GIS data gathering takes grassroots course

In 1987, Pima County, Ariz., which covers nearly 10,000 square miles and, therefore, has extensive mapping requirements, launched a project to assemble and implement a GIS. Now, in an effort to give as many people as possible access to its GIS, the county is participating in an experiment designed to help residents better manage their communities. The experiment involves making GIS technology available to neighborhood residents, thereby enabling them to play a bigger role in the planning process.

While working with a Tucson neighborhood association in 1995, Pima County GIS Manager Howard Ward saw an opportunity to broaden the use of the county’s spatial database. The Midtown Neighborhood Association had already established the Virtual Neighborhood Association (http://www.azstarnet.com/~vna/aboutvna.htm), a web page that assists other neighborhood groups in developing and publishing their own web pages. “It seemed that they would be a likely group to adopt and use GIS,” Ward says.

Last fall, Ward submitted a proposal to the transportation department, with a request for hardware and technical support. Getting the go-ahead, he then helped organize a GIS demonstration for the neighborhood. By spring, ArcView GIS software from ESRI, Redlands, Calif., was in place, and the Midtown Mapping Project was under way.

Volunteers will work to characterize and compare the 1-square-mile Midtown neighborhood with other neighborhoods and areas in Pima County, using a variety of mapped features such as sewers, water lines, streets and demographics. The results will be shared on a regular basis with the rest of the neighborhood and with elected officials.

The project will provide residents with information currently not accessible to them. By viewing assessor and parcel data, residents will be able to compare their neighborhood property values with those in other parts of the city and county.

By comparing infrastructure, crime activity and other layers, some residents may determine that their property values are out of line. Once the residents recognize the disparities, they can effectively lobby their elected officials if they believe additional services or support are necessary.

“GIS is a valuable tool for us,” says David Kha, vice president of the Midtown Neighborhood Association and a participant in the mapping project. “We will be able to prepare presentations for our projects faster and easier. It enables us to see the past, present and the future.”

Having just received a $2 million community block grant to build a neighborhood learning center and library, the Midtown Neighborhood Association hopes to determine the location of the library with the help of GIS. Residents plan to take a report to the city council this month. “This project can be a template for how citizens can more effectively use information and communicate it to their government,” Ward says. More information about the project and its progress is available online at http://www.dot.co.pima.az.us/midtown/.

Testing the concept of collecting and scrubbing data at a grassroots level is another project objective. Data collection is the most expensive part of GIS development, and residents participating in the program can provide a low-cost and effective way of performing that job. Community members can gather and check data on everything from criminal activity to the condition of pavement and road signs. “Who knows the neighborhoods better than the people who live there?” Ward asks.

The third purpose of the project is to train the volunteers in the use of computer and GIS technology to assist them in finding better jobs. With only a few months of work under its belt, the group has plotted land and improvement value comparisons of the Midtown neighborhood and other Tucson neighborhoods, and it is using its new GIS software to generate neighborhood census reports.