Optimizing Geographic Information

Municipal GIS Development

To provide better service and control costs, more municipalities and counties are recognizing the need to invest in GIS. The ability to process, manage, and update large amounts of information efficiently is an invaluable asset to local governments and their constituencies. Whether for community planning, tax assessment, or engineering development, municipalities require fast and easy access to map and associated descriptive data in an automated system. Further, they need to be able to extract and analyze these data to meet increasing service demands.

Sewall provides comprehensive services in GIS development and maintenance to municipal, city, and county governments throughout the country. We assist our clients through every phase of a GIS project, from needs assessment and initial planning to system implementation and training. To address the critical issue of homeland security, we are prepared to build in data sets and applications for emergency planning, deployment, and response.

NEEDS ASSESSMENT
Developing a GIS is a complex process, requiring reconciliation of diverse source materials, conversion of paper maps and other hard copy data, and the acquisition of new data, hardware and software, and user applications. In the process, government staff often redefine their management structure, redesign work flow, and train personnel. To assist clients in their GIS planning, Sewall performs comprehensive assessments of their GIS needs. With questionnaires and in-depth, on-site interviews with government personnel, our assessment team reviews department functions, GIS objectives, and existing resources, including technical expertise, hardware and software, and data. On the basis of this information, we evaluate potential GIS functionality across departments, prioritize needs, and recommend an implementation plan that makes the best use of current assets. We also address such critical issues as enterprise support, funding and purchasing, and schedule. All of this information is documented in a comprehensive report that serves to guide government personnel throughout the development process.

DATA ACQUISITION
If a GIS initiative requires new map data, Sewall captures aerial photography and control data to develop an accurate landbase. Depending on project specifications, Sewall photogrammetrists can compile digital planimetric and topographic mapping and produce digital orthophotography. With an accurate base, Sewall cartographers and GIS analysts can convert parcel map data using a range of methods to correct data error before automation. Sewall is uniquely qualified to acquire and integrate additional data for a multiple-coverage municipal GIS.

ADDITIONAL GIS COVERAGES
To provide quality service, local governments must manage a broad range of additional data on public works, code enforcement and zoning, and public safety. Utilizing a variety of source materials from hard-copy plans and engineering drawings to spreadsheets and off-the-shelf datasets, Sewall assists governments in developing accurate, comprehensive coverage on water and sewer infrastructure; gas, electric, and telephone lines; and roads, bridges, and dams. To this effort Sewall brings experience in engineering site design and development, water supply and wastewater collection, transportation planning, and facilities infrastructure mapping.

For planning and economic development, Sewall works closely with government officials to prepare coverages on legal and administrative boundaries, zoning, land use planning, historic properties, and school districts. Because these data are aggregates of land parcels, our clients find that establishing an accurate cadastral base map is of great value. In cases where governments are already using applications with a spatial component, such as E911 software, Sewall has the expertise to integrate these data with the landbase, improving their accuracy in the process. Sewall offers complete address consulting and data modeling services, address geocoding, address validation and database loading, and master addess file creation.

With over 100 years' experience in mapping natural resources, Sewall is uniquely qualified to develop robust and aesthetic coverages on the environment of a community, including land use and land cover, wetlands, soils, and green spaces. In conjunction with parcel and utilities mapping, these data are useful for urban and rural planning, infrastructure monitoring, urban forestry management, pollution control, and land use assessment.

CUSTOM IMPLEMENTATIONS
Sewall customizes data conversion and system development services to meet the unique, particular needs of each client. Scheduled interviews and vendor-client communication throughout the life-cycle of a project ensure that products meet client expectations at the time of delivery.

Sewall is able to deliver data into most industry-standard software environments and to transfer data, both graphical and tabular, from one database system to another. Sewall personnel are ready to assemble, network, and test all components and provide individualized user training. To support conversion projects, Sewall maintains object-oriented relational databases, a network of graphical workstations, and high-speed Internet connections for data transfer.

DATA MANAGEMENT
Building the infrastructure to manage GIS is a major municipal investment. GIS hardware, software, and technical knowledge require continuous maintenance and upgrade. To assist GIS users with the ongoing task of data management, Sewall offers comprehensive data warehousing services, including data maintenance, software and hardware management, user application development, technical support, and training. With data warehousing, municipalities move beyond the mechanics of operation and use their investment for the real task of public service.

In the data warehousing process, Sewall acts as a spatial data utility company, providing a continuous flow of timely, accurate data on the user's desktop. To initiate the process, our clients supply us with such source data as maps, reports, graphics, and databases. As necessary, Sewall converts, migrates, or links the data and posts them to the data warehouse, a repository that municipal end users can access directly. With desktop query, analysis, and reporting tools, users are able to make informed decisions and to develop mission-critical applications utilizing their GIS.

Sewall is ready to implement a range of data warehousing solutions, from a complete in-house GIS with remote data maintenance to a basic browser application and Internet access. To supply the data warehouse with source data and regular updates, Sewall helps clients modify and improve workflow processes. As their GIS matures and needs evolve, Sewall can custom develop a broad range of user applications from parcel management and town planning to land use management and engineering infrastructure design.

Sewall personnel are authorized ESRI instructors and developers of ESRI products.

For general information on GIS mapping technologies, see Sewall's Reference Points series available in pdf format.

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