Lost River - Karst Information Portal

property. Meanwhile, Randy Jackson used a
card reader to read the computer cards created
by the Indiana Geological Survey and Dick
Powell. Kevin Komisarcik took stacks of cards
to Randy, who would feed them into the reader.
Each card contained 80 text characters and
there were a total of about 1,200 cards. Randy
then took the card image files and developed
the FORTRAN random access database. This
took place in the early 1980s.
In 1986, Randy spurred an effort with
a small group of cavers to form a legal entity
that would take over the Indiana cave data. In
addition to finding new and suitable software
for the cave database, a quality-control system
was also set up to improve the quality of the
cave data; much of this data had gotten into
the database with little or no quality control.
Furthermore, most cave locations up to that
time were only reported to within a 600-squarefoot
area using the traditional Congressional
System (township, range, section, and quarter
section location). The new system required
establishing a dot location and required each
location to be entered into the database in
latitude/longitude or Universal Transverse
Mercator (UTM) coordinates. Many other
improvements and additional data collection
were also set up and incorporated into the
program.
Since that time, the personal computer
has become popular and most cavers now own
and use one regularly. In recent years the paper
cave report form was upgraded to an electronic
version that was made available on the Indiana
Cave Survey Web site. Members and nonmembers
use the report to submit updates for
Indiana Cave Statistics
Indiana Cave Survey
possible inclusion in the database. An important
graphical capability was also incorporated using
Topozone.com. When a person completes the
coordinates for a particular location on the
form during the submission process, the form
displays the Topozone location along with the
other information submitted.
Although computers have changed the
way data are collected and processed, the
basic mission of Indiana cave data collection
remains the same. The organization is now
on the brink of a major upgrade of data entry
and distribution to an online environment.
Each person responsible for updating cave
information can do so on a personal computer
and upload the changes so the updated data
can be immediately viewed by all persons with
access. Additionally, scanned cave maps will
be available in electronic format in the new
environment as well as entrance photos, scanned
newsletter articles, and other references. Thus,
an entire electronic library of Indiana cave data
will hopefully someday exist. The organization
would also like to incorporate Geographical
Information Systems (GIS) software, coupling
database and graphical information together to
tap into the strengths and capabilities of that
environment.
The Indiana Cave Survey partners
with various organizations, including the
Indiana Geological Survey, the Indiana Karst
Conservancy, and the Hoosier National Forest.
With continued awareness of the importance of
karst and caves, it is expected that partnerships
with even more organizations will continue
to grow as the value of sharing information
continues to benefit caves and cavers.
Source: ICS database as of February 1, 2007, unless otherwise noted.
(Note: in order to be counted as a “cave,” the state minimum requirement is 25 feet traverse length or depth.)
Caves: 3,112
Entrances: 3,416
Pits: 711
Maps: 2,496
References: 6,543
Counties: 37
7.5-minute quadrangles: 124
22