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The Office of Federal Coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects (OFC) is creating a Google-like reference system along a 20-mile stretch of the proposed natural gas pipeline route at Atigun Pass that, if successful, would be expanded for the entire route to provide a consistent and integrated source of information and mapping for the pipeline project.

The prototype of the OFC's Geospatial Information System (GIS) will use a base map from Light Detection and Ranging [LiDAR] technology and a range of existing documents, studies and research from private sector and government sources to create a web-based data source that can be used by federal and state agencies involved in permitting the gas pipeline.

The Atigun Pass GIS prototype, using the LiDAR data, should be completed by the end of 2009, and will allow agencies to click on any point along that stretch of the pipeline to extract and view relevant mapping and report data. If the prototype is successful and assists agencies in expediting the permitting process, the GIS will be developed for the 750-mile pipeline route from Prudhoe Bay to the Canadian border.

Currently, agencies use different sets of data and systems when studying the pipeline route, and those data sets are incompatible. The new resource system will remove those inconsistencies and incompatibilities by giving every agency involved in the pipeline project use of the same geospatially referenced baseline data on fault and landslide hazard detection, wetlands, and stream crossings to lay a foundation for streamlining permitting activities and aid land and resource management. It also will help with analysis of climate change impacts in the pipeline corridor.

LiDAR technology -- an active remote sensing system analogous to radar that uses laser light as the measurement source -- can provide range and other information that gives users an overview of broad, continuous features that would be otherwise indistinguishable. The system measures the roundtrip time for a pulse of laser energy to travel between the sensor and a target. Specific LiDAR applications for the OFC GIS include: base mapping, pipeline corridor mapping, hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, floodplain mapping, terrain unit mapping, land-cover classification, transportation and transmission corridor mapping, and urban modeling.

In other applications, LiDAR has been used in Eureka, Nunavut to help scientists study the processes associated with radiative exchange. LiDAR systems also are being used to collect data and analyze the effects of climate change by monitoring the subtle movement of glaciers, degradation of coastal areas and to establish models that can be used in the study permafrost in changing environments.

The OFC has partnered with the State of Alaska to make sure all specifications are appropriate and the data obtained will be a valuable asset that can be used to expedite permitting. Leveraging state funds with matching federal funds will be key to decreasing the cost of the overall GIS project.

Congress directed the Office of the Federal Coordinator to manage the activities of more than 20 federal agencies, Canadian authorities, the State of Alaska and private stakeholders to expedite the regulatory process for making this crucial natural gas supply available to domestic markets.