The Struggles of a City GIS Manager

This is real. The names have been omitted, but this is happening as I write at one city and I’m willing to bet many, many more cities around the world. The city is typical in the US. Its population is ~23,000. Geographic area is ~8 square miles. There are 430 acres of parkland, over 150 acres of designated openspace and 110 miles of sewer pipe pumping 2.3 million gallons per day.

The issue at hand? These economic times are tight and the city is considering cutting back the GIS department.

To me, an interesting fact is that this is not a city that’s behind the technology curve. In fact, I think they’re ahead of it. Has the GIS Manager (current and previous) done such a good job that they’ve worked their way out of a job? They’re using state-of-the-art GIS software products such as ArcGIS Server, ArcGIS desktop, ArcPad and even developed their own custom app using MapObjects that’s in use on 100+ computers throughout the city departments. They’re also using high performance GPS/GIS receivers to keep their GIS up-to-date.

To give you an idea, following is a graphic illustrating the layout of their GIS:

They serve up and make available data to the public much more than other municipalities that I’ve dealt with. In addition to their internal users, they serve this data up to the public 24/7 via an online, interactive web interface. Their data layers include:

Utilities – Sewer, storm, water, streets, street signs.
Land use – city-owned land, parks, open space.
Environmental – Contours, slope, wetlands, streams.
Planning – Zoning, comprehensive plan, buildable land.
Parcel mapping – Taxlots, easements, property info, plat info.
Boundaries – City limits, neighborhood assoc, special districts.
Site Addresses – Master address file, geocoding.
Digital imagery – Orthophotography, LiDAR, DEMs.

They also develop and support applications for other city departments. Users of the custom mapping application developed in MapObjects include the police (in patrol cars on rugged laptop computers), EOC (Emergency Operations Center), public works, parks, planning, engineering in addition to managers and office staff who are able to print their own maps instead of relying on other city personnel.

Earlier this year, the city conducted a survey to measure GIS usage. Following are the results:

How does this compare to your GIS user base?

Do you know how many people are utilizing your GIS and understand what they are using it for?
Does the city management/city council understand the benefits the GIS provides?

In a conversation I had with the GIS Manager, I think it was summarized best in the following statement:

“How do you put a price on instantaneous information?”

An example was used regarding utility infrastructure. How would one, without a GIS, communicate the status of the utility infrastructure system for a maintenance or development project? It would involve finding, organizing and collating paper maps (probably from different departments and maybe from different agencies, including utility companies) in a manner that would effectively and efficiently serve the requestor. That process would take several “man-days” and painfully slow interdepartmental/interagency coordination. And, at the end of the day, the product would most likely be substandard to a GIS-derived product.

I equate it to, if I may be so bold and over-simplistic, to maintaining ones vehicle. You can choose to spend the time and money to change the oil, maintain the brakes, change the transmission fluid, change the windshield wipers, wax the exterior, vacuum the interior, etc. and the vehicle will run smoothly and reliably and serve you well. On the other hand, if one does none of the above maintenance, there is a high probability that you’ll have several catastrophic vehicle failures that will consume time, money and add undue stress in dealing with ongoing problems. Dealing with emergency situations is always orders of magnitude more expensive than regular maintenance.

To me, that’s the issue.

So, while you’re focused on building your GIS, it’s easy to get caught up in the technology and forget about the economics behind it. Someone is paying the bills and those folks need to understand the benefits of maintaining an up-to-date GIS if you expect them to continue to provide funding.

Thanks and see you next week.