1. “It’s Not a Sprint – It’s a Marathon” GIS 101 For Local Government ICIT Midyear Conference June 17, 2010 Jeff Miller, Dubuque County Matt Boeck, Story County

2. Goal of Presentation  Describe GIS technology  Explain how GIS technology can aid local governments  Discuss the creation of a Geographic Information System (GIS) for a local government  Demo a real life scenario of creating a GIS for a county in Iowa

3. What is GIS?  A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.  GIS allows us to view, understand, question, interpret, and visualize data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts.  A GIS helps you answer questions and solve problems by looking at your data in a way that is quickly understood and easily shared.  GIS technology can be integrated into any enterprise information system framework.  From GIS.com – June 2010

4. GIS Components  Hardware – Computers, Servers, and Network equipment  Software – The programs used to access the data  Information – visualization and analysis of data  System – linking software, hardware, and data  Personnel – people with knowledge of how to use the hardware, software, and data

5. People  Locate GIS Champions  Everyone should try to get along  Leave unrelated disagreements at the door  Explain how everyone can benefit from developing a GIS  Work as a team  See the end goal  Recognize and acknowledge achievements along the way  Recognize those with GIS talents

6. GIS Can Help With Many Tasks  Cadastral Inventory and Maintenance  Transportation Inventory  CSR Calculation  Voting Precincts and Locations  Emergency Services and E-911  Utilities Inventory for Cities  Trail and Park mapping  Many more!

7. GIS Can Help With Many Tasks  Environmental  Monitoring & Modeling  Business  Site Location & Transportation  Government  Local, State, Federal  Microsoft and Google

8. Examples of Visible Goals  Print Maps On Demand  Plat Maps (Auditor’s Office)  Economic Development  Public Requests  Spatial link to real estate data  Real Estate information available on-line anytime/anywhere  This is expected today – it is not a novelty anymore

9. Budget  Vendor or No Vendor?  Pros and Cons  Keep budgeting money  Software maintenance  Expand services  GIS Coordinator

10. What is NOT GIS?  GPS – Global Positioning System  A static map – paper or digital  Maps are often a product of a GIS  A way to visualize the data or analysis  A software package

11. Real World vs. GIS  A method to visualize, manipulate, analyze, and display spatial data  “Smart Maps” linking a database to the map or the ability to ask the map questions and get back answers

12. Database Not easy to interpret

13. Visualization Easily worth a thousand words

14. Types of Data  Raster – Grid  “pixels”  a location and value  Satellite images and aerial photos are examples  Vector – Linear  Points, lines, & polygons  Features with attributes  Size, type, area, length Real World

15. Common Raster Data Formats  TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)  High Quality  No Compression  Slower  MrSID (Multiresolution Seamless Image Database)  Good Quality  Some Compression  Faster  Geodatabase  High Quality  Compression up to the Administrator  Fastest  More disk space

16. Vector Data Type - Points

17. Examples of Points  Wells  Addresses  Stream gauges  School Locations  Cemeteries  Voting Locations  Section Corners  Manholes

18. Vector Data Type - Line

19. Examples of Lines  Roads  Rivers  Contours  Parcel Lines  Water or Sewer Lines  Trails  Railroads

20. Vector Data Type - Polygon

21. Examples of Polygons  Parcels  USPLSS Grid (Township/Section/Quarter)  Counties  Rivers and Lakes  Precincts  Flooded area  Building Footprints

22. Data Type vs. Scale  Large scale, small area  Cities as polygons  Roads as polygons  Rivers & Streams as polygons  Small scale, large area  Cities as points  Roads as lines  Rivers & Streams as lines

23. Data for GIS Applications  Digitized and Scanned Maps  Purchased or Free from Internet  Created by users  Databases  Tables of data  GPS – Global Positioning System  Provides accurate locations  Remote Sensing & Aerial Photography

24. Five Data Layers Rivers Roads Cities LakesStates

25. Asking a Question - Interaction

26. Databases can be Linked and Related

27. Accessing GIS Data GIS Server Local User Mobile User Worldwide Users

28. Select by Attributes  Select by any Layer in your Map  Select the Field you wish to query  Then the value you wish to find

29. Select by Location  Choose which layers you wish to select  Choose method of selection  Choose which layer you are selecting by

30. Geocode an Address  Type the Address and Zone (Zip Code)  The software compares the address typed against the reference layer (roads) to find a match

31. Training Opportunities  ESRI  http://training.esri.com  ICIT  http://www.icit.state.ia.us/  GeoTree - UNI  http://www.geotree.uni.edu/

32. Free GIS Data  Iowa Geological Survey  http://www.igsb.uiowa.edu/nrgislibx/  U.S. Census Bureau  http://factfinder.census.gov  University of Northern Iowa  http://www.geotree.uni.edu/rsstorm/Outreach.aspx  Iowa Geospatial Data Clearinghouse  http://maps.gis.iastate.edu/

33. Live Demo  Jeff will demonstrate how to build a GIS using free data

34. Questions? Jeff Miller, GIS Coordinator gis@dbqco.org (563) 589-7896 Matt Boeck, GIS Coordinator mboeck@storycounty.com (515) 382-7327