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Project Goal
York County GIS implementation has progressed in 4 years to have 2 full time staff and 200 GIS users throughout the county. We accomplish this through the common sense approaches of establishing a business need for technology and working towards adoption or buy in by users.
Our GIS implementation is not just about getting digital maps onto desktops. Instead the process includes thinking about the reengineering or streamlining of the workflow that may or may not include maps.
The county has been able to provide its staff with more information products and greater access to information. Increased demand for data takes place as we provide information to staff in the field, to local municipalities, and to our citizens.
Our philosophy is to simplify processes of information gathering that enable more users. Out of the box ESRI tools as well as a custom ArcIMS website allow many of our needs to be met. We maintain a countywide or enterprise perspective as we undertake projects. While GIS data is centralized, the staff maintaining it is decentralized, allowing 2 GIS staff the ability to support county GIS users as well as regional GIS initiatives.
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Business Problem Solved
York County is located in a high growth area given its location in the Charlotte metro region. The increased demand on staff to deliver services has increased while the resources to meet the demand must be met with very efficient use of existing resources and correct applications of technology.
Upper management at the county saw this trend and knew the best way to address it was to place emphasis on the county’s MIS staff. The department grew by 10 staff over 3 years and added GIS staff. Within a short period, the entire IT infrastructure was refurbished including the intranet and establishment of a computer replacement plan. A survey of existing business processes by GIS staff outlined many areas where technology could be utilized.
Some of the main hurdles were the resistance of staff to change their procedures and poor communications among geographically separated county offices. The best method to achieve this was to simply share information and to facilitate countywide collaboration on GIS data collection projects. We began by converting paper maps to digital data and providing many small information products as needed. Within a short period, we converted much of our base data and started building upon this foundation.
Technology Implemented
Staff across the county use ArcGIS Desktop 9.1 software to maintain GIS data critical to county business processes. Our GIS data resides in the enterprise ArcSDE 9.1 geodatabase where all updates are immediately available to the public through our GIS Online website. County staff are able to utilize data from the City of Rock Hill GIS office through a collaborative relationship and a shared network. Many layer and map document files are available so that information resources can be found.
We take pride in our ability to collect and maintain our data in-house. County staff collected every physical address in the county within one year. All utilities, storm water and fire hydrant GIS data was collected using customized data models, GeoXM, ArcPad 6 and county staff.
York County was one of the first in South Carolina to publish data to the USGS National Map and to contribute to the NC OneMap project. Metadata is now published to support the data found at these two portals. The local Twin Rivers GIS User Group is now actively working to educate and keep regional GIS users informed.
Development Team Biography
York County GIS Staff
Bryan Townsend, GIS Coordinator
Steve Fox, GIS Analyst
York County IT Staff
Andrew Grindle, Programmer
Andy Castillo, Web Programmer
GIS Team – Staff from around the county who contribute to the shared vision of improving the delivery of services with technology.
Extended GIS Team – We would also like to recognize the invaluable assistance provided by the City of Rock Hill GIS staff. Scott Davis and Jim Kiley are experienced GIS professionals who have successfully implemented and managed a GIS program for 10 years. Without their willingness to collaborate, much of our data and skills acquired early on would not have been available.
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