Smile! All of Iowa will get its picture taken. Kevin Baskins with the DNR says the agency plans to compile an aerial photo of the entire state. He says we already have aerial photos of parts of the state, but they date from different periods in the past. The project will take about two years and cost one-point-two million dollars.They’ll also take infrared photos, to view vegetation and plan water quality. Baskins says the high-quality comprehensive aerial view of the state should be complete by 2003. It’ll enable GIS, geographical information systems overlays, to view a region and add a “layer” of information on what’s already there. Once the aerial mapping is completed, the whole picture will be put up on a website for anyone to access. A public-private partnership paying for the plan includes the DNR, DOT, federal EPA, local government agencies, power companies, ISU, The Clean Water Alliance, Ducks Unlimited, Hertz Farm Management, and others.
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