SRI was selected in 2010 to create a digital geographic information systems (GIS) regional screening tool for assessing impacts on cultural resources throughout Southern California. San Diego Gas and Electric, SoCal Gas, and parent company Sempra Energy chose SRI because of our unique qualifications as a firm with nationally recognized expertise in both GIS and cultural resource management (CRM). SRI produced a comprehensive GIS database and tool for Sempra—on time and within budget—to assist them in navigating the complex and fragmented state system of record management .

Sempra was interested in obtaining information regarding historical resources located on lands within its service area. In California, the responsibility for collecting and managing the state’s inventory of historical resources is delegated to the members of the California Historical Resources Information System (CHRIS), which is administered by the Office of Historic Preservation.

Sempra envisioned a GIS database created and maintained with information acquired from the CHRIS in its service area to better manage cultural resources that may be affected by a variety of work activities. Sempra contracted with SRI to acquire all pertinent information and records from the CHRIS, digitize paper records into a format compatible with the GIS currently used by Sempra, and provide updated digital information on a quarterly basis.

SRI provided a GIS data set, update process, and maintenance agreements with the respective regional CHRIS Information Centers (ICs). GIS features were attributed with corresponding state primary numbers, trinomials, manuscript numbers, National Archaeological Database (NADB) numbers, report IDs, and hyperlinks to more than 100,000 documents. Report information, citations from NADB, and information regarding archaeological sites, historical resources, properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), and California State Landmarks were included, along with digital images of all available historical maps associated with the data listed above. Furthermore, SRI developed a quality assurance process for checking database consistency and map accuracy and provided a report to address these issues. The project provoked a resurgence of user interest in a statewide cultural resource GIS.