b'2019 along with six coastal and regionalDepartment of Labor, CT DEEP andvernal pools, review of site conditions, datasets.even the Office of Film, TV & Digitalidentifying zoning violations, locating Project-based viewers are topicallyMedia), regional and local government,addresses, habitat suitability models, trail focused. The Long Island Sound Bluenon-profit organizations, educationalmaps, forestry, coastal resilience, mining Plan Viewer is one of the most recent,institutions, utilities, citizens and more.archaeology, appraisals, school projects providing access to the long list of dataCT ECO is also used by hikers, land- and more. layers that are part of the Long Islandscape architects, land trusts and metalIt is difficult to put a dollar value Sound Blue Plan. Other Viewers includedetectorist clubs (who knew?). The wideon the services provided by CT ECO. Sea Level Rise and Coastal Road Floodingaudience reflects the broad uses of CTCertainly having a central, statewide Viewer, the Aquaculture Mapping Atlas,ECO, such as preparing site assessments,repository for mapping data, limited as the CT MS4 Viewer that focuses onpermit applications and permit review,it might be, reduces redundancy and stormwater and the DEEP Inland Watersengineering projects, traffic plans,increases efficiency. Many respondents Fish Community Data Viewer.wetlands applications like identifyingfrom the survey report saving significant Finally, mapping professionals andamounts of both money and time. Several enthusiasts can connect to CT ECO mapusers estimate saving over $100,000, and image services within their desktopwith others stating that the time saved is or online GIS. The Map and Imageimmeasurable. Services page lists the over 100 availableA State of Connecticut GIS profes-services.sional said, CT ECO has become the default location for accessing GIS data Users, Uses, and Benefits within the State of Connecticut. The Responses to a survey conductedwork that the CT ECO staff has done to Environmental Conditions Onlineregarding the value of CT ECO revealedprovide this data to the public has been the breadth of users. They comenothing short of extraordinary. from private business, state agenciesIt is exciting that UConn Extension (like Department of Transportation,Emily Wilson helps a student during a geospatialis filling the critical need for so many Your One Stop Shop for Maps and Geographic InformationDepartment of Economic andtraining. Emily is largely responsible for the creationdifferent users and uses of Connecticuts of services and viewers on CT ECO, and is in charge cteco.uconn.eduCommunity Development, Departmentof the sites overall management and maintenance. geospatial information.HEof Safety and Public Protection, 3-D lidar viewer showing elevation points for the UConn Storrs, CT campus (note the Gampel Pavilion dome in the Technology has expanded the mappingEducation and Research (CLEAR) andin Connecticut. These same maps canupper left corner). Visit the viewer and interact with the elevation points at cteco.uconn.edu/projects/lidar3D.world. No longer are maps static and flat.the CT Department of Energy andbe purchased at the CT DEEP store in They are now interactive, zoom able andEnvironmental Protection (DEEP). Hartford. clickable. They allow focus on a locationBecause not all (or probably even most)There are currently 12 interactiveArticle by Emily Wilsonor a question and enable us to exploreof those 30,000 people are GeographicMap Viewers on CT ECO and the listContactour backyard, town, state and world.Information System (GIS) experts, CTis growing. Popular Viewers include theEmily WilsonThe Connecticut EnvironmentalECO is designed to meet the needs ofSimple and Advanced Map Viewers, bothemily.wilson@uconn.edu Conditions Online (CT ECO)visitors with varying levels of technicalof which contain a long list of map layerscteco.uconn.eduwebsite has become the de facto placeexpertise. Alongside all of the maps ismostly maintained by CT DEEP. The in Connecticut to access statewidean extensive amount of complementaryElevation Viewer hosts the states eleva-interactive maps. Anyone can browseinformation in the form of Datation information in the form of highly natural resource layers, aerial imagery,Guides, Help documents and How-todetailed ground topography including elevation and more. In 2019, overexplanations.elevation values as well as hillshade, 30,000 people explored ConnecticutThe simplest map access is throughslope, aspect and 1-foot contours. Also by visiting CT ECO, which is athe Map Catalog, that contains overincredibly useful is the Aerial imagery partnership between Extension faculty9000 pdf maps that cover every townViewer that contains 12 statewide sets from the UConn Center for Land Useof aerial imagery between 1990 and 28 2019 HIGHLIGHTS OF EXTENSION 2019 HIGHLIGHTS OF EXTENSION 29'