Abstract | As part of the recently proposed 422-mile natural gas pipeline, known as the Millennium Pipeline, to be located in Pennsylvania and New York, over 2 gigabytes of environmental GIS (Geographic Information System) data (shapefiles and coverages) were developed. These data were used as part of an effort to submit a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Environmental Report.
The sources for these data included Global Positioning System (GPS) collected field data, ready-to­use Internet data, and data from various other sources. These data were processed and spatially analyzed using Arclnfo and ArcView software. The results of these FERC-required analyses were exported to a Microsoft Access (Access) database for final data tabulation and production of data tables for the Environmental Report.

The project required that these data be submitted to the FERC 5 months after the initiation of data collection. To develop the report on schedule required the utilization of a number of efficiencies in the data collection, analysis and reporting processes. These efficiencies were obtained in the hardware and software used for the project, as well as maximizing the work skills and teamwork on the project staff.