Open Data: U.S. Department of Homeland Security Releases 275 Geospatial Datasets Online

From Signal:

DHS opened 275 geospatial datasets, half of the agency’s offerings through the ArcGIS Online program that manages the Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data (HIFLD) collection, David Alexander, a geospatial information officer at DHS, said during the Esri FedGIS conference this week in Washington, D.C.
The agency’s HIFLD working group consists of more than 5,000 participants and is led by the federal agencies of DHS, the Defense Department, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Geological Survey. The greater availability to HIFLD’s cataloged geospatial infrastructure information means agencies can better plan for disaster response, as one example, and gives businesses key data toward economic development plans.
“HIFLD Open marks an evolution in DHS information sharing,” Alexander said. “We have an opportunity to be open and secure, to empower citizens and communities, to support local law enforcement and first responders, businesses and the private sector.”

“DHS HIFLD Open: Open Data for Economic Resiliency” (via ESRI)

Data such as Alternative Fueling Stations can help local governments evaluate transit infrastructure investments as well as fuel availability during a disaster event; shipping infrastructure indicates opportunities for new businesses that need access to goods transportation; and unique data like public refrigerated warehouses is important if there is a need to keep vital materials cold.

From GCN:
[Our emphasis] Data from the Homeland Security Infrastructure Program has also been opened, providing the public full access and map visualizations to nearly half of the agency’s datasets via ArcGIS Online.
Resources
Access 275 Datasets on HIFLD Open

The data is available for download as CSV, KML, Shapefile, and accessible via web services to support application development and data visualization

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