Friday, September 05, 2003

Interoperability I'll be going to NASCIO on Monday and will try to share what I learn there.  NASCIO just issued several awards, including one to South Dakota for a statewide trunked VHF radio network.  This network includes one mobile data channel that operates at 9600 baud and supports 8,500 radios.  UCAN, Utah's public safety / homeland security 800 MHz voice network now supports 12,000+ radios, everything from fire and police to transportation and public works.  We're now in the process of connecting it to our statewide VHF network, as well as expanding data throughout the state.  We had a great visit with agencies in Washington and Iron County yesterday to understand their needs and had the UWIN Governance Board meeting this morning.  The Technology Steering Committee will meet later and we have a 700 MHz regional steering committee kickoff tentatively planned for November 21st.  Details will be made available on the FCC website as soon as they are finalized. Karen Evans will be heard from a lot now that she assumes Mark Forman's role over eGov at the Federal level.  EPA has plans to expand NEIEN to 20 states. (previous post on the National Environmental Information Exchange Network).  NEIEN will also increase state collaboration with federal health agencies.  As per an MOU between EPA and HHS: "As a cornerstone of this collaborative commitment, EPA and HHS will take advantage of ongoing, cross-institutional initiatives to develop and link environmental health information sources, namely the EPA National Environmental Information Exchange Network (NEIEN) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (NEPHTN). The linkage of these two systems will utilize and enhance information technology tools to advance the analysis and dissemination of information obtained to various audiences. This joint effort between EPA and HHS also has the potential to increase environmental and health infrastructure and capacity at the local, state, and national level by coordinating and integrating electronic reporting of hazard, exposure, and health data." I don't know too much yet about NEPHTN. 5:47:29 PM    comment []

New UDOT website The Utah Department of Transportation has put up its new website for review by the public.  It will officially go live in October.  Commuterlink has added a construction map of activity throughout the state.  This is much more useful than the old text version. The new site features something called utahtransportation2030.  It has an interactive map that allows you to view projects planned over the next 26 years.  The Transportation Planning Task Force is looking at many related issues.  The task force was created by a bill sponsored by John Dougall, who is also concerned about some of the critical transportation needs developing in northern Utah County.  The map shows that UDOT will address the growing problem with highway 73 through Utah to Saratoga Springs sometime in 2008-2010, but has not plans for highway 92 (Alpine Highway) all the way through 2030.  Former UDOT director Tom Warne is consulting with the task force which will present its findings in November. 8:17:14 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 David Fletcher.