Gregory A. NewkirkGIS on a Shoestring
HistorySince 1986, the City of Vancouver, Washington began exploring opportunities to establish a GIS. Among the uses identified for the GIS were land use planning, ground water management and utility management. Efforts focussed upon combining the resources of the planning department, the public works department and a regional agency to establish a unified GIS. But, these efforts were unsuccessful, resulting in divergent and non-compatible applications. The regional agency established a GIS using a SUN workstation and ARC/INFO software with which it began developing a groundwater protection program. The public works department established a limited AM/FM system using PC technology, Autocad software and the capture of 70 square miles of topographic data into Autocad drawing files from orthophotography. Since the planning department's budget was inadequate to establish a GIS by itself, its GIS budget was absorbed into the public works budget in return for producing topographic maps for land use planning.Four years later, the Clark County Office of Assessment and Mapping established a GIS by converting its Mapping Division into a GIS Division using networked UNIX workstations and by capturing data from its approximately 2,500 mylar cadastral maps into ARC/INFO coverages. Over time, Clark County's new GIS developed into a wide ranging program for urban analysis as the Washington State Growth Management Act created substantial demand for analysis of land use planning, transportation and other urban development activities. Concurrently, the regional agency was disbanded and its data sets and GIS analysis responsibilities were absorbed into the new GIS. Additional data sets were acquired from state and federal agencies to create an initial library of approximately 80 data layers.
Memorandum of AgreementDuring this time, the City of Vancouver's planning department was absorbed into a newly created department of Community Preservation and Development (CPAD). In early 1992, CPAD approached the Clark County Office of Assessment and GIS for advice in creating its own GIS. Initial discussions indicated that CPAD was interested in developing a GIS that would be fully compatible with Clark County. Further discussions focussed upon the costly investment both Clark County and the City of Vancouver had put into their respective data sets. Clark County had invested millions of dollars converting its mylar maps into digital format and the City of Vancouver had invested over a million dollars for its digital orthophotography. As Clark County's database was maintained as ARC/INFO coverages and Vancouver's database was maintained in Autocad drawing files, it became apparent that a formal data sharing agreement was needed to address these and other issues. A copy of this agreement is included in the Appendix.Concurrent to its discussions with Clark County, the City of Vancouver passed a special appropriation to address the requirements of the Washington State Growth Management Act and other needs. Within this appropriation was $58,000 for CPAD to help it establish a GIS. CPAD expended $54,000 of this budget with its purchase of the following equipment and training:
HP 9000 model 710 workstation Staffing and TrainingWhile no additional funding was available to hire staff for the GIS, work loads could be reassigned among existing staff, allowing one person to administer the new GIS. A senior land use planner was identified who had a degree in geography and extensive experience with computers. That person was provided training in UNIX systems and in ARC/INFO software. To acquire additional training using Clark County's GIS library, CPAD's newly assigned GIS staff was loaned to Clark County for five months where he documented and developed metadata for Clark County's GIS.An important point worth noting is that even though the City of Vancouver and Clark County adopted a formal memorandum of agreement, the success of this collaboration relied upon a high level of trust. The development of this trust allowed for the full system integration of CPAD's workstation into Clark County's local area network and allowed for administrator level access to Clark County's GIS library. As a result, both agencies achieved their objectives ahead of schedule. By the end of five months, CPAD's GIS staff had documented and created metadata for eighty (80) data layers and obtained a thorough working knowledge of Clark County's GIS library. Another crucial activity that was undertaken during this time was the conversion of Vancouver's digital topography for inclusion in Clark County's GIS library. Access to a PC with Autocad software allowed CPAD's staff to convert all of the Autocad drawing files to DXF format. Beginning with the 2-foot contour data, these data were then converted to ARC/INFO line coverages and included in the GIS library.
Implementation TimelineIn February, 1992, CPAD developed a cost estimate for a GIS and arranged for the City Manager to tour Clark County's GIS. He was impressed by its analytical capabilities and allotted CPAD $58,000 of a special appropriation he was preparing to submit to the City Council for approval. The appropriation was adopted in May, 1992; however, equipment purchase was delayed until the memorandum of agreement was signed. Due to issues that needed clarification, the agreement was delayed for signing until October 28, 1992. CPAD then ordered its GIS workstation which it received and configured in January, 1993.On May 1, 1993, both the workstation and staff were relocated to the Clark County Office of Assessment and GIS where the workstation was configured as part of Clark County's GIS local area network. On October 1, 1993, after the metadata were developed and the digital topography was converted, both CPAD's workstation and staff were relocated within its own department. Because of concerns about system loads for the City/County wide area network, 150 square miles of Clark County's GIS library were copied over to CPAD's GIS. One direct connection to Clark County's main GIS server was maintained to allow for off-hours data transfer and access to Clark County's HP 7600 model 355 color laser plotter. Over the past three years, CPAD and Clark County have collaborated to accomplish a number of projects and to improve and add to the GIS library.
SummaryIn 1986, the lack of digital data and expensive hardware costs prevented the City of Vancouver from establishing a GIS. By 1992, hardware costs had decreased dramatically and digital data was becoming abundant. Additionally, GIS became a critical tool for meeting the requirements of land use planning mandated by the State of Washington. The City's willingness to convert and to share its topographic digital data, as well as contributing in other ways to Clark County's GIS, allowed it to barter for all of its GIS needs outside of the purchase of a GIS workstation and ARC/INFO license. Additional costs have been limited to maintenance and plotting expenses and modest system improvements during the last three years. Future expansion of the City's GIS is planned in the form of Desktop GIS for existing land use planning staff. Because of recent and planned PC upgrades, the cost of expanding into Desktop GIS will be limited mostly to software expense.
Appendix
WHEREAS, the CITY and ASSESSOR desire to establish and maintain a legal relationship which will ensure adequate coordination with respect to development and on-going operation of a common GIS (Geographic Information System) database; and, WHEREAS, the CITY and ASSESSOR desire to define staff roles and responsibilities when coordinating programs that have shared benefits; and, WHEREAS, the CITY and ASSESSOR seek agreement on how data sets are made available to both parties. THE CITY AND ASSESSOR MUTUALLY AGREE AS FOLLOWS: 1. The CITY and ASSESSOR will coordinate development of a common set of definitions that allows for the mutual sharing of data sets. It is clearly understood by the CITY that the ASSESSOR's GIS database, in particular the parcel coverage was designed for assessment purposes based on the legal aspects of property ownership and not for highly precise engineering level mapping. 2. The CITY's hardware and software equipment will be reviewed by the ASSESSOR to ensure compatibility with the ASSESSOR's GIS program. 3. The CITY will provide the following:
4. The ASSESSOR will provide the following:
5. DISTRIBUTION. Digital data will be provided to both parties through magnetic media until appropriate procedures and guidelines are developed for wide-area or local-area network communications. 6. SCHEDULE. Both parties agree to develop a semi-annual schedule of products of deliverables and share updated versions of the data products described in Sections 3 and 4 above for the duration of this agreement. This schedule will be revised semi-annually. 7. COMPENSATION. The CITY and the ASSESSOR agree to provide the information described in Sections 3 and 4 above to each other at no charge. The ASSESSOR shall not require payment for training necessary to understand and use the ASSESSOR's data sets according to their current particular configuration utilizing ARC/INFO software. The CITY shall pay for plotter equipment usage and any technical consulting services and training requested from the ASSESSOR that are beyond basic knowledge of the ASSESSOR's current data configuration and useability with ARC/INFO GIS software. 8. INDEMNIFICATION. Both parties agree to indemnify and hold each other, its agents and employees harmless from any and all claims, demands, damages, actions, losses, and expenses, including attorney's fees and patent infringement arising out of or in any way connected with the ASSESSOR's or CITY's use of the information exchanged. 9. GOVERNING LAW. This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of Washington. Venue for any litigation shall be Clark County, Washington. 10. CONFIDENTIALITY. With each transmission of data components, the CITY and ASSESSOR shall each clearly designate which information is confidential and/or proprietary, and both parties agree to respect all designated confidentialities and proprietary issues except as may be mandated by state or federal law. 11. MODIFICATION. No modification of the provisions of this agreement shall be effective unless reduced to writing and signed by the parties. 12. INTEGRATION. This Agreement contains the entire agreement between the parties and supersedes all prior written and/or oral discussions or agreements between the ASSESSOR and the CITY. 13. TERM. This agreement shall be deemed effective upon its execution. 14. TERMINATION. This agreement will be in effect for a period of three (3) years and may be mutually extended by agreement of the parties. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the ASSESSOR and CITY have executed this agreement on the date first above written.
Gregory A. Newkirk, AICP Senior Planner, Geographic Information Systems City of Vancouver P.O. Box 1995 Vancouver, WA 98668-1995 Telephone: (360) 696-8012 Fax: (360) 696-8283 Email: vanplan@ci.vancouver.wa.us | |
