Texas Natural Resources Information System

Texas Natural Resources Information System
Name	Texas Natural Resources Information System
Formed	1968
Jurisdiction	State of Texas
Headquarters	Austin, Texas
Parent agency	Texas Water Development Board

Contents

Texas Natural Resources Information System

The Texas Natural Resources Information System is a statewide repository and clearinghouse for geospatial data and environmental data focused on Texas natural resources, serving agencies such as the Texas Water Development Board, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. It provides mapping, remote sensing, and database services used by stakeholders including the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, U.S. Geological Survey, and municipal planners in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and El Paso. The system supports policy and planning processes tied to programs like the Texas State Water Plan, Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program, and regional initiatives linked to Gulf of Mexico management.

History

The system originated in the late 1960s amid state responses to resource challenges exemplified by events such as the 1960s droughts in North America, the expansion of interstate highway system planning, and federal programs like the National Aeronautics and Space Administration remote sensing investments. Early collaborations involved the U.S. Geological Survey, Texas Department of Water Resources, and academic centers at Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin, reflecting influences from national efforts such as the National Hydrography Dataset and the establishment of the Federal Geographic Data Committee. Through the 1970s and 1980s the system expanded in tandem with initiatives like the Clean Water Act implementations administered by the Environmental Protection Agency and state counterparts, adapting to technological shifts driven by projects at Jet Propulsion Laboratory and mapping standards from the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.

Governance ties to the Texas Water Development Board place the system within broader state planning frameworks alongside agencies such as the Texas General Land Office and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Administrative oversight draws on partnerships with academic entities including the Bureau of Economic Geology and research labs at the University of Texas at Austin. Leadership and advisory roles have engaged representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and regional councils of governments such as the North Central Texas Council of Governments. Funding streams have included allocations from the Texas Legislature, federal grants from the National Science Foundation and programmatic support from the U.S. Geological Survey.

Collections encompass statewide layers for hydrography, topography, soil surveys, land cover, geology, and floodplain mapping, integrating datasets similar to the National Land Cover Database, the National Hydrography Dataset, and the Digital Elevation Model products used by the U.S. Geological Survey. The system curates aerial imagery, LiDAR point clouds, and satellite products from platforms like Landsat, Sentinel-2, and commercial providers, supporting analyses for entities such as the Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Services include online mapping portals, metadata compliant with the Dublin Core and Federal Geographic Data Committee standards, data distribution via web services like Web Map Service and Web Feature Service, and tools for stakeholders including the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board and regional water authorities.

Infrastructure relies on enterprise geospatial platforms from vendors comparable to Esri and open-source projects in the Open Geospatial Consortium ecosystem, deploying servers, databases, and cloud resources interoperable with Amazon Web Services and research compute clusters at institutions like the Texas Advanced Computing Center. Processing pipelines incorporate remote sensing toolkits used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and scripting environments familiar to researchers at Rice University and Southern Methodist University. The architecture supports standards-driven metadata, secure data access aligned with National Information Assurance Partnership best practices, and integration with statewide systems such as the Texas Natural Resources Information System-adjacent portals run by the Texas General Land Office.

Partnerships extend to federal partners including the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, academic collaborators like the University of Houston and Texas State University, and local governments across Travis County, Harris County, Bexar County, and Dallas County. Outreach includes training workshops, symposiums, and cooperative projects with organizations such as the Association of State Floodplain Managers, the Texas Geographic Information Council, and non-profits like the Nature Conservancy Texas chapter. Data-sharing agreements have linked the system with utilities, regional planning commissions, and initiatives such as the Gulf Coast Vulnerability Assessment and resilience programs funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Users leverage the system for drought planning under the Texas State Water Plan, floodplain mapping for Federal Emergency Management Agency risk assessments, habitat modeling for projects tied to the Endangered Species Act consultations, and infrastructure siting by the Texas Department of Transportation. Academic research at institutions like Texas A&M University and University of Texas at Austin has produced peer-reviewed studies utilizing system datasets in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Municipalities such as City of Austin, City of Houston, and City of Corpus Christi use the resources for zoning, stormwater management, and coastal resiliency planning influenced by programs like the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program and interstate initiatives addressing Gulf of Mexico environmental challenges.

Category:Organizations based in Austin, Texas Category:Geographic information systems Category:Environmental data