Date: Fri 07-Feb-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

HVCEO-GIS-digital-mapping

Full Text:

HVCEO GIS Mapping System Feature

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

The regional planning agency is creating color-coded, computer-generated maps

to help its 10 member towns plan future land uses.

All the data in the Geographic Information System (GIS) is information that

can be referenced to a map, explained Dave Hannon, senior planner for the

Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO).

HVCEO is the regional planning agency for Newtown, Brookfield, Bethel,

Redding, Bridgewater, New Milford, Sherman, New Fairfield, Danbury and

Ridgefield.

If member towns can provide HVCEO with a digital "base map," the regional

planning agency can provide those towns with massive amounts of electronically

mapped data for land use planning, explained HVCEO Executive Director Jonathan

Chew.

A digitized municipal base map delineates all individual properties within a

town. It also includes basic features such as streets and bodies of water.

Although such base maps may exist on paper, to be usable in the GIS system

they must be digitized, or converted into a form that can be stored,

manipulated and retrieved by a computer. HVCEO's standard of reference for its

GIS mapping of the Housatonic Region is the United States Geological Survey's

(USGS) topographical quadrangle map series.

Because municipally-generated base maps generally will be somewhat

"distorted," those maps are then computer-corrected to conform with the USGS

quadrangles, Mr Chew said.

HVCEO uses cartographic software known as MapInfo Professional, a relatively

easy-to-use program which runs under the Microsoft Windows operating system.

The software contains "layers" or "electronic overlays" of information in

various categories, allowing the computer user to choose exactly what

information he or she wants displayed on the map they are producing. Map

scales are variable.

For example, a user could "mouse click" on an individual parcel of land and

see displayed: the acreage; the land use; the assessed value; the size of

structures; the owner's address; construction quality; and the date of

construction, plus other information.

Similarly, the computer user can obtain a parcel's: zoning category;

topography; and wetland areas to help determine the land's suitability for

construction.

For public health uses, a computer user could retrieve information on: well

water contamination; septic system failures; the presence of public water

supplies; and the placements of sanitary sewers, among other data.

Besides displaying information on an individual parcel, the GIS system can

accept various criteria specified by the computer user and depict the

locations which meet those criteria, Mr Chew said.

For example, a computer user specifies he wants to see properties with:

industrial zoning; lots less than 30,000 square feet; public water service;

natural gas service; sanitary sewer service; street lighting, and storm

sewers. Those parameters are entered into the computer and it displays a map

bearing all the locations meeting those criteria. The color map is printable.

Towns can acquire basic GIS software for an in-house electronic map system for

under $5,000, Mr Chew said. More advanced software with added features would

cost towns under $20,000. Sophisticated software including tax assessment maps

meeting aerial photography standards would cost towns up to $150,000, he said.

Mr Chew said towns also would have to buy computer hardware on which to run

the map software, as well as designate some employee or part-time person to

operate the map system.

In the region, the only two towns which haven't participated in the HVCEO's

GIS system are Newtown and Bridgewater, according to Mr Chew.

Of the map system, Newtown First Selectman Robert Cascella said "At some

point, in the future, it would be very, very helpful." But the town isn't now

in a financial position to participate, he said. "I believe fixing the roads

is more important right now," he said. When GIS technology drops in price, the

town will review whether it wants to become involved, he said.

Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker said a GIS system would be a

useful municipal planning tool for depicting zoning boundaries, wetlands,

drainage structures, septic systems, sewer lines and water lines. Ms Stocker

said she expects the GIS system will be used in Newtown in the future, but

added it's unclear when that will happen.

Public Works Director Fred Hurley said a GIS system would be a major

improvement for the town in terms of keeping an inventory of physical

improvements. The GIS system allows mapping to be continually upgraded, he

said. He termed it "a tremendous asset for infrastructure management."

Michael Ryer, chairman of Ryer Associates, a Danbury firm that sells

commercial and industrial real estate, said his company recently acquired the

GIS system as a sales tool.

The system will be used to show clients properties which meet their purchasing

criteria, Mr Ryer said. Clients are particularly interested in being located

near fiber optic transmission lines, so Ryer Associates will set up its GIS

system to depict the presence of such utilities, among much other information

about various commercial/industrial properties, he said.

Ryer Associates plans to place all its real estate listings on its GIS system,

as well as its competitors listings, Mr Ryer said.

The deeper the real estate company gets into GIS, the more creative it can

become in marketing its properties, he said. Income levels and population

densities eventually could be depicted on the maps, he said.

"For people looking for industrial property, we think it has great potential,"

Mr Ryer said.

Ryer Associates plans to confer with HVCEO as the real estate firm develops it

specific uses of the GIS system, Mr Ryer said.

Mr Chew said there's much power in knowledge and GIS system makes

geographically-based knowledge publicly available.

Planning consultants who have been formulating recommendations on economic

development, transportation and land conservation in the Exit 9 area of

Interstate-84 in Hawleyville have used GIS computer mapping to help them

refine their plans, Mr Hannon said.

HVCEO is awaiting digitized information from the state Department of

Environmental Protection (DEP) depicting soil types. That data will allow the

regional planning agency to depict wetland soils on its GIS system, Mr Chew

said.

Also, HVCEO plans to seek bids to create a "cultural layer" for its regional

map including the depiction of bus routes, industrial parks, corporate

offices, shopping centers, institutions, schools, condominiums, apartments,

municipal facilities, and open space areas.

The DEP and other state agencies are constantly developing new layers of

information for the GIS system, Mr Chew said.

The beauty of GIS is it can be used by every department in a municipality

which stores information that can be keyed to geographic locations, Mr Chew

said. Such a geographic reference is keyed to either a street address or to

lines of latitude and longitude.