Integrated GIS–Another Level of Benefits for Local Government
Integrated, enterprise-level GIS solutions offer a number of potential ways to create value for local governments, including improving addressing, assessment, asset management, and public safety. Integrated GIS offers the potential to improve citizen-relation management with offerings such as Web mapping and other applications.
In the past, local governments have not moved quickly to adopt integrated GIS, in part because GIS software was not originally developed to be part of a shared or enterprise system, and enterprise architectures for application-sharing had their own drawbacks because enterprise application-integration tools had not yet become as widely available as they are now.
Some of the local governments that have revamped their early GIS implementations are Portland, Ore.; Mecklenburg County, N.C.; Philadelphia; and Honolulu. Portland has become internationally recognized for its GIS Hub enterprise GIS capabilities, which offer much more to users throughout the city government than the older departmental GIS system. Mecklenberg County’s policy department, meanwhile, has created an ArcISM intranet and Internet site that includes a Crime Information System making location-based information available for users.
Key elements necessary to get integrated GIS underway include: enterprise GIS data sharing, enterprise computing architectures and tools, integration capabilities, business-case analyses, user and management support, and strong leadership.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) from GeoWorld (09/06) Vol. 19, No. 9, P. 22; Elliott, Bart.
