INDIANA'S WATER WELL WEB VIEWER

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), Division of Water (DOW) has been at the forefront in providing digital water well data online since 1999. However, for several years the goal of providing online GIS mapping of water well data has been hindered by limitations with regard to funding, experience in ArcIMS programming, server allocation and access to ArcSDE.

In June of 2007, the DOW enhanced web services by providing GIS capability to the Division of Water web site. The DNR Water Well Web Viewer (http//www.dnr.in.gov/dnr/water/) was developed using ArcIMS version 9.2 with posting of data and imagery using ArcSDE version 9.1 and ArcGIS Image Server version 9.2.

The Water Well Web Viewer provides access to approximately 142,000 located water well records and a variety of layers including USGS topographic maps, 2005 aerial photos, Public Land Survey Sections (PLSS) and more. Unique program tools allow users to identify layer features and query select water well data including depth, aquifer elevation, bedrock elevation, static water level, and pump capacity.

Another unique feature of the program includes the capability of posting the approximately 238,000 records throughout Indiana that have not been field verified. These “pseudo-located” water well records are assigned Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates based on the centroid of quarter sections assigned by internal DOW staff. Including these records greatly increases the density of available data throughout the State of Indiana.

Future improvements may include; providing a hyperlink to an image of the original well record, addition of map labels, access to external GIS layers such as bedrock topography or glacial geology, and, real time access to IDNR/DOW data.