GIS gives a new perspective on properties

If you live in Ogden and need a map of your property or want to see an aerial view of your house and yard, you need only to go to your computer keyboard. Type in www.ogdenny.com, and then go to the maps available section and the GIS database. GIS stands for Geographic Information Systems and involves much more than just these maps and pictures.

The Ogden GIS, in its infancy right now, is a computerized Geographic Information System technology, which provides an effective and efficient means of managing geographic information. This technology has great potential and can be interfaced with the county, state and national GIS datasets to yield information that was once stored and often lost in many dusty gray filing cabinets.

The Ogden Town Board has proclaimed "Ogden GIS Day" as Wednesday, November 19, to coincide with National GIS Day. The day is part of a National Geographic Society-sponsored Geography Awareness Week, which began in 1987 to promote geographic literacy in schools, communities and organizations with a focus on the education of children. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. GIS demonstrations will be held in the Ogden Community Center. GIS Coordinator Jeff Tewksbury is excited about the applications for this innovative computer program technology, which organizes geographical data about a specific area. GIS gives information about roads, boundaries of properties, placement of pipes and existence and location of flood zones.

"The capabilities can be endless, with unique queries and 'what if' scenarios for instant geographic data recall and map printing," Tewksbury states.

The same program shows, for instance, the 11 plow routes in the Town of Ogden, which is responsible for plowing them and how many miles are in each route. Data also comes from the county, the state and the federal departments, and the database can be continually updated more efficiently locally and be printed immediately.

The Town of Ogden and Village of Spencerport received state grant money to do a needs assessment for a GIS program in this area. Need was proven and a second grant, also from the state, was given to set up the pilot program. "This is the only GIS program in the country where two governments - town and village - worked together to make it happen," Ogden Supervisor Gay Lenhard says. "Software, hardware and applications were obtained and are now being coordinated to be used in day-to-day town and village business."

One of the main purposes of the GIS database is to improve management of land and resources in an area. "A GIS can link datasets together by common attribute field, which helps departments and agencies share their data. By creating a shared database, one department can benefit from the work of another - data can be collected once and used many times." (www.gis.com).

For instance, if someone wanted to put a housing development in a certain area he could see where the 500-year and 100-year flood zones are. Since one would not want to build a house in such a zone, the map would offer alternate places on the property for the buildings. This is just a small application of what is possible with GIS. Environmental issues impact every development and information needs to be available.