Most of the readers of this blog probably do not use GIS in their daily work, but if you do, here is a unique opportunity to try out a new GIS portal for climate data from the High Plains Regional Climate Center. Here is information on how to access the GIS files from Natalie Humphlett at the HPRCC below. If you do try them out, be sure to give them feedback so that they can make the access as seamless as possible.
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At the AASC annual meeting in Nebraska City, I gave a presentation about how the HPRCC is developing shapefiles for our suite of ACIS Maps (https://hprcc.unl.edu/maps.php?map=ACISClimateMaps). Since many of you already use our maps, and may want to customize them, I thought that you might be interested in providing feedback before our final release of these products in early September.
The GIS Portal is located here: https://hprcc.unl.edu/gis/. This landing page provides access to daily-updated files by either a Direct Downloads option or GeoServer access. The Direct Downloads option is great if you need to create a custom map every now and then, but if you would like to create custom maps on a regular basis, I would recommend giving the GeoServer a try. If you are not familiar with how to use the GeoServer option, a tutorial is available on the GIS Portal landing page. Please note: all time periods may not be available via the GeoServer during this testing phase.
If you, or anyone you work with, would be interested in testing these new shapefiles, please do! We will be accepting feedback through the end of the month with the form located here, or you can email your comments and/or awesome custom map examples directly to me. We will continue to make improvements based on this feedback until the final release of the live data in the early fall.
I hope some of you get the chance to give the GIS Portal a test drive and I look forward to hearing your feedback.
Many thanks from the HPRCC GIS Team,
Natalie Umphlett, Warren Pettee, Bill Sorensen, Crystal Stiles
