Geospatial References and Avalanche Information
"What? and Where?. A huge slide, over there in that cliffy shot just above those really nice lines north of Corn Biscuit, not the low angle ones the other ones." Every generation has its own names for the same places. Put it on a map and then everyone is starting out pointing in the same direction.The friends group is working to develop tools to allow winter backcountry users to be knowledgeable and share information about conditions with a minimum of confusion. The use of Geographic Information Services (GIS) in operational avalanche work is still in its infancy, but presents a real potential for building accessible avalanche atlases and new ways of visualizing information from disparate sources. The first step in developing the tools is getting the data on the grid.
The CNFAIC worked with Doug Scott of Avalanche Mapping in 2005 to establish naming conventions for Turnagain slide paths. Doug has published very nice topos showing the paths identified in those efforts. The topos are available for purchase at his web site.
The Observer Program, sponsored by Friends of CNFAIC will be working with the Snowpilot developers to get observations and profiles into a geospatially referenced database. It is hoped this will help with the standardization of place names and associating those names with definite locations.
The friends group is all about resource sharing.
-- GIS contact
**New improved version of SnowPilot available for FREE download November 2007 Snowpilot**
