Geographic Information System

A geographic information system GIS) is an organized collection of computer hardware, software, maps, and personnel designed to effectively collect, store, update, manipulate, and analyze all forms of geographically referenced information.

Mission

• Provide an inventory with critical information for water/wastewater facilities
• Aid in the creation of maintenance schedules for the facilities
• Supply real time facilities map data to field workers
• Present engineers with data for preliminary planning and for water and sewer modeling
• Publish paper and digital water/wastewater maps
• Scan documents and older maps for archive and more efficient research
• Assist in accurate location of water / wastewater facilities
• Train Utilities field crews in the use of GIS equipment and software

Responsibilities

Utilities GIS is responsible for collecting field data for the Utilities Department and maintaining updated water/wastewater maps. It is a section of Utilities Administration dedicated to providing digital map information for all Utilities divisions.

Staff Duties

The section consists of a supervisor, a clerk, and a field collection crew (Survey Tech and Worker).

• The field collection crew uses GPS (Global Positioning System) survey equipment to accurately locate water/wastewater facilities.
• The clerk is responsible for inputting researched and/or collected data into databases that support the locations collected by field crew (example: water valve size, type, model, etc.).
• The supervisor uses Esri-based GIS software to combine the field data with the databases to create digital maps that can be used for analyzing and querying data.