5
THEREUPON:
ROBERT BROWN, III,
having been first duly sworn, as hereinafter certified,
testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MS. NASH:
Q. Please state your name.
A. My name is Robert Tillman Brown, III.
Q. Mr. Brown, I'm Beverly Nash, and I
represent the United States in this litigation. And
we're here to try and understand what computer systems
the water management district has, how they're set up,
how people in the district both communicate internally
and externally using the computers, how data is stored
on the computers, how it's formatted, and you're here
today as a representative of the district having
knowledge of one or more areas.
Were you shown the list of categories that
we submitted?
A. Yes, I was.
Q. And what categories are you here as a
representative?
A. Four, five, six, and nine.
Q. What is your present title or position?
A. I'm the director of the Geographic
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Sciences Division.
Q. And what is your job description?
A. I manage both technically and
administratively the division which collects and
manipulates various spatial data using computers.
Q. And how long have you been director of the
Graphic Sciences Division?
A. Approximately 13 years.
Q. Have you had other position at the water
management district?
A. Yes, I have.
Q. What position were those?
A. I was a supervisory professional in the
Land Resources Division. I worked as a geographer in
the Environmental Sciences Division, and originally
came as a research assistant/geographer.
Q. How long were you a supervisor or
professional in the Resources Land Division?
A. Approximately three or four years.
Q. And what were your job responsibilities
there?
A. To supervise the planning staff and the
technical staff who prepared maps.
Q. And how long were you a geographer in the
Environmental Sciences Division?
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A. Approximately three years.
Q. And what were your job responsibilities as
a geographer?
A. My responsibilities in that division were
to perform mapping functions for or in support of the
biologists and their various projects.
Q. And how long were you a research
assistant/geographer?
A. I'm not sure exactly. I'd say several
years.
Q. What were your responsibilities in that
position?
A. Again, we prepared primarily land-use maps
in support of other projects.
Q. What is your educational background?
A. I have a Bachelor of Science in physical
geography and have completed some graduate work in
public administration.
Q. Who is your supervisor?
A. My supervisor is John Lynch, the
department director of technical services.
Q. The Geographic Sciences Division is part
of the Technical Services Department?
A. That's correct.
Q. Do you have employees that work for you?
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A. Yes, I do.
Q. How many?
A. Six.
Q. What are their names and job descriptions?
A. My systems manager, who admin--or manages
the computer systems from a technical standpoint is
named Nancy Lynn. She's been with us approximately
three weeks and is just getting familiar with the
systems. And working for her are five technicians who
actually do the hands-on computer work and mapping.
Q. What are their names?
A. Jimmy Kramp, K-r-a-m-p, Judy Canada, Terry
Bennett, Cecilia Conrad--and let's see who I've left
out, John Stockum, S-t-o-c-k-u-m.
Q. What computers does the Geographic
Sciences Division utilize?
A. We use IBM Personal System 2's. We have
three of those. We use a Computer Vision CADDS system.
And we have also a Computer Vision system which runs on
a Sun work station. That's the hardware.
Q. What software does the Geographic Sciences
Division have--utilize?
A. We use the Computer Vision CADDS software.
That's C-A-D-D-S. We use AUTOCADD, ARC/INFO, a package
called CADSI, and the various standard packages that
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the district uses for word processing.
Q. What are those standard packages?
A. Word Perfect and various text editors
contained in the operating systems, such as Egland for
dos, the VI Editor in UNIX.
Q. Any others?
A. No.
Q. What work of your division is done on the
IBM System 2's?
A. We have a software package called PC
ARC/INFO, which is a geographic information system
package. Approximately 80 percent of our work is done
on those systems.
I really can't describe the specific
projects because we do approximately 30 to 40 a month.
Can't recall any specifics.
Q. Is there someone who can describe the
specifics projects?
A. The technicians themselves probably could
describe them.
Q. Is there a list of the projects that
are--have been done on the IBM PC's using this PC
ARC/INFO software system?
A. Yes.
Q. Does that list have a name?
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A. No.
Q. What work is done on the Computer Vision
CADDS system?
A. Primarily mapping applications using
polygon processing; and more specifically, processing
of land-use maps.
Q. What are the mapping applications to which
you refer?
A. It's quite a wide range. Do you want me
to describe all of the applications?
Q. Yes.
A. The Computer Vision system was purchased
in 1977. The first project that we performed using the
system was to digitize the USGS seven-and-a-half minute
quad sheets. We created a data base of maps for the
entire district, 351 7.5 minute quad sheets. This
served as a base for displaying all, many other types
of spatial data.
Following that, we mapped and digitized
land use for our entire district, and most of the
projects involved a manipulation of those data in some
fashion, either tabulating them for specific areas or
reselecting them for certain land-use types.
Q. Any other mapping applications?
A. Computer Vision system was also used to
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create a monthly isohyetal rainfall map for the
district. That--those projects were begun seven or
eight years ago, have become a standard product which
we produce.
Mapped other information, such as point
information for well locations and data collection
sites, various three-dimensional surfaces representing
land elevations using the digital terrain model module
of the Computer Vision system.
Q. You mentioned that the system creates
monthly rainfall maps?
A. Yes.
Q. Where is the data--where does the data
come from to create those maps?
A. The data are collected from various
rainfall stations throughout the district, either
administered by the weather bureau or the district or
private observers. The data are compiled, I believe,
in the water resources division. A draft of the
isohyetal map is created and the geographic sciences
division digitizes it, superimposes it on the base map
information which I described earlier.
Q. So the base map you're referencing is the
digitized USGS quad sheets?
A. That's correct.
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Q. Is that the base map used for all projects
done in the division?
A. It has been the base map information used
for most of the projects until, say, the last two
months.
Q. What has been used in the last two months?
A. We are transitioning to the USGS DLG files
and the USGS and Census Bureau Tiger files as our base
maps.
Q. What procedure or system is used to
transfer data files from one division to another? You
indicated that the rainfall data is compiled by the
Water Resources Division. How is it transferred to
your division?
A. For that particular project, the draft
rainfall map is created on another system, and I'm not
sure which system it is. But the product that's
created is a plotted draft of the contours representing
rainfall. That paper plot is what is then transferred
to us, and our technicians trace the contours into the
system and superimpose them on the base map.
Q. That's a manual process?
A. The digitizing is a manual process, yes.
Q. Do you have a list of what is on the
Computer Vision CADDS system?
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A. Yes, we do.
Q. In what form is that list?
A. The--the one list which I'm thinking of is
a Word Perfect file, which at this point in time is not
the most current information. We use a on-line
cataloging system to search for specific files, and
that's a dynamics process that does not create hard
copy files.
Q. Where is that on-line catalog system,
where is that located?
A. That's on the Computer Vision system.
Q. And does that on-line catalog system have
a name?
A. No, it doesn't.
Q. Does your division utilize
image-processing systems?
A. No. Only indirectly in that we're
exploring the possibility of using some of the products
from the image processing system.
Q. Do you know whether other segments of the
water management district utilize image processing
systems?
A. Yes, I do.
Q. And what sections of the water management
division--districts would that be?
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A. The Environmental Sciences Division uses
an image analysis system called I squared S or
International Imaging Systems. The planning department
has software called ERDAS, E-R-D-A-S, and they are
developing prototype applications for image processing.
Q. Does Geographic Sciences Division utilize
what I believe is called Geographic Information System,
GIS?
A. Yes, we do.
Q. Describe the system the division uses.
A. The system we use is called ARC/INFO.
It's a product of a company called ESRI in Redlands,
California. The system is a combination of graphic
displays of mapped information and a relational data
base package.
Q. What is the source of the information in
that system?
A. Most of the data used in the ARC/INFO
system is obtained from the data which was originally
stored in the Computer Vision system.
Q. Is there data obtained from elsewhere,
also?
A. As I described before, the base map
information is obtained from the U.S. Geological
Survey. That's--that's all.
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Q. You also testified earlier that your
division utilizes a Computer Vision system that runs on
Sun work stations?
A. That's correct.
Q. What work is done on that Computer Vision
system?
A. The same types of applications that I
described on the older Computer Vision system. The
data are transferred over to that system and processed
using the enhanced capabilities of the more modern work
station.
Q. What are the features of these enhanced
capabilities?
A. Primarily faster processing speed, greater
disk capacity, and multi-tasking capability of the UNIX
operating system.
Q. Are there what is referred to as map
layers on your GIS system?
A. They're commonly referred to as map
layers, don't actually exist in the ARC/INFO system.
The layering concept is primarily a computer-aided
design system concept. The layering normally is
something that exists within a single CADDS data file
where you can turn off certain layers and turn on other
layers to represent the data that you're working with.
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In the GIS systems, each theme or type of
data exists as a separate map coverage or set of files,
and then those can be combined in any fashion that you
need.
Q. And so that I'm clear, the data in the GIS
system, you indicated, comes from the Computer Vision
system by and large?
A. (Witness nods.)
Q. And the data going into the Computer
Vision system is from the Water Resources Division?
A. The data from Water Resources Division is
only the rainfall data.
Q. What is the source of the other data in
the Computer Vision system?
A. The land cover data is collected, mapped
and collected, digitized by district personnel. That's
the largest data base that is maintained on that
system.
Base map information was the information
that was digitized from the quad sheets and also that
which was purchased from the USGS. The point
information representing well locations and data
collection sites comes from our data management
division in the research and evaluation department.
Q. So the Geologic Sciences Division does not
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then collect the raw data.
A. Only the land cover.
Q. What is the procedure for collecting the
land cover data?
A. We start with a conventional aerial
photograph, which is--covers the area of a single
seven-and-a-half minute quad sheet. Clear mylar
plastic overlay is taped over that photograph. Our
technicians then photointerpret that image and
delineate areas of activity or vegetation coverage.
And once they've completed as much photointerpretation
as possible in the office, they then go out in the
field and examine areas that they were not sure of or
that they could not identify on the aerial photograph.
Once the map is completed in that fashion,
a final quality check overflight is performed using the
district helicopter where the entire sheet is verified,
every area on the map is verified.
Once that process is completed, the map is
then traced with the digitizer and the data are stored
in the system for polygon information. Like the land
cover information, various processes are performed on
it to generate the data bases which make it a useful
product. Errors are corrected, such as incomplete
closure of boundaries or lines which don't connect to
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other lines, and thus by giving you incomplete
topology, which the system needs to process polygons.
Once all of those processes are completed,
a plot is created, a hard copy from the system. That
plot is then overlayed over the original field sheet to
check for correspondence to eliminate any errors that
might have been created by typing problems or
misclassifications.
Q. When you say earlier that errors, such as
incomplete closure of boundaries, are corrected, what
procedure is used to correct those errors?
A. Well, both the Computer Vision system and
the ARC/INFO system give--when you process the data to
create topology, if any of these types of errors exist,
there are various messages that the system will give
back to you and highlight problems on the screen, such
as dangling arcs or incomplete closure.
Technicians then go back into the data
base, make those adjustments, and attempt to generate
the data base again. Only when it's absolutely correct
will the system generate a correct data base.
Q. The field checks and these checks that you
mentioned, are these performed by the technicians you
named earlier?
A. Yes, they are.
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Q. You mentioned that once the plot is
created and it's checked there's a hard copy. Is
that--are those hard copies maintained?
A. No, they're not.
Q. In what manner is the work you've been
describing maintained?
A. It's maintained as digital data on both
the Computer Vision system and the ARC/INFO system.
Q. Is there a process to back up the
information on the Computer Vision system?
A. Yes, there is.
Q. What is that process?
A. We have a series of magnetic tapes, one
for each day for a month, approximately 30 magazine
tapes. A daily backup is performed each day at the end
of the working day, and those tapes are then cycled
over again starting at the end of the month. So that
at any point in time, we have a 30-day backup of our
active work.
Generally when a project is completed, the
data are backed up permanently on a magnetic tape where
one copy is maintained in our division area, one is
maintained in our vault over in Technical Services, and
an off-site copy is maintained at our field station.
Q. And do you know how far back these
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permanent magnetic tapes are--exist?
MS. STOLLMAN: For which system are you
referring to?
MS. NASH: We're still on the Computer
Vision system.
MS. STOLLMAN: Okay.
A. Well, we only permanently archive what we
call primary data, which would be like the land cover
information for the district, and the last update was
performed in 1988, approximately. So that data is
backed up. Prior to that we had 1979 data and various
dates around '76--'76, '77, '79, partial coverages of
the district.
The base maps are also backed up.
Q. Does that 1979 data you've referenced
still exist?
A. Yes, it does.
Q. Does it have a name?
A. 1979 land cover data.
Q. Do you also do backups on the ARC/INFO
system?
A. Yes, we do.
Q. And what's that procedure?
A. Again, we only back up primary data, such
as land use and the base map information. Those data
21
are--don't change, so they are backed up one time. The
active projects are backed up on a daily basis until
they're completed, and then we generally don't save
those once a project is completed. They usually result
in a transfer of data to other projects.
Q. To what other projects would that data be
transferred?
A. I can't remember the specific projects. I
would have to look at our records.
Q. What records exist to show to what project
your data has been transferred?
A. Every project is logged in to an Oracle
data base. Information containing who requested the
data, what project the data is--the project is for, who
worked on it, how long it took, and the final
disposition of the data.
Q. Does this Oracle data base have a name?
A. No, it doesn't.
Q. How is it referenced?
A. There's a form which has been created on
the--in Oracle for data input which the technicians
use. They use this form to input the information about
the projects, and it's stored in the Oracle data base.
Q. On which of your computers do you access
the Oracle data base?
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A. All of our Personal System 2's access
Oracle over the network. Those are primarily the
systems that are used.
Q. Is there any documentation or manuals that
exist to assist with the functioning and utilization of
the Computer Vision system?
A. Yes, there are.
Q. Does that documentation or manuals have a
name?
A. They are the Computer Vision system
manuals. Each manual is named for the software module
or specific application area that it references,
approximately 20 to 30 manuals.
Q. Is there similar documentation for the
ARC/INFO?
A. Yes.
Q. What is that called?
A. Those are the--again, the system software
reference manuals provided by the vendor ESRI.
Q. How many of those are there?
A. Six to eight.
Q. Is there any internally-created water
management district documentation or manuals on the
Computer Vision system?
A. No.
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Q. Is there any internally-created manuals or
documentation on ARC/INFO?
A. No.
Q. Is there a means for someone outside of
the water management district to access the Computer
Vision system?
A. No.
Q. Is any of the results that you get on the
Computer Vision system provided to entities outside the
water management district?
A. Yes.
Q. To which entities?
A. Various counties and private firms,
engineering firms.
Q. What is the nature of the information
provided to the counties?
A. Land-use information, base-mapping
information. Those are the primary data sets.
Q. In what format is the land-use information
provided?
A. It's actually provided in an AUTOCADD
format in most cases.
Q. Are there any other formats which you
provide land-use information to outside--
A. Not to--well, I should say primarily
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AUTOCADD. On some occasions recently, ARC/INFO format.
Q. And what format is the base map
information provided?
A. AUTOCADD.
Q. Is different information provided to
private engineering firms?
A. Different information?
Q. Than the land-use information and base-map
information you mentioned--
A. No.
Q. --being described previously as provided.
A. No.
Q. Is the format in which it's provided to
the private engineering firms any different?
A. No, it's usually in an AUTOCADD format,
AUTOCADD drawing files.
Q. Is there different information from the
ARC/INFO system provided to users outside the district?
A. No, it's the same information.
Q. Does any of the data that comes into the
system come from other than water management district
employees?
A. The--as I said before, the base-map
information comes from the U.S. Geological Survey. The
most recent update of our land-use information involved
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some data which was obtained from the regional planning
councils.
Q. Are those state agencies?
A. I'm not sure what--technically what they
are. They're regional in nature.
Q. You indicated that there is presently no
outside access on the computer vision system.
Is--would such access be feasible?
MS. STOLLMAN: I believe that's been asked
and answered.
MS. NASH: I asked him whether any did
occur. The question now is whether it would be
feasible, whether the system is capable of
allowing outside access.
MS. STOLLMAN: You may answer.
A. I suppose it's possible technically. I
wouldn't know how to go about it.
BY MS. NASH:
Q. Are there maps that your division has
created that show vegetation distribution?
A. Yes, there are.
Q. Do those maps have a name?
A. Those are the land-cover maps.
Q. Are the maps created by your division that
show nutrient distribution?
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A. No.
Q. Are there maps created by your division
that show pesticide distribution?
A. No.
Q. Mr. Brown, you testified earlier that on
your GIS system each type of data, it exists as a
separate file and that it can be combined to--in
response to different project requests.
A. Not separate files but separate groups of
files that make up a map coverage.
Q. Are there standard guidelines or
procedures for doing the combining you mentioned?
A. Yes.
Q. Are those written procedures?
A. The various processes are contained
primarily in the ARC/INFO manuals. There are different
functionalities that are available in the software.
You select the function that best suits the particular
project you're working on.
Q. But those would be contained in the
ARC/INFO documentation--
A. Yes, they would.
Q. --you mentioned?
A. Yes.
Q. Mr. Brown, you mentioned earlier that in
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doing a land-cover data, you utilize photographs?
A. Yes.
Q. What is the source of those photographs?
A. They were obtained from Mark Herd Aerial
Surveys, a company, I believe, located in Minneapolis,
Minnesota.
Q. Is there an index of those photographs?
A. They are indexed by the USGS quad sheet
name, a district I.D. number, and a Mark Herd I.D.
number. We use primarily our own index number to
locate specific photos.
Q. What is the scale on those photos, if you
know?
A. One to 24,000 representative fraction and
IR one inch equals 2000 feet.
Q. Do you know when those photographs were
taken?
MS. STOLLMAN: I would object to this line
of questioning, going into this level of detail
on the nature, type of photographs they are, but
you may answer the question.
THE WITNESS: Would you repeat the
question, please?
MS. NASH: Please read it back.
(Thereupon, the question at line 16
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through 17 was read by the Reporter as recorded
above.)
A. Best of my recollection, they were taken
in the winter of 1988.
BY MS. NASH:
Q. Is there also a smooth-line map that's
utilized?
A. No, there is not.
MS. STOLLMAN: Could we go off the record
a moment?
MS. NASH: Yes.
(Discussion off the record.)
BY MS. NASH:
Q. Are there photographs that your division
utilized prior to this group you mentioned that were
taken in 1988?
A. There was one overflight which took place,
I believe, in 1973, and one which took place
approximately 1979.
Q. Do you know who did those overflights and
took the photos?
A. Mark Herd Aerial Surveys did the
overflights for all of those time periods. The first
flight in '73 was contracted by the state. I'm not
sure which agency, but they were contracted out of
29
Tallahassee, and the district purchased them from the
repository at the university of--at Florida State
University in Tallahassee. The two subsequent flights
were contracted with Mark Herd by the district.
MS. NASH: All right, I have no further
questions.
MS. STOLLMAN: Would you like to take a
break before we we continue?
THE WITNESS: No.
MS. STOLLMAN: You need more coffee?
THE WITNESS: No, I'm fine.
MR. RICHARDS: I'd like to take a break.
MS. STOLLMAN: Okay, we'll take a break.
(Short break.)
CROSS EXAMINATION
BY MR. RICHARDS:
Q. Mr. Brown, my name's Joe Richards. I
represent the Cities of Belle Glade and Clewiston.
Are you aware of what systems of satellite
imagery that are utilized at the district?
MS. STOLLMAN: Could you define that
question? What do you mean by "systems of
satellite imagery"?
BY MR. RICHARDS:
Q. Do you understand the question?
30
A. Are you--are you asking about the sources
of the satellite data?
Q. Yes.
A. I know that we use some data from the land
sat satellite and possibly other sensors, but the data
that I'm most familiar with comes from the Spot
Satellite Corporation, a French company.
Q. Do you know who at the district is most
knowledgeable as to the land sat imagery?
A. Well, a couple of people come to mind.
Dewey Worth in the Environmental Sciences Division and
Brent Moll, M-o-l-l, in the Planning Department.
Q. And who is most knowledgeable as to the
spot imagery?
A. Would be the same names.
Q. Same names?
A. Um-hum.
Q. This satellite imagery is not utilized
within your division?
A. It's utilized in an indirect way. A
composite image created from those data are used in
prototype GIS systems, which we are developing, wherein
the satellite image is used as a background display for
the vector images from ARC/INFO.
Q. Could you go into more detail as the
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purposes for this indirect utilization by your
division?
A. The concept is to provide the users of the
GIS system with something on their screen that's
roughly equivalent to an aerial photograph so that when
they display vectors representing roads or highways or
land-use information, then the lines would be
superimposed on that satellite image as a reference to
allow them to orient themselves and observe current
conditions in the area in a very superficial way.
Q. Is this satellite imagery utilized by your
division for vegetative mapping?
A. No, it hasn't been.
Q. Is there plans to in the future?
A. We intend to move in the direction of
utilizing satellite imagery for mapping vegetation and
land use wherever possible.
Q. Who within your division is likely to be
doing this vegetative mapping?
A. In the future, it won't be done in our
division.
Q. When you say "we," you meant the district
as a whole?
A. Yes.
Q. Who would that be?
32
MS. STOLLMAN: You can answer to the
extent you know.
A. Land-use mapping is going to be performed
in the future by the Planning Department. Specific
detailed vegetation mapping is likely to be done by
Environmental Sciences Division.
BY MR. RICHARDS:
Q. The monthly rainfall maps that you
mentioned earlier, are these provided to any particular
division within the district?
A. They're prepared as a reporting document
for our governing board.
Q. Do you know the types of information that
are contained on these rainfall maps?
A. They basically summarize a previous
month's rainfall distribution for the entire district.
Q. Is water quality information on the
rainfall contained on this?
A. No.
Q. Is this information provided to anyone
outside the district?
A. I can't answer that in regards to routine
distribution of the data. There have been some
technical reports prepared by the district for specific
storm events that are available to anyone that might
33
want them.
Q. You also mentioned land elevation maps; is
that correct?
A. Yes.
Q. What areas would these maps cover?
A. We have--we have specific elevation data
for the C-1 canal basin, some areas in the Palmar
Drainage District, some data for the Betsy Danforth
Creek area in Martin County, and possibly some data for
the Cypress Creek area.
Q. Is there any land elevation maps for the
water conservation areas?
A. I've seen elevation maps in reports from
other agencies. I'm not aware of any specific data
that we have at the district; at least in my division
we don't have any.
Q. Are you aware of any such information you
mentioned for the water conversation areas in other
divisions?
MS. STOLLMAN: I don't want you to
speculate. If you know, you can answer.
A. Yeah, I'm sure it exists, but as far as
giving the specific location, it would be purely
speculating on my part.
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BY MR. RICHARDS:
Q. Is the Environmental signs--Services
Division likely to have that information?
MS. STOLLMAN: I believe this question has
been asked and answered. He says he can
speculate but he doesn't know.
BY MR. RICHARDS:
Q. Who at the district might know where that
information would exist?
A. I would say engineers in the Water
Resources Division.
Q. You listed several projects for the
Computer Vision CADDS system, including digitizing the
quad sheets for base maps and land elevation maps. Are
there any other projects contained on that system?
A. Well, as I said before, we perform
approximately 30 to 40 projects per month utilizing the
primary data sets that I described before of various
extractions and tabulations of those data.
Q. Are there any other projects that you can
recall?
A. Well, this--there are hundreds of
projects. I really can't recall any specific ones.
Q. Who would know the specific ones?
A. Well, those would be in our Oracle data
35
base.
Q. Who is most knowledgeable as to the data
contained in the Oracle data base?
A. Well, the person who developed that data
base is named Patrick Edmundson.
Q. Anyone else?
A. No.
Q. You mentioned the land cover maps
generated from aerial photography. Do you know what
format that photograph is?
A. The photograph comes in two formats. One
is a nine-by-nine color transparency that's a
false-color infrared version. There's also a paper
copy which is at the quad sheet's scale one inch to
2000 feet that's a black and white version of the color
IR photograph. That's the format that we use to
develop the overlay referencing the color IR.
Q. Is that true for the--all the years you
mentioned, '89 and '79, '73?
A. Only the most recent imagery. The
previous ones were only the black and white paper
copies.
Q. You mentioned that the land cover analysis
was verified by helicopter; is that correct?
A. Yes.
36
Q. Do you know when in relation to the data
photographs that verification was done?
MS. STOLLMAN: Again, I object to going
into this level of detail with respect to the
information, when they were taken, how they were
verified.
You may answer the question, if you know.
A. Well, the process of mapping the land
cover is approximately a five-man year project for the
entire district. It generally takes a year or two to
complete that update. The helicopter overflights take
place at various times during that update, depending on
the completion of a group of overlays in a single area
of sufficient number to make the helicopter flight cost
effective.
BY MR. RICHARDS:
Q. And the individuals performing these
verifications would be the technicians within your
division?
A. That's correct.
Q. Those same individuals are interpreting
the photos in the lab?
A. Yes.
Q. Was the 1979--oh, let's go back to '88.
What areas are covered in that land cover map?
37
A. The entire district.
Q. That would include the water conservation
areas?
A. Yes.
Q. And the 1979 land cover map, was that also
verified?
A. Yes.
Q. That would be the same process as you
described for the 1988?
A. Exactly the same process.
Q. Does the 1979 map cover the entire
district?
A. No.
Q. What areas?
A. I can't recall what the distributions were
for the different dates in the 1970's. There is an
index map available that shows that.
Q. Where is that index map located?
A. In Geographic Sciences.
Q. What would that be called?
A. It--it has no name.
Q. Do you know if the water conservation
areas were mapped for land cover in 1979?
A. I can't recall.
Q. Who would be most knowledgeable at the
38
district as to the 1979 land cover map?
A. The technicians in our division.
Q. Would they be most knowledgeable also
about the other land cover maps prepared in the '70s?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you know if the 1973 overflight was
verified?
A. Yes, it was.
Q. Same process as described earlier?
A. Same process except that we had no
computer system, so those ended up as paper maps.
Q. Where are these paper maps stored?
A. Well, some of them exist in our division.
Unfortunately, when the next update was performed, they
were used as a base and the updates were done directly
on those overlays, so it's not a clear definition of
the '73 conditions.
Q. Do you know if the water conservation
areas were mapped in 1973?
A. I can't recall.
Q. As far as for '79 and '88, are they
contained on the computer?
A. Yes.
Q. Which computer?
A. Computer Vision system, the AUTOCADD
39
systems, and in '79 only, on the ARC/INFO system.
Q. Do hard copies exist for 1988?
A. No.
Q. 1979?
A. No.
Q. And you mentioned a recent land-use map;
is that correct?
A. The only thing I am aware of as a recent
land-use map would be our 1988/89 land cover data.
Q. That's that land-cover map we just
discussed?
A. The digital data.
Q. Is there other land-use information?
A. Not that I'm aware of.
Q. Besides the 1989--'88-89 map, is there
land-use maps in the past besides the land cover maps
we've already discussed?
A. Not that I'm aware of.
Q. Do you know why the district is switching
from the quad sheets to the USGS DLG and Tiger file for
their base maps?
MS. STOLLMAN: I object to that question.
I don't think it's relevant to know why they're
making a change.
You may answer to the extent you know.
40
A. Well, we--we feel that they are more
detailed than our original base maps. They come, in
the case of the Tiger files, with a great deal more
nongraphic information, such as street names, highway
names, census tracts, zip code boundaries, and it's a
much more cost-effective solution than our creating
them ourselves.
BY MR. RICHARDS:
Q. Did you experience any particular problems
with the quad sheet base maps?
A. No more than normal problems digitizing
data, error corrections, edge matching. But no
specific problems that I can recall that were unusual.
Q. What types of data are stored in the info
relational data base as associated with the ARC/INFO
maps?
A. Well, in the case of the land-cover maps,
the relational data base information would be the land
cover classification code for each polygon, a unique
identification number for that polygon, a perimeter
distance for that polygon, an area in square feet for
that polygon. And that's the--that's about it.
BY MR. RICHARDS:
Q. Do you have any hydrology or water quality
data stored in the ARC/INFO data base system?
41
A. No, we don't.
Q. Do you make the base map information
available to the public?
A. Yes. All of our information, once it's
finalized, is available to anyone.
Q. Is there a charge for providing that?
A. We charge according to Florida statutes,
which, I think, is basically time and materials.
Q. Are those charges the same for the
entities that were requested--is there a difference--a
different charge for public entities versus private
industry?
A. If we charge, it's--again, it's according
to Florida statutes. Some agencies, like counties, we
have an agreement to exchange information, and in that
case, there's no charge.
Q. And that's for all the information that
you generate once it's finalized?
A. Anything that's finalized is public
information.
Q. Any of the types of information we
discussed copyrighted?
A. No, they're not.
MR. RICHARDS: That's all I have. Thank
you very much.
42
THE WITNESS: You're welcome.
(Whereupon, the deposition was concluded
at 11:26 a.m.)
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