Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/78956
Tools in Action "We were experiencing success, but we needed to extend the reach of the technology to the entire orga- nization and the public." Wayne County had implemented the perfunctory property-lookup public-facing application and had enabled a few departments with core editing and analysis tools, but GIS hadn't become indispensable. So Crumpler moved quickly to implement an ArcGIS Server-based application. Using GeoBlade Viewer from Geographic Technologies Group (GTG), Crumpler established specific GIS portals for each department: Board of Elections, Tax, Emergency Services, Sheriff, Environmental Health, Facilities Services, Inspections, Planning and Soil Conservation. The use of a common platform, with specificity for each department, made GIS indispensable. "I know immediately if the browser is down, as calls come in from a host of users," notes Crumpler. In keeping with the desire to reduce stovepipes, Wayne County extended its intranet implementation to include crime analysis and imaging integration. Next up are intranet portals for Animal Control, the Health Department and Social Services. The county also wanted to extend its public out- reach. In addition to the existing tax portal, it imple- mented a public application, MapNimbus, allowing citizens to track and receive notifications on a variety of issues: crimes, sex offenders, restaurant sanitation grades, lodging grades, and adult care and childcare facilities grades. "In addition to wanting to become more aware of the crime rate and potential problems in my community, I want to be equally aware of the trends in two other areas of our county," says Cheryl Johnson, an art pro- fessor at Mt. Olive College. "My parents, who are in their 70s, live about 10 miles from my home. Keeping an eye on their safety is certainly a priority. Another area of concern is the campus and surrounding com- munity of the college at which I teach. The Wayne County online tool has become a big help. I have been able to view information regarding the crimes, as well as sex offenders, in our area." A number of tablet- and phone-based applications are on the drawing table, including a Community Watch application that allows citizens to submit crime tips from mobile devices. GIS has risen to the high- est levels of the county, as the county manager is a strong advocate of the technology and is spearhead- ing the implementation of a GIS-based 311 system. Wayne County has achieved enterprisewide success, and it continues to ensure that GIS is relevant and indispensable. A GIS Mover in Hoover Like Wayne County, the city of Hoover, Ala., kicked off its enterprisewide GIS effort with a strategic plan. Its focus was on GIS integration as well as GIS being the "go-to portal" to access data from its existing IT investments. The city had been doing GIS for several years with mixed results, so it understood what GIS could and should accomplish. It used a strategic plan to lay out a clear multiyear project. But because the city is split by two counties, it had some unique data challenges. The base data layers (e.g., tax parcels, address points, street centerlines, etc.) had to be normal- ized, adjusted and/or created. After completion, the city aggressively moved the GIS to the enter- prise. It implemented targeted portals that provide a common toolset with specific functions for each department. It then focused on integration with nonspatial data- sets, embarking on data scrubbing and geo-enablement of all of its SunGard enterprise resource planning (ERP) data. Now all ERP data are instantly made available and analyzed within an intranet browser. Public Works, Building Inspections, Fire, Police, Finance, Clerk's Office and the Mayor's Office all were enabled with the intranet tool. School-system staff became aware of the power of enterprise GIS and implemented the solution for its own needs. Utility as-builts and tax-record maps were scanned and geo- referenced for the entire city. "GIS has become the enterprise go-to tool at The city of Hoover, Ala., uses mobile tools equipped with AVL to provide better response times to citizens. 20 GEO W ORLD / AUGUST 2O12 Hoover," adds David Lyons, Hoover's GIS project manager. "If it's digital, we try to find a way to inte- grate it into the GIS. GIS use has become extremely