Latest GIS Offers Public A Sharper, Detailed View
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Clicking back and forth between the aerial photographs taken in 1996 and the images delivered in the last couple of weeks, Warsaw Geographic Information Systems coordinator Mary Haberman presents a series of startling contrasts.
Six years ago the "latest" technology was little more than recognizable shapes in various shades of gray.
Now buildings, sidewalks, street lights and landscaping are in sharp focus.
The images, taken over the county in April, are presented on a 1-inch-equals-50-feet scale. The old image scale is 1-inch to 200 feet.
The black and white photographs are available in the Warsaw Planning and Building Department as well as in the Kosciusko County Courthouse through Public Access System computers.
Uses for the technology are endless, Haberman said. The GIS analyzes large amounts of data and produces maps with "layers" of information.
"The more people see, the more they want," she said in her quiet manner.
Haberman became interested in GIS during her years at Colorado State University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in wildlife biology. GIS was presented as a management tool.
Today many universities, through a variety of departments, offer GIS degrees.
"When I graduated, I worked as a biologist for a couple of years and used GIS technology during that time."
GIS has been around 20 years, but the operators had the IQs of "rocket-scientists." User-friendly applications were developed over the last 10 years.
Haberman worked for a private company in Colorado for several years. She and her husband, Steve, moved to Indiana 1-1/2 years ago to be nearer her family. She is originally from Marion. The couple have been married 2-1/2 years.
Haberman has an office in the city's Building and Planning Department. A portion of the space is devoted to old maps, which are in the process of being updated. The last sewer/storm drain maps of Warsaw were hand-drafted in 1979, covered with notations, additions and modifications.
Over the course of the last several months, the infrastructure records have been radically altered. Street department employees took readings at every manhole in the city. A signal was "bounced" off several orbiting satellites, which locked in the underground pipe system's positions.
Haberman "connected the dots" from manhole to manhole, including line depth, line size and type. Crisp new maps have been prepared for street department employees, who are double checking their accuracy.
Haberman alternates between levels of information. The public access maps are black and white. Two-foot contour maps appear in color with different hues for wetlands and flood plains. The street maps are black and white renderings with color used for infrastructure.
The fire department requested and received a map of all hydrants and the diameter of the lines feeding them. Water line maps are available, too.
Often building projects require citizens to notify neighbors prior to construction. With GIS, an overhead view of a parcel can be called up and, at the touch of a "mouse," adjoining properties are clearly indicated along with names and addresses of people to advise of the project.
A quick tour of the city shows clearly defined parcel lines. It is interesting to note how many buildings overlap onto other property and how many tiny parcels dot the landscape.
Recently Haberman used Census population data to configure political districts for Warsaw and Winona Lake; completed Winona Lake's zoning map; and made a long-range planning map for the Area Plan Commission and the proposed Lake City Greenway trail system.
"It's important to maintain the data," Haberman said of her position as GIS coordinator. "Already the street department wants the sidewalks mapped." [[In-content Ad]]
Clicking back and forth between the aerial photographs taken in 1996 and the images delivered in the last couple of weeks, Warsaw Geographic Information Systems coordinator Mary Haberman presents a series of startling contrasts.
Six years ago the "latest" technology was little more than recognizable shapes in various shades of gray.
Now buildings, sidewalks, street lights and landscaping are in sharp focus.
The images, taken over the county in April, are presented on a 1-inch-equals-50-feet scale. The old image scale is 1-inch to 200 feet.
The black and white photographs are available in the Warsaw Planning and Building Department as well as in the Kosciusko County Courthouse through Public Access System computers.
Uses for the technology are endless, Haberman said. The GIS analyzes large amounts of data and produces maps with "layers" of information.
"The more people see, the more they want," she said in her quiet manner.
Haberman became interested in GIS during her years at Colorado State University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in wildlife biology. GIS was presented as a management tool.
Today many universities, through a variety of departments, offer GIS degrees.
"When I graduated, I worked as a biologist for a couple of years and used GIS technology during that time."
GIS has been around 20 years, but the operators had the IQs of "rocket-scientists." User-friendly applications were developed over the last 10 years.
Haberman worked for a private company in Colorado for several years. She and her husband, Steve, moved to Indiana 1-1/2 years ago to be nearer her family. She is originally from Marion. The couple have been married 2-1/2 years.
Haberman has an office in the city's Building and Planning Department. A portion of the space is devoted to old maps, which are in the process of being updated. The last sewer/storm drain maps of Warsaw were hand-drafted in 1979, covered with notations, additions and modifications.
Over the course of the last several months, the infrastructure records have been radically altered. Street department employees took readings at every manhole in the city. A signal was "bounced" off several orbiting satellites, which locked in the underground pipe system's positions.
Haberman "connected the dots" from manhole to manhole, including line depth, line size and type. Crisp new maps have been prepared for street department employees, who are double checking their accuracy.
Haberman alternates between levels of information. The public access maps are black and white. Two-foot contour maps appear in color with different hues for wetlands and flood plains. The street maps are black and white renderings with color used for infrastructure.
The fire department requested and received a map of all hydrants and the diameter of the lines feeding them. Water line maps are available, too.
Often building projects require citizens to notify neighbors prior to construction. With GIS, an overhead view of a parcel can be called up and, at the touch of a "mouse," adjoining properties are clearly indicated along with names and addresses of people to advise of the project.
A quick tour of the city shows clearly defined parcel lines. It is interesting to note how many buildings overlap onto other property and how many tiny parcels dot the landscape.
Recently Haberman used Census population data to configure political districts for Warsaw and Winona Lake; completed Winona Lake's zoning map; and made a long-range planning map for the Area Plan Commission and the proposed Lake City Greenway trail system.
"It's important to maintain the data," Haberman said of her position as GIS coordinator. "Already the street department wants the sidewalks mapped." [[In-content Ad]]