THE VALUE OF GIS IN THE HIGH COUNTRY Advisory Committee Retreat September 12, 2015 High Country Council of Governments

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM (GIS) ROCKS!

 Dudley Watts, Forsyth County Manager Courtesy of Joseph Sloop, Chief Geographic Information Officer, MapForsyth

Land Records Tax Parcels Planning Zoning Land Use Planning Grant Applications Watershed & Corridor Studies Economic Development Potential Building Sites Marketing County Assets Town Manager Infrastructure Inventory and Planning E911 Socioeconomics

HIGH COUNTRY COG GIS Program began in 2004 Supports internal departments and member local governments ESRI ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced License Trimble Hardware and Software for GNSS Collection

MAPPING OUR REGION’S INFRASTRUCTURE Since 2007 HCCOG has mapped water, sewer and/or stormwater in 13 towns or 26 mapping projects I found the manhole!

….WHY? Locating System management Asset Inventory Capital Improvement Planning Grant Applications State Reports Water quality protection

EMERGENCY RESPONSE Need structure address points and road centerlines updated Digitize new roads, assign ranges, work with Communtications Director to match MSAG Assign new road names Build custom Geolocater -> GEOCODE Heads-up editing ~ 2,400 new structure address points Field checked 275 county- wide Wilkes County E911

Need County and municipal E911 data integrated in one master geodatabase Need new data imported in CAD Corrected data problems in CAD, i.e. Hwy 421 ramps, undivided highway ranges Need PIN and Parcel ID tied to structure address points for Tax Dpt. CONTINUED…

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GIS !! Provides crucial information in a map-based format that is easy to understand New tools entities can leverage  How do we attract and retain businesses with an innovative approach that showcases my county or town’s unique strengths ?

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT  Compiling data layers –  Natural gas  Water and sewer  3-phase electric  Broadband  Roads, Railroad, Airport  Parcels  Floodplain  Wetland  Steep slopes  Demographics  Quality of Life – recreation, schools

SITE SELECTION ANALYSIS  Wilkes Economic Development Commission  US Hwy 421 Corridor  Ashe County Economic Development  County Assessment  ArcGIS Online apps

ARCGIS ONLINE IS….. Community EngagementField collectionAsset Management Storytelling Visualization

ARCGIS ONLINE APPS  Coming Soon…Blowing Rock Local Government and Cemetery Mgmt.  Ashe County ED – Civic App Environment & Infrastructure App Arts, Cultural & Recreation App  Wilkesboro and North Wilkesboro Local Government Apps /index.html?appid=b75203c498e4499bb3fdfc652bf 63c95

FUTURE GIS APPLICATIONS  Real-time decision- making and monitoring  Data Accessibility  Visualization and 3-D Mapping GIS will be especially important in the future! As funding sources diminish and new challenges arise, GIS will be a critical tool for local governments to operate efficiently, effectively, minimize risks and maximize value.

THANK YOU! Jessica Brannock, GISP GIS Planner x134