E:/Inetpub/wwwroot2/mapserver/tpass/tpass.map&service=WMS

Web Feature Service (WFS)

A WFS ( Web Feature Service ) publishes feature-level geospatial data to the web. This means that instead of returning an image, as WMS, the client now obtains vector data in GIS format. This interface uses GML (Geography Markup Language), which is a subset of XML over HTTP as it's delivery mechanism.

This technology is still in it's infancy so only a few clients are WFS enabled. ArcIMS or a custom web application is one such example. See Mapserver documentation for details.

http://localhost/cgi-bin/mapserv.exe?map=E:/Inetpub/wwwroot2/mapserver/tpass/wfs.map&request=GetCapabilites&service=WFS&verssion=1.0.0

GIS Data

You may download my GIS data here. 33MB