Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Online Watershed Utilities & Snow Cap

I will not elaborate any further on the lunacy surrounding the common English exam. I believe I have said enough on the matter...

The EPA-sponsored class, however, was quite interesting.

First, let me say that I am NOT a civil engineer; therefore, I view this class in a different capacity than the other individuals who were in attendance. I am more interested in the accessibility of public data, rather than watershed management tools. Actually it is quite surprising how easy the tools presented today (I'll post a list of tools later) were to use, especially for someone with little (read: no) knowledge of watershed management issues. This is a far different scenario than what I found myself in over the summer: knee-deep in the National Water Information System (through the USGS). Neither agency nails the accessibility issue in my view. I'd really like to spend some more time trying to come up with a streamlined interface which would allow "average citizens" the ability to access the information on these sites quickly and efficiently...

...but for now I'll just kick back, drink a beer, and get myself read for my Calculus II exam.

Until next time,

The Technomad

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