About Intellus

The Future of Environmental Data:
All in One Location, Available When and Where You Need it

In the spring of 2012, the RACER Data Analysis Tool will transition to Intellus, a new, centralized, cloud-based database application. Over the past three years, New Mexico Community Foundation (NMCF) has extensively documented public input and requests for improvements to the RACER tools. Incorporating public feedback, NMCF developed the Scope of Work for the Intellus system which will provide the community with a much improved, timelier, and more transparent and comprehensive point of access to the entire history of data related to environmental conditions within and around the vicinity of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).

In 2011, Locus Technologies was contracted by LANL and the New Mexico Environment Department DOE Oversight Bureau (NMED OB) to transition their internal databases to the Locus Environmental Information Management (EIM) system. EIM is a web-based relational database designed to manage data associated with environmental remediation, investigation, routine monitoring, regulatory reporting, and other types of monitoring projects. The Locus EIM system is the world’s largest and most used online environmental data management system. EIM has been managing environmental data online since 1999 and currently stores millions of data records for customers world-wide. The only requirement to use EIM is an internet connection.

Once live, Intellus will serve as the public interface of LANL and NMED OB’s EIM database by providing a direct view into each data provider’s data and data processes. Unlike RACER, which relied on complicated data feeds and data transformations, through Intellus data will be consistently formatted and automatically updated every night from EIM – providing much improved data availability and accuracy. All validated and verified data will be uploaded to Intellus on a nightly basis with the exception of flagged confidential data and flagged third-party Landowner data inside its holding time. An example of third-party Landowner data is the City of Santa Fe, which has a 60-day holding time in which to review data before it is made publicly available through Intellus.

The Intellus system will provide the public with greater transparency and accessibility into the environmental data process by:

  • Providing immediate availability to new and updated data
  • Allowing users to track changes made to data (such as changes to units, detection status, results, locations, etc.) and associated reason codes for these changes
  • Eliminating complicated data feeds/transfers and the need for data transformations
  • Allowing users to create customized queries to extract data, as well as the option to request that common queries be saved on the Intellus site for easy access
  • Allowing users to access each data provider’s sample calendar, which provides information on the planned date and analysis of planned sampling activities
  • Allowing users to query non-analytical data including locations, field measurements and Chain of Custody (COC) information
  • Allowing users to create contour and heat maps with Google map layers to better visualize data
  • Ability to output up to 1 million records per query
  • Ability to incorporate and organize unlimited additional environmental data providers throughout New Mexico

This spring, NMCF will begin hosting monthly Intellus trainings. Click here to receive an announcement the day Intellus goes live, as well as information about upcoming Intellus-related events. For more information, please visit the “Frequently Asked Questions” page.

Click the following images to see visuals of Intellus’ capabilities.