Conceptual Site Models
Paulus, Sokolowski and Sartor (PS&S) has completed conceptual site models for a variety of former industrial processing sites in the Northeast to assist in the determination of liability and in the identification of cleanup and investigative alternatives. The conceptual models consist of current and historical property ownership data for ¼ mile area surrounding the site, digitized Sanborn mapping to provide past use, historical sewer mapping, and a wealth of sampling data and its corresponding sampling results. Multiple models are presented to visualize contaminant distribution and pathways, qualitative site risks, and potential relationships with the former industrial facilities that existed on the site.
By utilizing GIS for large and complicated sites, we are able to effectively model where and when data has been collected on the site. This process can present areas of little to no data, (data gaps) that are evaluated to determine if they affect the site wide analysis. This step has proven invaluable to guarantee accurate site wide coverage.
By visually presenting the site with historical data overlaid onto present day imagery and tax data, a variety of initial interpretations may be made about the site. Developing these visuals is a good initial step to determine the extents of historical use overlaid with what we know of the site today. Often times these models are the compilation of many data sources brought together for one visual display that can quickly render a complicated site in a more simplified fashion.