GIS Information to the community

GIS Information to the community

Mike Medus, Silvina Medus, Diego Wald
MIC Consulting SA, Las Toscas 345, (8000) Bahía Blanca, Argentina

Abstract
Municipalities needed to share geographic information across the different departments. Every area had a different goal and usually used different GIS systems that were not always compatible or easy to use. This situation generated different sets of maps that could not be joined in one easy to use GIS system at a low cost. To solve this situation our project presents a client-server GIS implementation that runs on an Intranet/Internet and allows every user to access simultaneously the latest maps to view or edit. This application that is very easy to use and controls access to the maps according to the user privileges, offers tools to navigate maps, to edit geography and its associated data, view satellite images, to select multiple geographical elements to view or edit, etc. Using this application we can create a standard, accurate and up-to-date set of maps. Municipalities can have every parcel updated in its size, location and other features. Facility Companies can use this system to load its own maps. Garbage Collection and Public Transportation can use these maps to improve their services. Charging the access to the maps by external users through the Internet can provide funds to finance this project.

Problem Statement
We have identified a real need in Municipalities to share geographic related information across the different areas or departments. Each department works independently solving the problems for its own area and in many cases duplicating information, in a certain format, with a specific geographic location and a particular set of associated data attributes. This method used to produce geographic information generated sets of maps impossible to share in an easy manner and as time passes by every area had a richer geographic base that did not want to change for another set that may be standard but less complete for its own purposes.

Usually in Municipalities the department managing the Cadastre of the city has a very rich and precise geographic database (parcel id, parcel owner, street names and numbers, etc.). The Revenue Department has the property value and neighborhood facilities to charge taxes. The Transportation Department defines the routes for buses and needs to know how many people lives in every neighborhood, where are the schools located, how many children go to a certain school, etc. The customer support department needs geographic information to locate citizen’s requests. And we might also think about the police or fire department having traffic information about highway congested areas that will help a lot in emergency situations, logistics and distribution applications.

As we can see, there are various areas on each Municipality that use geographic information and in most cases all this information is NOT SHARED between them. The main reason for not sharing is that each area or department has different needs. Every department has a different software package to solve its needs. For example the Cadastre Department uses AutoCAD to draw the parcels and update maps from satellite images. Revenue Department compares the different areas of the city to find out which is the area with less tax income with a geo-marketing package. However this geographic area is the same for all users of the Municipality. It will certainly be very useful if each department could access all the Municipal information. The ability to share a unique set of maps from the City with an easy-to-use tool would be great. For example the Transportation Department could analyze the population distribution to redefine the buses routes and improve the service. Interruption of a bus route or modifications will be needed when reconstruction of streets will be accomplished. The Planning Department could focus on the expansion plans according to the projected information generated by other areas. This information exchange requires a system that allows users to access the information, regardless of their physical location. That’s why an Intranet/Internet is the ideal channel for this.

Problem: the information is dispersed and not easy to be accessed by different areas.

Decentralized Data: Cadastre, Revenue, Planning, Customer Support, Public Works and Transportation; DO NOT SHARE INFORMATION.
Different formats: Accessible through different standalone interfaces, different software programs for each area.
Difficult to use GIS: Most GIS systems can be used only by experts.

The Solution: Community GIS

General Explanation
It would certainly be a great benefit to have all users of a certain geographic area to share their sources of information, benefiting from a more complete and accurate database. Our solution, GeneralMaps, intends to provide this environment, so all users can access all the data directly from a Client Application. This ability also simplifies the access to the information, hence allowing a much larger group of users and even hierarchical employees, to access this information, analyze, create and update it from different physical locations (using just the Intranet/Internet).

If we now extend this concept outside the limits of the Municipality, we can easily identify great benefits from sharing information with the Community that was generated by the Municipality. One can believe it’s not easy to compare information coming from different companies in a common database. But geography happens to be a common organizer for companies operating in the same geographic area. Therefore sharing naturally the same area allows them to easily share their information. Just thinking about all the collisions we find in the utility and telecommunications networks, running into each other over the same regions. If they could compare their networks with other companies the benefits could be tremendous.

Companies using our Community GIS, GeneralMaps, can have all the company information available for all areas at the same time. They can even enable other companies to have access to certain information that might be of common needs. For example, a telecommunication or utility company can create a temporary layer on top of the cadastral city map, to let a construction company draw and maintain the information reflecting the status of an ongoing construction project.

The main distinctive feature of GeneralMaps’ technology: is its interactive mapping features and real time updates. The interactive capability enables users to create new map related information and literally draw map elements directly in a client application, without the need of a long training process. Also, the real time update concept (pointed out as broadcast later on) allows users to access a vivid reflection of happening events on each and every map being observed through the Intranet/Internet. This GeneralMaps incorporates information (new geographic elements and new associated attributes) from the Client Application screen directly into the Server’s database and at the same, using a broadcast concept, delivers the changes to every other user of the same map area. These features enable users to work with their geographic information directly on-line, modifying, creating and updating their information without the need of any other additional software or batch processes. Also, users can choose to publish their information to the Community, so this information becomes available to be accessed by other interested and authorized users, hence aggregating and compiling data into a very rich repository of geographic information.

For example, the Municipality could publish the street and parcel information of a city and a Utility or Telecommunications company could access this information and work on top of it with their private layers of networks and constructions. Another example could be the traffic report published by the police department in real-time, so companies doing logistics and critical routing (treasure delivery trucks, medical drugs, confidential or urgent documentation) could be actually modifying their delivery routes upon the information viewed on the Community GIS Intranet/Internet screen. Other services that can take advantage of this standard geographic database are Daily Power Outages, Emergency Communications, Prospective Business Licenses, Public Health Attention, Building Permits, Consortiums Work Management, Traffic Status, Public Transport Routes, Cemetery Management, City Zoning, Planning New Neighborhoods, Municipal Inventory, etc.

Solution: centralize the information in a Community GIS local server, to be accessed from all users.

Centralize geographic information
Centralize maintenance into a common database
Accessible through a friendly client application

Technical Features
This GIS implementation is based on an interactive communication between the user requests and the server response. During this client-server communication, the system allows the user to perform all kind of requests to create the desired map picture. The information stored on the server side is organized in a relational database with a topological hierarchy that will enable the viewer to represent the appropriate map picture. The viewer operates within a Client Application and will allow him/her to change the cosmetics (colors, widths, fill modes, sizes, etc.) of each one of the map elements. The user can define new map elements (streets, areas, points representing locations, etc.) and then save the new map picture as defined on the server side, for later usage. The following points illustrate in detail the basic characteristics that combined all together compose a very innovative technology.

Relational Database. All the information is stored in a standard relational database. This feature allows any Municipality to perfectly integrate its own information with GeneralMaps’ information. And even more, synchronize this data with the public data stored in the Community web Site.
Drawing tools. GeneralMaps allows users to draw new map elements in a Client Application through the Intranet/Internet. This is a key feature for any organization wanting to manage and update their map information in a distribute manner. Also, the user will have a set of “smart tools” that will be fundamental to draw elements with the appropriate accuracy and precision. Examples of smart tools are: ENDPOINT, RELATIVE POINT, NEAREST POINT, X,Y COORDINATE INPUT, OFFSET, etc.
Save Map. Each one of the users can save the map they are working on with their preferred colors and thematic layers. The geographic information will be the same, the difference is the way each one looks at these map layers.
Client-Sever Application. The system functions with a Map Server in the Server computer and many clients accessing the information in the server. This allows that every change to the geography is saved in the Map Server so that any user can see the change, everyone is working in the same central geography managed by the Map Server and saved in the Map Database.
Broadcast. When many users are working on the same geographic area. They could be drawing elements on a colleague map the BROADCAST feature has the ability to update each one of the open maps whenever a modification is performed in any one of the open maps

Interesting Functions
The following is a list of some of the functions that users can take advantage of to accomplish their own tasks.

Layer Setup: Changes in the layers of a map can be accomplished with this function. The user can define the color, width, size, pattern, lines or polygons of each layer.
Map Setup: The properties of the map like initial height (zoom), layer order, turning ON/OFF layers are set with Map Setup.
Find By Condition: Whenever the user wishes to find a certain geographic element by its attribute data Find By Condition can help to do so. This is very useful to locate a certain parcel, landmark, etc.
Find Address: To locate an address in the map Find Address asks for the street name and number then shows all the possible street blocks that match the search and the user selects the desired one to Zoom or Add a Point Element.
Multiple Select: This function is very powerful because allows to select entities from the map based on a combined search: geographic selection and attribute selection. The user can draw a polygon or select an existing one to define the geographic search. Also the user can define a set of conditions that the attributes must verify to be selected. Not only entities will be found in the map but the user can even update all these elements at once changing any of its field values.
Save Map: Saving the map allows the user to keep the display settings of the layers in the current map using various colors, line widths, an other display settings.
Thematic Map: the ability to create thematic maps is possible through the layer setup where the user can select an attribute of the layer and decide to paint by colors each entity in the layer according its value in the attribute data. These maps are very helpful for analysis purposes and also to clean attribute data and detect errors in them.

Benefits of Generalmaps

Facilitate sharing the city geography across the Municipality and the Community and minimize the cost of maintaining the data.
Manage, keep track and analyze land parcel and facilities existing throughout the city.
Redefinition of the Public Transport Routes based on the maps and census data to improve the service.
Analysis to improve Garbage Collection using geographic information.
Managing the Consortium Works for Public Services Construction in new neighborhoods.
Cemetery Management to facilitate the location of graves.
Enhance emergency response by mapping routes to emergencies.
Internet Access to the Community to obtain private information like its own property attributes or public information like transportation, health centers, tourist points, etc.
Public Services Companies (FM) using the Community GIS to draw its own network and to design future expansions of it. Once all the public services are drawing its networks in the community GIS we will have a unique map representing the reality of the city and this will certainly be of great help for future projects.
Real State companies use the Community GIS to locate properties to sell or rent and even owners could offer its own properties through this system saving agent expenses.

Funding the Project
The following sources can provide funds to implement this project:

Internet Access for general public to obtain its own property information and map. This process could be charged a small fee or simply the saving for not having to print this information and not needing personnel to assist them.
Public Services Companies like Telecommunications could pay a monthly fee to access to the Community map and to have information on other companies’ construction sites.
Gaining efficiency in many departments will benefit the whole Municipality saving time and money.
The base map helps to locate emergency locations and route the appropriate fire, medical and police emergency response teams. This service can avoid dangerous accidents and save to the community the cost of this type of loss.
The updated GIS database generated allows the Planning and development Department attract new industry and business (Real State, Direct Mailing, etc.). This means investing money in the city that will benefit the community with future tax payments by the new business.

Conclusion
If we can recognize the importance of sharing information stored in any organization database, and if we just assume that a percentage of this information has some geographic component, wouldn’t it be great to be able to share this information with others?

“Intranet/Internet is the right vehicle to share information and if this information has a geographic location the Community GIS will provide a way to organize the City Geographic Data”