The Center for Spatial Information (CSI) was created at Central Washington University in 1999 to coordinate and enhance the application of established and emerging technologies used to create, manage and analyze spatial information - that is, information related to places or position.

From 2000 to 2005 the Center placed special emphasis on watershed monitoring and modeling, particularly at the river channel reach scale where faculty and students are involved in utilizing emerging geospatial technologies to tackle a number of problems including channel sensitivity to change, flood hazard, sediment transport, ground water exchange and other issues related to biological complexity and salmon habitat.

Since 2005, CSI has focused its energies on environmental and economic problems related to shorelines and associate wetlands, which confront many rural-based agencies and communities in the Pacific Northwest. These problems include water quality, water quantity and availability, salmon habitat conservation and associated conflicts, flood and associated geologic hazards, and the impact on all of these resulting from land-use change. Potential solutions for some of these problems may lie in the emergence of geospatial tools for mapping, monitoring and modeling shoreline and watershed processes (including cumulative processes), yet some these tools typically remain in the domain of academic research and are rarely deployed in a problem solving context because of their expense and/or high levels of sophistication. In addition, crucial to the development of effective local plans that promote sustainable use of rural resources is an inventory and assessment of relevant physical processes, biological features, and land use alterations. However, many local land use planners are overwhelmed by the sheer mass of information available and confounded by the inconsistent formats and spatial scales of the data. Although state and federal agencies have improved access to some data sources, it remains a challenge to discern what is most useful and effectively integrate it into land use plans. One of the primary goals of CSI is to evaluate emerging geospatial technologies, and to develop methods to use geospatial data to solve real problems on the ground. These pilot projects are then used as a foundation on which to build educational curriculum for training appropriate personnel in rural agencies and communities around the Pacific Northwest , and to disseminate information to a broader rural audience via collaborations with other western universities, journal articles, bulletins, conference presentations and web-based outreach. Where possible, CSI attempts to incorporate stakeholders and interest groups in GIS-based community and watershed modeling, and subsequent decision-making processes.

Our education efforts include K12 students and pre-service teachers, and CSI has been successful in gaining funding to help develop national geospatial curriculum at K12 level, and in developing methods and materials to enhance integrated K12 curriculum. Projects include the mapping and modeling of Cougar habitat in the Central Washington Cascades by K12 students, developing GIS-based modules aimed at enhancing teaching of Washington State Education Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALR's), and teaching pre-service teachers about geospatial technologies and their potential for delivering a more exciting, project-oriented integrated curriculum.

The Center for Spatial Information at Central Washington University is the site of the RGIS - Pacific Northwest Regional Office for the National Consortium for Rural Geospatial Innovations in America (RGIS). The National Consortium for Rural Geospatial Innovations (RGIS) assists state, tribal, regional and local governments, and non- and for-profit organizations in implementing advanced geospatial information technologies.

Just as the Rural Electrification Authority brought electricity to much of under-served rural America in the early 20th century, RGIS' goal is to bring geospatial technologies and the benefits of the information age to rural America, where land is fundamental to resource-dependent economies and ways of life. Today, local units of government are building key components of the information-technology infrastructure, much as the infrastructure for electrification was built by local electric cooperatives. RGIS' role is similar to organizations such as Cooperative Extension and Underwriters Laboratories, which helped rural America understand how to use electricity effectively and safety. RGIS can help those in rural areas to implement and apply geospatial technologies to the many land use, resource protection, and economic development decisions involved in creating sustainable rural communities.

The mission of RGIS is to eliminate the digital divide facing rural America by promoting the transfer of geospatial technologies to under-served rural areas by:

• providing geospatial tools, technologies, and training to empower local governments, organizations, and citizens to understand and participate in decisions that affect their environment, economy, and quality of life;
• educating and training a cadre of people to apply geospatial technologies to rural issues;
• supporting the development of appropriate local land information systems, as well as linkage to and cooperation with regional, state, and national land information systems.

CSI is anchored on the wide variety of faculty and staff expertise existing at Central Washington University in programs and technologies such as:

• Archaeology
• Field Biology
• Geology
• Geography
• Geophysics
• Environmental Chemistry
• Natural Resource Management
• Cultural Resource Management
• Business and Economics
• Social Data Research
• Organizational Development
• Geographic Information Systems
• Remote Sensing and Image Processing
• Global Positioning Systems
• Precision Surveying
• Ground-Penetrating Radar
• Seismology
• University and Professional Education

The involvement and participation of undergraduate and graduate students in CSI projects is deemed essential to the overall mission of CSI, and the Center has been able to offer scholarships to students wishing to work in various environmental and modeling application areas of geospatial science.

CSI has established working, Cooperative Relationships with:

• The National Consortium for Rural Geospatial Innovations (Department of Agriculture RGIS Program, ex-NCRI). The Pacific Northwest site at CWU cooperates with sites in Georgia, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Dakota, New Mexico, for local and national agriculture, education, and GIS technology transfer projects, especially focused on rural implementation and use.
• Bureau of Reclamation for studies of Central Washington watersheds.
• Southern California Earthquake Center for neotectonic and modern earthquake studies.
• Cal Tech, NASA, Jet Propulsion Lab, M.I.T., Univ. of Washington and Univ. of Oregon for high-precision GPS data analysis and Pacific Northwest/Eastern California crustal deformation studies.
• Kittitas Reclamation District for technology transfer and joint projects.
• Kittitas County for technology transfer and joint projects.
• Yakama Indian Nation for technology transfer and joint projects.
• Washington State Department of Natural Resources.
• Department of Fisheries.
• Department of Information Services (DIS) and Washington Geographic Information Council (WAGIC).
• Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
• Dept. of Agriculture NRCS for soils quadrangle map editing and production.