GIS As a Tool to Promote Economic Development

By Zanetta Doyle, Digest Editor

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology provides significant advantages for organizations that use it to further economic development in their region, as well as to offer services and provide data to local communities and governments.

Southern Tier West’s GIS on Cutting Edge

The Southern Tier West Regional Planning & Development (RP&D) Board, in Salamanca, New York, began using GIS seven years ago as they were conducting a study to evaluate housing stock in their region. “Our use of GIS was driven by our need to visually explore data,” according to Brian Schrantz, Director of Information Services for Southern Tier West RP&D Board.

Southern Tier West is currently involved in several GIS projects including the Regional Internet-Based Geographic Information System (RIBGIS) and Community GIS. The RIBGIS Web site was its first GIS related project. This site, www.develop-wny.com, promotes the Western Southern Tier in New York State, highlighting the region and its features. It is also used to market development opportunities such as brownfields, industrial parks and other land use development projects in the Southern Tier West region. “It provides information about our region which allows a clearer perspective of particular sites or buildings. It also allows visitors to look at the different layers of the development,” Schrantz said.

The RIBGIS site also contains interactive mapping that has two separate portals to the mapping sections - Overview Mapping and Site Searcher tools. The overview mapping section gives a basic overview of the region and allows users to map several layers of data in the GIS. The site searcher gives users access to all data layers available in the GIS including but not limited to, municipal boundaries, school districts, streets and highways, railroads, streams and lakes and wetlands. This section also allows users to:

Query the Southern Tier West’s database of development opportunities to find sites or buildings;

See extensive information about each building to get a complete idea about the site, the area around it and the region as a whole;

Users can view digital pictures as well as a 3-D terrain model image of the area surrounding the site.

As a result of advancing technology, Southern Tier West is making plans to completely rebuild the RIBGIS site. According to Schrantz, they have been in conversation with the computer software company PixEarth that will assist them in adding several features to RIBGIS including the ability to take virtual tours of an area.

Another one of Southern Tier’s GIS related projects is Community GIS, which began two years ago through a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). 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.

Southern Tier West also provides comprehensive training, which includes an introduction to GIS, and how to use the various tools associated with the software. They also provide technical assistance.

The organization is currently looking at expanding their GIS capabilities through a new project utilizing the Community VIZ software. This software allows users to view an area in two, three and four dimensions. The two-dimensional view will allow users to do a spatial analysis, while the three-dimensional view will provide a virtual reality model of the area. The four-dimensional will help users to predict over time, how an area will be affected economically as a result of development. This project is scheduled to get underway in April 2003.

Schrantz credits the Southern Tier West RP&D’s success with GIS to their willingness to ‘step outside of the box’ and explore new territory, adding that Southern Tier West was the first to have Internet-based GIS technology that covered more than one county. “We have built a reputation as an organization that is not afraid to do new things.” He added, “One of our goals is to promote projects that will help our region have a definitive impact. We use GIS to help us get our message across.”

Donald Rychnowski, Executive Director of the Southern Tier West RP&D Board commented, “We are very pleased to be known as one of a few organizations that are considered to be on the cutting-edge of the GIS technology, especially since we serve a very rural area. 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.”

GIS in North Carolina Makes Positive Impact

Ever since Hurricane Floyd devastated eastern North Carolina in 1999, GIS has become a very useful technology for that area. As Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials attempted to collect damage data, it was soon realized that collecting consistent data in similar formats from all local governments was nearly impossible. As a result, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) awarded a Technical Assistance Grant to the Eastern Carolina Council of Governments in New Bern, North Carolina, to establish a GIS program to assist in regional data collection in the event of future disasters. “Our initial involvement in GIS was for disaster-related projects only, but our GIS Department has grown tremendously over the last four years and is currently being used in all aspects of our organization,” said Joe McKinney, Executive Director of the Eastern Carolina COG.

Today, the COG hosts ARC-IMS Web sites for several of its local governments. The sites enable local government to map zoning, floodplain data, and any property information for their citizens. This information assists the localities in lowering their flood insurance premiums through the National Flood Insurance Program.

The Eastern Carolina COG is also using GIS for its Eastern Carolina Joint Land Use Study (ECJLUS), one of the largest land use studies ever undertaken in that area. The study, which involves Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, two counties, and five cities and towns, will examine land use as it relates to military operations, specifically focused on minimizing encroachment on military facilities. The GIS mapping capabilities also involves using an ARC IMS site online, so affected property owners can view their property in relation to high noise and accident potential areas.

The Eastern Carolina COG hosts a GIS Web page as part of its Family Caregiver Support Program. This makes it possible for individuals to inquire online about elder services that are available for their elderly relatives. “If you lived in Seattle, Washington and had a parent in New Bern, North Carolina who needed adult day care, you would have the ability to map your parent’s home, map where the nearest services are located, read reports on the facilities and gather contact information all on one Web site,” said McKinney. McKinney explained that one of the challenges involved with venturing into GIS is the cost, adding that EDA’s initial financial assistance made it possible. He also stated that finding quality personnel is another obstacle when implementing a GIS program. “We were fortunate to hire a person already working in our region who was familiar with GIS, said McKinney. “Finding someone who is already familiar with the region is important.”

The COG’s involvement in GIS has had a major economic impact on Eastern North Carolina. McKinney noted that instead of local governments purchasing equipment and hiring additional personnel to carry out the needed GIS services, local governments now contract with the Eastern Carolina COG to do this work, saving significant dollars in the region. McKinney added, “Our agency has become a much better planning agency since we started using this technology. Almost all of our projects now involve some aspect of GIS.”

For more information contact: Don Rychnowski or Brian Schrantz of the Southern Tier West RP&D Board at 716/945-5301; Joe McKinney of the Eastern Carolina COG at 252/638-3185 or JMcKinney@eccog.org.

GIS Scholarship Opportunity

The NADO Research Foundation, in collaboration with the Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the Environmental Services Research Institute (ESRI), will soon launch a new Regional GIS Advancement Scholarship Program to provide GIS software, training, support and data to qualified regional planning and development organizations. Under the scholarship program, the introductory level is targeted to helping EDA planning grantees get started with GIS. The intermediate package is aimed at advancing the activities of planning grantees with existing GIS technology. The advanced level is structured for planning grantees that fully grasp GIS technology and are ready to incorporate their GIS capacities with the Internet.

A brochure explaining the scholarship program in detail will be mailed in December. For more information, contact Matt Chase of NADO at 202/624-5947, or visit www.nado.org.

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