At a time when there are substantial local
government budget shortfalls, the GIS department and its many users in County
and City agencies are utilizing the speed and efficiency that the GIS system
provides to get information to those who need it. The ability to easily and
quickly retrieve valuable information becomes increasingly important as
departments are forced to reduce their staff.
Delaware County GIS Department has provided a land
records website to the public for
several years now. Unfortunately there was not an in-depth study of
property-based requests prior and after the website was made available. For
those of us who handle those requests in the GIS Dept, Planning Department,
Auditor's and Assessors, there has been an obvious reduction of counter traffic
for those typical land record requests, and the website's usage statistics show
this dramatically:
Delaware County GIS Website (Beacon) Usage
Statistics
Jan1st - May15, 2011
Total Requests:
463,391
(search, query, map identify, etc...)
Average Requests/Day: 3,432
Total Visits:
30,073
Avg Visits/Day:
223
Avg Request/ Visitor
15
As the GIS department took over the maintenance
of the County's land parcel boundaries from the Auditor's plat room, the days
of red-lining parcel boundary changes by hand on dilapidated paper books were
gone the books were scanned and archived, leaving the GIS system to bear the
brunt of public land record maintenance and information requests. There has
been growing pains moving from a less-than-accurate paper-based map to a much
more accurate digital GIS parcel map, but the GIS Parcel technician is tackling
those issues in an efficient manner.
With a more accurate and complete parcel map,
the county has been able to make sure citizens are more fairly and accurately
taxed based upon the property they own. The GIS parcel data has been used
by re-assessment staff to make sure areas are assessed accurately and
completely. The GIS parcel data will also be used by the Assessor's office as
part of a new GIS-based system that assesses farmland based upon soil types and
productivity factors, which were previously done by hand using paper maps. GIS
Parcel data was also used to show where tax delinquent properties were located
and give potential tax sale bidders an idea of where these properties were
located, helping to get those properties back on the tax roll. The
Delaware-Muncie Metropolitan Plan Commission utilizes GIS on a daily basis for
zoning and addressing (they maintain these GIS data sets), as well as
floodplain, transportation, and other planning initiatives.
In addition to the Beacon land records viewer,
the Delaware County GIS Department also provides access to other web-based maps
that meet other specific needs accessible through the county website. The Historic Maps and Document Viewer provides access to aerial photos ranging from 1961 to present as
well as scanned Auditor's plat books. The site also provides access to scanned
subdivision plats (form the 1800s on) and surveys as they are used to update
and maintain the parcel data. There are currently over 5,000 scanned documents
retrievable through this application.
There are also map applications available
through ArcGIS.com that provides access to interactive map applications such as a
detailed county basemap, Cardinal Greenway map, support maps for projects like
the Muncie Action Plan and BSU Student community immersive projects that the
GIS Department has provided assistance with. There are also several other
"beta" map applications that are for testing new data and
technologies.
This year, Delaware County Emergency Services is
replacing their decades-old computer-aided dispatch software with new
comprehensive software that Sheriff, jail, and 911 dispatch will use to
maintain their records and respond to emergencies. In 911 dispatch, the new
software utilizes GIS at its core to provide the correct responding agency,
unit, and agency for the 911 call location. The response boundaries are
geographically maintained in a GIS database, and can more easily and quickly be
updated as needed, where in the prior software substantial and cumbersome
tabular (not map based) database edits were required, even for minor changes.
The GIS Department has the ability to control the look and feel of the map that
the 911 dispatchers use, providing valuable information that is quickly and
easily accessible such as school building floor plans, fire hydrant locations, and
aerial imagery, with more to be added.
For more information, contact Kyle Johnson, GIS
Coordinator, Delaware County GIS Department at 765-213-1269 or kjohnson@co.delaware.in.us, and see "GIS" under the "Your
Government" heading on the Delaware County Home Page.
