ALABAMA'S AQUIFER VULNERABILITY INTERACTIVE CD-ROM PROJECT: AN EXAMPLE OF EFFECTIVE DISSEMINATION OF SPATIAL DATA

The Geological Survey of Alabama (GSA), in cooperation with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), is producing a series of interactive CD-ROMs that provides an assessment of the vulnerability of aquifers in Alabama to potential contamination from surface contaminant sources. For the purposes of this project, the state has been divided into 13 areas and a CD-ROM is being developed for each. To date, three CD-ROMs have been completed and released and work is in progress on the remainder.

The CD-ROMs include an automatically launched, hyperlinked menu system that guides the user through the content and provides instructions in the use of the data. Each contains interpretive reports, including text, tables, figures, and plates, developed in Adobe Acrobat format, a complete suite of useful and appropriate GIS data (surface geology, aquifer recharge areas, public water supply sources, well-head protection areas, streams, roads, DRGs of topographic maps, etc.), and metadata documentation, as well as derivative, ancillary, and supporting data. In an effort to provide a self-contained, user-friendly package, each CD-ROM also contains ESRI, Inc.’s free GIS browsing tool, ArcExplorer, as well as a preformatted ArcExplorer project, and the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Thus, users are able to interact with the included data regardless of the availability of commercial GIS or other software. A preformatted ArcView project is also included for users with access to this software package.

The aquifer vulnerability interactive CD-ROM series is proving to be very useful and popular and demand is high for these products. This project is a successful example of effective dissemination of geoscience information and transfer of technology and provides a useful model for digital data distribution.