Westchester County GIS Overview Westchester County Municipal Administrators Association Luncheon November 14, 2001

Topics for Discussion: Some GIS Terms & Concepts Current Projects and Issues Questions and Answers

Many GIS Projects: “Are started with little planning, little design, and great expectations”

GIS Integrates Data GPS Video Multi- Media RDBMS Business Data Geographic Data Satellite Photos Aerial Photos Cable GIS

Municipal GIS Applications: Internet Mapping Infrastructure Management Emergency Services & Dispatching Tax Mapping & Land Records Environmental & Land Use Planning Economic Development Health & Human Services Pavement & Bridge Management Systems Schools, Libraries, and Public Access

Benefits of GIS: Improved information management Increased information analysis potential Data centrally located and avoids duplication –Extensive cost efficiencies – once systems are built Increased data access for decision making Increased access to information –Provide public access to government information

5 GIS Major Components Hardware Software Data Applications & Routines People

Types of GIS Products On-line data access and analysis Presentation & draft quality maps; slide shows Tabular reports & print outs Export files for electronic distribution Make information available for the internet

Major Costs Associated with GIS Implementation: Data Development, Conversion & Maintenance (75%-80%) Staffing (full-time GIS/technical support) Consulting - Application Development/Programming -General; all areas of GIS Hardware & Software (w/maintenance) Operations/Materials & misc. support

Local Government Assistance: Cortlandt Croton-On-Hudson Greenburgh Harrison Hastings-on-Hudson Irvington Lewisboro Mamaroneck (Town/Village) Mount Kisco Mount Pleasant Mount Vernon New Castle New Rochelle North Castle North Salem Ossining (Town/Village) Pound Ridge Somers Yorktown

Westchester County-Sewer Lines

Pound Ridge- Tax Maps

County Base Mapping Project

Primary Project Objectives: Identify common base mapping needs for government, utilities, and business & professional organizations Review administrative and administrative issues (FOIL, staffing, data distribution) Review cost sharing options Create Uniform, County-wide Digital Base Map

Some Technical Specifications: 2,200 countywide tiles Color digital orthophotography 1” = 100’ land base 5’ contours 35 features to be captured, including edge of payment, building footprints, normal planimetrics Consistent with NYC database design Seamless county-wide coverages Municipal data “bundles” a deliverable in ArcView shapefile format

At the direction of the County Executive, all County GIS data sharing requests and distribution policies are currently suspended and under review as a result of the events of September 11, 2001

Pitfalls of a GIS Overstating benefits Failure to define goals No long-term & strategic plan Lack of management or technical support Lack of user involvement/user training Budget overrun (budget underestimation) Hard to expand or modify existing/legacy systems

GIS Myths: GIS turns bad data into good data GIS software has a “Just Do It” command “You can save that in WORD format, right?” GIS is a desktop publishing program GIS can present everything on 8x11 paper in B/W Staff don’t require training & education (No time!) We’re going to make a lot of money selling this data! That map can be scanned, right? Buy just one copy & put it on every machine Why are we replacing GIS with GPS? “I can do this with MapQuest & MapBlaster, so…..”

The IT Future Will Favor Spatial Data Investments That: Multi-purpose Maintained (updated) Simple (minimum structure) Integrated across disciplines Standard Models Documented (metadata) Shared/Open

Change Management: “Experience has shown that even the best technology strategies stand little chance of success if the workforce doesn’t accept and adopt them”

Westchester County GIS Andrew J. Spano County Executive Sam Wear, GIS Manager