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November 16, 2006

Geosciences professor creating first GIS database in northern Louisiana

Michael Camille, geosciences, is working with 10 ULM students to create the first comprehensive petrochemical pipeline map and Geographic Information System (GIS) database in northern Louisiana.

“Public officials and private companies will be able to use the resulting spatially-referenced database to reduce the risk of a pipeline-related disaster in the northern 14 parishes of Louisiana where nearly a century of oil and gas exploration has produced thousands of miles of unmapped transmission lines,” Camille said.

Most of the students’ work involves using GPS receivers and topographic maps to collect pipeline information and processing this information in a GIS.

The Louisiana Oil Spill Research and Development Program (OSRADP) is funding this four-year project. Camille, who began the project in 2003, has been successful in getting funding for the project on a yearly basis. So far, he has secured $181,599. He will apply for funding once more in 2007 to complete the project.

Gary Stringer, curriculum and instruction, played an important role in the early phases of the project in developing the field methodologies.

Camille, who been at ULM over 10 years, received his Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in 1994.

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