News

 

Join us for a live webinar highlighting recent updates to the Geospatial Energy Mapper, including new modeling regions and report topics,
the GEM suitability modeling API, transportation energy content, the pumped hydroelectric energy storage model, and recent training resources.

Date/Time: Thursday, October 8, 2:00 pm ET / 1:00 pm CT / 12:00 pm MT / 11:00 am PT 

Join: Join the webinar (Microsoft Teams) or join on the web using meeting ID: 291 217 087 699 73 and passcode: pX76zq6G. 

After a brief project overview and live demonstration, we will highlight: 

A question-and-answer period will follow.

The Info dialog is now extended to provide detailed information about suitability model scores when a model output is clicked on the map.
Expanding the Breakdown section generates a display of the model inputs in that location with details on how they affected the final score.
Clicking on the information icon on any line displays more information, such as the raw input value, the category it maps to, the suitability score it was assigned, and how it contributed to the model result.
This information makes it much easier to determine why a location scored high or low in a model, and facilitates deciding how to adjust a model to better fit the desired objective.

Pumped storage hydropower (PSH) provides the highest total energy storage for the U.S. grid, and delivers it over a long period.
Recent studies have mapped reservoir systems and graded their potential for PSH systems.
This new GEM model combines potential PSH storage capacity with substation proximity, population density, land protections, and sensitive habitats.
It also includes proximity to solar power plants for an example objective of counterbalancing variable generation.
As for all GEM models, users can adjust all model inputs to fit their objectives, including adding any of 100 available model input layers.
As an example, the solar power plant proximity input can be dropped, or exchanged for wind power plant proximity.

For developers, GEM's suitability modeling is now accessible via an Application Programming Interface (API).
This new capability includes all the model options available in GEM, and enables GEM's suitability modeling to be called from external tools, workflows, and applications.
Contact [email protected] for more information, or to request an API key.

The most recent addition to our YouTube channel provides a quick tour of suitability modeling in GEM.
Explore this and other GEM training videos on our YouTube channel.

As part of out collaboration with Clean Cities and Communities, a U.S. Department of Energy partnership to foster transportation energy choices nationwide, we added a Transportation mapping theme, many new transportation mapping layers, and the Transportation Energy Landscape report.

These additions expand GEM's transportation-energy related content and provide new ways to explore infrastructure, planning considerations, and energy-related transportation datasets.

This effort is designed to facilitate data gathering by the coalitions to better understand and characterize their regions as they plan their work.

We've added six new reports to GEM to further expand the range of planning, screening, and siting information available.
Reports can be generated for any analysis area or corridor sketched on the map or loaded from a GIS file.
Links under each report section list the GEM mapping layers they are based on, and the data can also be viewed on the map.

The new topics are:

GEM now has an option for CONUS, Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico views, each with focused themes, mapping libraries, and suitability modeling.
Use the region control at the top of the map display to open another region in a new tab.

A recording of the February 6, 2026 webinar is now available. It provides an in-depth demonstration of GEM’s latest capabilities and content updates.

Following our updates to many model input layers, all the GEM model configurations and pre-computed outputs have been updated.
They can be accessed through the Find suitable areas panel, or in the Model Output section of the Layer Catalog which includes a download option.

A new report topic, Alternative Fuel Vehicles, has been added to GEM. This report provides insights into the distribution and availability of alternative fuel vehicles to support energy planning.

We've recently added these new report topics:

The following training videos were added to GEM’s YouTube channel: 

Descriptions of each report have been added to GEM and can be viewed by hovering over a report in the dropdown menu. Report parameters are now displayed in the header of individual reports. 

Additionally, the composite habitat layer has been updated to improve the accuracy and coverage of habitat-related data.

GEM now supports inputting latitude and longitude coordinates for corridor generation. This feature provides a means of specifying precise starting and ending points for corridor analysis. 

"Generate a corridor" has been added to the left panel in GEM. This tool prompts for one of three initial models (or strategies) for traversing the
landscape, and to designate the starting and ending points on the map. Clicking "Generate Corridor" launches a batch process to generate the
most suitable path between the points based on the chosen model, adds it to the map, and to the list of corridors at the lower right where it can be
downloaded or used for reports. More options for reviewing and revising the input models are planned.

Several new features have been released, including:

A recording of the July 24 webinar, "What's New in GEM?" is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUQa6JeuMnk.

Analyze an area has been added to the GEM tools panel. This tool generates location-specific reports on a variety of topics for user-specified areas.

A new Potential NIETCs map theme, and a new Phase 3 Potential National Interest Electrical Transmission Corridors mapping layer has been added to GEM.
See https://www.energy.gov/gdo/national-interest-electric-transmission-corridor-designation-process for more information.
Questions and comments can be submitted to [email protected].

The following new tools were added to GEM:

The Geospatial Energy Mapper (GEM) has been launched!