Municipal GIS
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Municipal GIS has always been at the center of PeopleGIS services. Our team has worked with over 80 communities over the past 15 years, gaining a wealth of consulting experience that is second to none. This level of experience enables us to determine a community's basic needs quickly and provides the knowledge necessary to address a community's unique needs precisely. We believe that every municipal GIS system is unique because of the people it
serves. No one size fits all.....regardless of what you may have been told.
Our Municipal GIS services include:
Needs Assessments
GIS Needs Assessments are fast becoming the single most important step that municipalities are taking towards implementing GIS technology. After years of witnessing projects attempt to run before they can walk, people are recognizing the value of assessing and defining their needs before building their new systems.
GIS is not free. There are many communities which are looking at GIS as one of their most important investments, just like any other infrastructure. Accordingly, more and more communities are planning for their GIS investment in order to spend their money wisely and realize their greatest economic return.
Needs Assessments involve the following major components: a Hardware Inventory, Network Review, Interviews, and Research. In the end, a Needs Assessment Report should provide a summary of all inventories and interviews. As well, an Implementation Plan should be included which provides an estimated Scope, Schedule, and Budget for the entire implementation project. This Implementation Plan should include input from all parties involved, including management which understands how much can be afforded on an annual basis. The goal is to produce a Plan which everyone feels has considered and responded to their needs.
Software Training
There is only one sure thing in GIS: a successful GIS program depends on a strong software training program. Think about it; even the very best GIS will fail if the intended end-users cannot use the system. End-users must become comfortable with the GIS, and to be comfortable is to be in control. End-users must feel that the system was built for their use, and that they have only their imaginations to limit them. Such end-users can propel a GIS to success, but such end-users rarely develop on their own.
A successful software training program includes group instruction, individual instruction, and presentations on what is possible. Instruction should include vendor software, third-party applications, and custom applications. And most importantly, training should also step beyond the particular software to teach the basic techniques of applying spatial technologies to everyday projects. We cannot forget that GIS is still very new to most end-users, and the basic concepts of GIS must be explained before any real GIS activity can successfully be accomplished.
Applications Development
GIS is not incredibly functional for most users "out-of-the-box". While software vendors would like to tell you that everyone can use their software with just a few days of training, this is not the norm. To enable end-users to be more productive, most consultants are able to provide custom applications that perform specific functions that people would use often. Application examples would include:
PeopleGIS works closely with clients to identify those tools that would enable them to be more productive with their GIS. We try to provide tools that many end-users at a client site can use in order to provide as much value as possible. Our programming platforms include C, Visual Basic, .Net, PHP, Javascript, and HTML. Custom applications can be provided for desktop and Internet software, with the latter becoming increasingly more popular in the past few years.
Project Management
More and more, clients have asked for project management services regarding their GIS design, implementation, and training programs. Municipalities have asked PeopleGIS to help them build the GIS they need, manage the change that will occur in their operations, and help end-users understand their new tools. As Project Managers, we have learned that no one can know everything there is to know about GIS, including ourselves. We have met hundreds of professional GIS service providers over the past fifteen years, and we turn to them when we need them. Photogrammetrists, programmers, database experts, networking contractors, and others have all partnered with PeopleGIS to solve problems and build solutions. The ability to bring such parties to our clients as they are needed, to manage such contracting, and understand which parties can bring the most expertise to the table for any given situation, these are the skills that our clients need. As we see it, the key to effective Project Management is to include the client in each and every decision along the way. We expend a great deal of effort finding the best ways to inform and educate our clients, to enable them to take part in the process and trust the directions taken. The results are clear. PeopleGIS clients never feel like they are being led around blindly. In addition, we benefit from knowing that our clients trust the direction that we, together, are headed in.
Internet Mapping & Other Technologies
The use of the Internet by municipalities is exploding. With each year that passes, we witness the industry's growth online and provide our own contribution with our MapsOnline technology. We envision our tools integrating with others that provide permit tracking, document management, and other services as communities continue to expand their operations and share information.
The use of online tools is not just for public access, but for staff access as well. We envision a future where hand-held computers (finally) play a daily role in the field, enabling information to be at our fingertips everywhere we go. With the Internet being available through wireless connections everywhere we go in the near future, it appears likely that Internet-based mapping tools will be the tools of choice for many years to come.
©2006 PeopleGIS Inc.
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Municipal GIS has always been at the center of PeopleGIS services. Our team has worked with over 80 communities over the past 15 years, gaining a wealth of consulting experience that is second to none. This level of experience enables us to determine a community's basic needs quickly and provides the knowledge necessary to address a community's unique needs precisely. We believe that every municipal GIS system is unique because of the people it
serves. No one size fits all.....regardless of what you may have been told.
Our Municipal GIS services include:
- Needs Assessments
- Software Training
- Applications Development
- Project Management
- Internet Mapping
Needs Assessments
GIS Needs Assessments are fast becoming the single most important step that municipalities are taking towards implementing GIS technology. After years of witnessing projects attempt to run before they can walk, people are recognizing the value of assessing and defining their needs before building their new systems.
GIS is not free. There are many communities which are looking at GIS as one of their most important investments, just like any other infrastructure. Accordingly, more and more communities are planning for their GIS investment in order to spend their money wisely and realize their greatest economic return.
Needs Assessments involve the following major components: a Hardware Inventory, Network Review, Interviews, and Research. In the end, a Needs Assessment Report should provide a summary of all inventories and interviews. As well, an Implementation Plan should be included which provides an estimated Scope, Schedule, and Budget for the entire implementation project. This Implementation Plan should include input from all parties involved, including management which understands how much can be afforded on an annual basis. The goal is to produce a Plan which everyone feels has considered and responded to their needs.
Software Training
There is only one sure thing in GIS: a successful GIS program depends on a strong software training program. Think about it; even the very best GIS will fail if the intended end-users cannot use the system. End-users must become comfortable with the GIS, and to be comfortable is to be in control. End-users must feel that the system was built for their use, and that they have only their imaginations to limit them. Such end-users can propel a GIS to success, but such end-users rarely develop on their own.
A successful software training program includes group instruction, individual instruction, and presentations on what is possible. Instruction should include vendor software, third-party applications, and custom applications. And most importantly, training should also step beyond the particular software to teach the basic techniques of applying spatial technologies to everyday projects. We cannot forget that GIS is still very new to most end-users, and the basic concepts of GIS must be explained before any real GIS activity can successfully be accomplished.
Applications Development
GIS is not incredibly functional for most users "out-of-the-box". While software vendors would like to tell you that everyone can use their software with just a few days of training, this is not the norm. To enable end-users to be more productive, most consultants are able to provide custom applications that perform specific functions that people would use often. Application examples would include:
- Abutters Tools
- Map Production Tools
- Search Tools
- Buffer Tools
- Routing Tools
- Calls Tracking
- Complaints Tracking
- Others...
PeopleGIS works closely with clients to identify those tools that would enable them to be more productive with their GIS. We try to provide tools that many end-users at a client site can use in order to provide as much value as possible. Our programming platforms include C, Visual Basic, .Net, PHP, Javascript, and HTML. Custom applications can be provided for desktop and Internet software, with the latter becoming increasingly more popular in the past few years.
Project Management
More and more, clients have asked for project management services regarding their GIS design, implementation, and training programs. Municipalities have asked PeopleGIS to help them build the GIS they need, manage the change that will occur in their operations, and help end-users understand their new tools. As Project Managers, we have learned that no one can know everything there is to know about GIS, including ourselves. We have met hundreds of professional GIS service providers over the past fifteen years, and we turn to them when we need them. Photogrammetrists, programmers, database experts, networking contractors, and others have all partnered with PeopleGIS to solve problems and build solutions. The ability to bring such parties to our clients as they are needed, to manage such contracting, and understand which parties can bring the most expertise to the table for any given situation, these are the skills that our clients need. As we see it, the key to effective Project Management is to include the client in each and every decision along the way. We expend a great deal of effort finding the best ways to inform and educate our clients, to enable them to take part in the process and trust the directions taken. The results are clear. PeopleGIS clients never feel like they are being led around blindly. In addition, we benefit from knowing that our clients trust the direction that we, together, are headed in.
Internet Mapping & Other Technologies
The use of the Internet by municipalities is exploding. With each year that passes, we witness the industry's growth online and provide our own contribution with our MapsOnline technology. We envision our tools integrating with others that provide permit tracking, document management, and other services as communities continue to expand their operations and share information.
The use of online tools is not just for public access, but for staff access as well. We envision a future where hand-held computers (finally) play a daily role in the field, enabling information to be at our fingertips everywhere we go. With the Internet being available through wireless connections everywhere we go in the near future, it appears likely that Internet-based mapping tools will be the tools of choice for many years to come.