MAPPING INDIANA'S COAL MINES USING GIS TECHNOLOGY

The Coal Mine Information System (CMIS) is an integrated Geographic Information System (GIS) and Relational Database Management System developed by the Indiana Geological Survey in cooperation with the Abandoned Mine Lands Program of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Reclamation (DOR). The CMIS project was initiated in 1981 to facilitate the compilation, management, and analysis of coal mine data for the state of Indiana. In recent years, the project focus has shifted from data collection and compilation to data refinement and dissemination.

In an effort to improve data accessibility and increase data dissemination, CMIS data is now being used to create and publish a variety of maps. In 2000, CMIS data was used to generate twelve quadrangle-scale maps showing the location of underground coal mines and other features related to subsidence. In addition, two regional maps showing the cumulative extent of surface and underground coal mining were produced using CMIS data. Perhaps more importantly, the CMIS continues to be used to create large-scale custom maps for site-specific evaluations, which often include a digital review of abandoned underground mine maps produced in a previous phase of this project.

The CMIS was designed to compile, organize, and refine Indiana’s coal mine information. This project has promoted data accessibility and provided the Indiana Abandoned Mine Lands Program with a valuable tool for use in abandoned mine site evaluation and subsidence risk assessment. As a result of continuous refinement and expanding functionality, the CMIS products continue to be useful, accessible, and reliable resources for coal mine information, benefiting the public, industry, and government agencies.

The CMIS GIS was developed in ESRI’s ARC/Info and ArcView. GIS datasets include raster-format underground mine map images, and coverages showing vector-format underground mine workings, surface and underground mine outlines, underground mine entrance locations, and documented subsidence areas.