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Kentucky Uses GIS to Map Chemical Stockpiles

The GIS application will serve nine counties surrounding the Blue Grass Army Depot.

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The Kentucky Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) has rolled out a GIS application for the nine counties surrounding the Blue Grass Army Depot in east central Kentucky.

The depot is the site of a large stockpile of chemical weapons, including mustard agent and two nerve gases. Officials said the CSEPP is a federally funded initiative to assist state and local governments prepare for and respond to emergency events involving aging chemical weapons until they are destroyed.

During the first phase of the effort, several types of digital base maps -- topographic, aerial photos, satellite images and thematic -- were developed for the individual counties in the nine-county region. The initial maps also contain features such as highways, railroads, streams and rivers, political boundaries and response zones surrounding the depot.

The second phase of the GIS project involved building a database that contains both graphic and non-graphic information on 62 different features crucial to CSEPP planning and response preparation; including hospitals, physicians, schools, day-care facilities, evacuation routes and traffic-control points.

The GIS database was developed and designed based on input from CSEPP personnel and using data from various state, local and private sources for the nine counties in the Kentucky CSEPP region.

Prior to the GIS project, CSEPP largely relied on paper maps and files. The new system no longer requires paper records or maintaining multiple data files to access or obtain information for planning, training exercises or responses to emergency incidents.

If a hospital is selected, the GIS displays the location of the hospital on a map and presents all pertinent information on that specific hospital.

Bill Hilling, Kentucky's planning supervisor for CSEPP, said the new project presents a very significant improvement over the hard copy maps and records previously used by state and local CSEPP officials.

"We can locate and have instant access to all of the critical information we need to plan for and respond to an incident," said Hilling. "This new mapping resource makes the Kentucky CSEPP program even better prepared to protect the state's citizens."

CSEPP officials worked with PlanGraphics to collect and manage the data from the nine counties involved in the GIS project.

Kentucky Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program