County GIS Service Soon To Be On Internet
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Bill Holder has been making maps for a while now and currently serves as Kosciusko County's Geographic Information System director.
Holder, along with Chasity Schooley, who oversees parcel maintenance, responds to a variety of requests from county departments.
The clerk's office has political district maps as well as precinct maps for the entire county, the assessor has them to determine land use and the highway department accesses the information to track bridges and culverts. The sheriff's department may request a map to determine if certain arrests took place within 1,000 feet of a school.
The Area Plan Commission and drainage board use the maps as a decision-making tool.
"In time, each township will use GIS to calculate property tax assessments," Holder said from his courthouse office.
There are five public access computers currently available and people can have a printout at no charge.
Plans are to have the information available on the Internet as early as March.
"The auditor's office did a telephone survey recently and found they handle up to 70 public access system requests per week," he said. "Most callers said they would use the Internet if it were available. It will help us alleviate the phone traffic."
In Indiana, 81 counties have GIS, according to a recent Indiana GIS Initiative report. About a dozen counties have posted the information on the Internet.
Real estate salespeople, surveyors, developers, architects and anyone else interested in the information use the software.
Holder came from Knoxville, Tenn., where the local government made extensive use of proposed land use maps. He first encountered GIS in 1990 when he was an Appalachian State University graduate student.
"Things have changed a great deal," he said of GIS, "especially the speed of computers." [[In-content Ad]]
Bill Holder has been making maps for a while now and currently serves as Kosciusko County's Geographic Information System director.
Holder, along with Chasity Schooley, who oversees parcel maintenance, responds to a variety of requests from county departments.
The clerk's office has political district maps as well as precinct maps for the entire county, the assessor has them to determine land use and the highway department accesses the information to track bridges and culverts. The sheriff's department may request a map to determine if certain arrests took place within 1,000 feet of a school.
The Area Plan Commission and drainage board use the maps as a decision-making tool.
"In time, each township will use GIS to calculate property tax assessments," Holder said from his courthouse office.
There are five public access computers currently available and people can have a printout at no charge.
Plans are to have the information available on the Internet as early as March.
"The auditor's office did a telephone survey recently and found they handle up to 70 public access system requests per week," he said. "Most callers said they would use the Internet if it were available. It will help us alleviate the phone traffic."
In Indiana, 81 counties have GIS, according to a recent Indiana GIS Initiative report. About a dozen counties have posted the information on the Internet.
Real estate salespeople, surveyors, developers, architects and anyone else interested in the information use the software.
Holder came from Knoxville, Tenn., where the local government made extensive use of proposed land use maps. He first encountered GIS in 1990 when he was an Appalachian State University graduate student.
"Things have changed a great deal," he said of GIS, "especially the speed of computers." [[In-content Ad]]