Creating a Single Map: Regional Geographic Information System to support water planning in the Paso del Norte Region

A majority of the maps, both hardcopy and digital based, available for water planning in the Paso del Norte region, whether produced by the United States of America or the United States of Mexico, has the typical ‘blank’ area on the other side of the International Border. This is also true to a lesser extent for maps of Texas and New Mexico. In most cases, the information is available, but the basic layers are at different spatial scale, resolution, and extent. This at times has precluded their combined use. The purpose of this project was to remove the ‘blank’ area across the International Border by developing and creating a regional geographic information system (GIS) to support regional water planning in the Paso del Norte area. Prepared for the Paso del Norte Water Task Force.

The research on which this report is based was financed in part by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.