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Logan
County to seek experienced GIS guidance
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[JAN.
22, 2007]
Logan County's Geographic Information System
development has been and will remain under the supervision of the
Logan County Regional Planning Commission. Former county engineer
Tom Hickman managed the first steps in the process to attain new
computer-aided digital, aerial photographs.
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When Hickman left, his successor Bret Aukamp took over. He has been
supervising the next phase of work that has been performed by Bruce
Harris & Associates of Batavia. This involved the company putting
the photos together to create a map of the county and then adding
details, such as road and property lines.
As of December the Bruce Harris engineers had completed half of
the county: the rural areas. Digitalized soil layers were in
process. Soon this phase will come to a close.
The GIS subcommittee has been researching what options to pursue
next and has reached the conclusion that, given the vast
opportunities that GIS offers and the comparatively limited funds,
it would be wisest to secure the guidance of a county close in size
and needs to our own.
GIS will serve as an invaluable tool for economic development and
sharing of information. The completed mapping creates a base that
can serve almost unlimited land-use and property information
purposes through the use of overlays. Each overlay of information
can be limited to use between agencies and departments or made
available to the general public.
The county approved the purchase of the necessary networking
software, and Aukamp has been setting up network connections in
county offices so that departments will be ready to have access to
the system.
The committee is now faced with sorting out a hierarchy of needs:
what areas of the system should be developed first and how to share
that information.
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 Just as when the comprehensive plan was being looked at, it was
recognized that there are other counties with experience just ahead
of Logan County in this process. It was recommended that Tri-County
Regional Planning Commission analyze the current setup and develop a
strategic plan for how the Logan County system would operate. "It is
nice to have someone who has been there before to lead the process,"
Aukamp said.
It was determined to further pursue a relationship with
Tri-County for the first of six tasks identified in the proposal to
assist Logan County in developing its strategic GIS Implementation
Plan.
Task 1: Needs assessment
The needs
assessment task will review and document individual and
organizational business processes as they relate to GIS. This can be
done by one-on-one interviews or group and departmental interviews.
A needs assessment will be created at the end of the interviews and
will be used to identify priorities for the implementation process.
Future tasks are defined as survey of available data, survey of
GIS-related hardware and software, conceptual design of the GIS,
roles and responsibilities, and the general schedule for
implementation.
The proposed compensation for all work is $50 per hour, not to
exceed $20,000.
[Jan
Youngquist]
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