Will County Geographic Information Systems

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Will CountyGeographic Information Systems

• Jason Morrison
• Will County GIS Manager
• Ron Hodgen
• Ruettiger, Tonelli Associates

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Overview

• What is GIS? Explanation of the technology
• Applications of GIS how it is being used and the
  ways it can be used
• GIS projects in Will County
• Implementing a GIS system in Local Government
• Demonstration

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Definition of GIS

• An organized collection of computer hardware,
  software, geographic data, and personnel designed
  to efficiently capture, store, update,
  manipulate, analyze, and display all forms of
  geographically referenced information. IT IS A
  SYSTEM
• A computer system capable of holding and using
  data describing places on the earth a database
  management system.

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Definition of GIS (cont.)

• A GIS is NOT a mapping system
• A GIS is NOT a design tool
• A GIS is NOT a display tool
• A GIS IS an analytical tool
• A GIS IS a problem solver
• A GIS answers questions

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Definition of GIS (cont.)

• A GIS creates smart-applets maps, or tables,
  or applications that are produced as the result
  of a query of a database. Maps or data that
  display answers to questions.
• GIS software contains a set of tools for
  visualizing, exploring, editing, and analyzing
  information linked to geographic locations.

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Components of a GIS
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GIS uses Database Information
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GIS Data Structure
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The Layering of Geographic Data
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Questions a GIS can Answer

• 1. Location what is at?
• The first of these questions seeks to find out
  what exists at a particular location. A location
  can be described in many ways using a place
  name, a postal or zip code, or a geographic
  reference such as latitude and longitude.
• 2. Condition where is at?
• Where certain conditions are satisfied.
• Example Find all the unforested land at least
  2,000 sq. meters in size that do not border a
  road or is crossed by a stream of more that 25
  meters wide.
• 3. Trends what has changed since?
• finding the differences within an area over time.
• Example Display the areas where cancer rates are
  highestlowesthow has this changed over the past
  10 years.

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Questions a GIS can Answer (cont.)

• 4. Patterns what spatial patterns exist...?
• This question is more sophisticated. You might
  ask this question to determine whether cancer is
  a major cause of death among residents near a
  nuclear power station. Just as important, you
  might want to know how many anomalies there are
  that don't fit the pattern and where they are
  located.
• 5. Modeling what if?
• What if a new stop sign is added to a road
  network
• "What if .." new street was added to the road
  network - how would this affect emergency
  response times. Answering this type of question
  requires geographic as well as other information.

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Applications of GIS

• Emergency Dispatch routing for police, fire and
  ambulancebusinesses such as UPS, American
  Airborne, and Federal Express.
• Site Selection deciding where to set up a
  facility, business, or service.
• Boundary Determination school districts, tax
  districts, arbitrary boundaries such as sales
  boundaries.

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Applications of GIS (cont.)

• Planning allocating resources for road/highway
  maintenance, emergency planning, taxing.
• Water and Sewer (utility departments or utility
  companies) determining flows, pipe breaks,
  outages, new service, and planning new
  development
• Land Parcel Information tax assessment.

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Applications of GIS (cont.)

• Digital Data Warehousing data is being used
  while being stored-data management system.
• Community Involvement Internet

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Examples of GIS Output

• Digital Orthophoto Imagery (Aerial Photography).
• Layered information layered information can
  include topography, utility, parcel and/or zoning
  information which can be produced as tables or
  maps.
• Examples...

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Digital Orthophoto Quad
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Elevations
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Parcel Information Building Footprints
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The Need for GIS

• Geography (and the data describing it) is part of
  our everyday world.
• Almost every decision we make is constrained,
  influenced, or dictated by some fact of
  geography.
• Example sending fire trucks to fires by the
  fastest available routes.
• Governments often awards grants to local
  governments based on population.
• We study disease by identifying areas of
  prevalence and rate of spread.

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GIS projects in Will County

• Supervisor of Assessment Cadastral (Parcel)
  Information - tax assessment
• Land-use Planning, Engineering, Zoning
• Emergency 911 Dispatch
• County Clerk Census 2000
• Other Departments using Forest Preserve
  District, Recorder of Deeds

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Implementing a Successful GIS System in Local
Government

• Partnerships may be the key
• Implementing the right hardware and software
  systems
• Most important factor personnel
• Cooperation between Departments
• Cooperation and Support of Policy Makers

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Cost Overview

• Things to be considered for costs
• Consulting GIS work by consulting firms
• Hardware costs computer equipment, networks,
  media storage, etc.
• Software GIS applications
• Training seminars, users groups, conferences