GIS & Economic Development
Go Hand in Hand

By Zanetta Doyle, Digest Editor

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology is being used by regional organizations to create innovative and efficient ways to further economic development in their regions. According to NADO’s 2002 Regional Development Organizaton Survey, 76 percent of regional development organizations use GIS/GPS. (compared to 69 percent in the 2000 survey.) Fifty percent reported having a full time GIS staff member. Approximately 60 percent use GIS/GPS technology for economic development planning, transportation planning and land use planning.

Many economic development districts have discovered that GIS technology can be used to enhance the planning and delivery of additional services including economic development, emergency management, natural resources, transportation, and workforce development programs. “GIS has helped us to not only define the impacts of development, but it has also helped us to market our region and what it has to offer,” Don Rychnowski, Executive Director, Southern Tier West RP&D, in Salamanca, New York, told the Digest in November 2002.

Some states are working with regions to inventory infrastructure for pre-disaster mitigation planning, like Coastal Georgia Regional Development Center’s flood mapping that will contain GIS data useful for the state’s overall emergency management planning. “GIS technology, itself, has a strong role in homeland security, in that it is the platform or center piece for information integration,” remarked Vernon Martin, Executive Director of the Coastal Georgia Regional Development Center, in Brunswick, Georgia. “Using the GIS data from regional projects, like our flood mapping, is probably the most consistent and cost- effective way to coordinate all the bits of information needed for local emergency preparedness and response.”

Expanding Knowledge of GIS

The NADO Research Foundation, in partnership with the Economic Development Administration (EDA) and ESRI, has launched the Regional GIS Advancement Scholarship Program, for EDA-funded economic development districts and tribal planning grantees. The program will provide the latest software and training for up to 70 EDA planning grantees at all levels of the GIS spectrum. Scholarships in the amount of $2,000 will be awarded. The introductory level will help districts without GIS get started. The intermediate package is aimed at advancing the activities of districts with existing GIS technology. The advanced level is structured for districts that fully grasp GIS technology and are ready to integrate their GIS capacities with the Internet.

Note: The first round of applications were submitted in early March 2003, and 21 scholarships have been awarded. The deadline for the second round of applications is July 1, 2003. Awards will be announced on July 21, 2003. For more information contact NADO at 202-624-7806, or email info@nado.org.

GIS in Action

The South Georgia Regional Development Center in Valdosta, GA and partners developed the Mobile GIS for Development Permitting. This equips permitting officials with pocket PCs that include ArcPad software and GIS data, which gives them access to regional maps and the ability to make accurate on-site decisions regarding community environmental preservation plans.

One of Southern Tier West’s many GIS projects includes Community GIS. Accessed through www.southerntierwest.org, it serves as an Internet-based tool to empower local government officials in southwestern New York with GIS capabilities. With the use of ArcIMS, Southern Tier sets up the data on their server and via the Internet, local government officials can access information related to the region from their desktops.

For more information contact: Vernon Martin of the Coastal Georgia RDC at 912/264-7363 or email vmartin@coastalgeorgiardc.org; John Leonard or Chris Strom of the South Georgia Regional Development Center at 229/333-5277 ext. 142, or email cstrom@sgrdc.com; Don Rchnowski or Brian Schrantz of the Southern Tier West RP&D Council at 716/945-5301, or email drychnowski@southerntierwest.org

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