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3 Questions, 3 Answers.
Three questions immediately came to mind
when I first heard of this thing called GIS:
What does it stand for?
What does that mean?
What does it do for me?
I began searching for answers and found a multitude of web resources.
The more helpful ones are listed >>over there>> so
if you want more detailed info after this little scratch on the
surface, surf around for a while.
Now, down to business:
Q: What does GIS stand for?
A: Geographic Information System.
That was easy enough. On to harder questions…
Q: What does it mean?
A: First, GIS is a System. It draws on many sources
for input, and affects many different parts of society. The system
can support natural resource officials, planning departments,
transportation, waste disposal, county politics, law enforcement,
and private residents to name a few.
Digital Information, housed in a
computer database, makes the system work. That's called Data.
In Tompkins County, the United States Government provides some
data, county departments provide the majority of it, and some
old fashioned personal investigation fills in any missing pieces.
Finally, the bits of information all take
the shape of lines, text, points, or fields that relate to specific
Geographic locations on the earth.
The System is based on Information, and the Information
is Geographically located. That obviously means mapping
the landscape is part of GIS, but it is not the whole picture
by any means. You can see population density, land use, voting
districts, property lines, and traffic density (among many other
things) with GIS, most of which you can see in our map
library.
That brings me to my final question.
Q: What does it do for me?
A: That all depends on who I am. If I'm a private
citizen, it lets me understand my community better. It tells me
where the high crime zones are. It tells me where my kids go to
school, and what my voting district is. If I'm a merchant, it
tells me where the most population density is, and what the traffic
patterns are. It tells me where I should set up a new shop, and
where to advertise. If I'm a city planner, it tells me where to
build and how to re-route traffic if necessary. If I'm a conservationist,
it tells me whether protected wildlife areas are too close to
major sources of pollution. Whoever I am, GIS helps me make informed
decisions by showing a picture of the real world I can understand.
Tompkins County GIS provides this service to anyone. If you have
further questions about TC GIS, take a look at staff/services
or send a specific question or comment.
Keep in mind: This is not the last
word on GIS by any means. See for yourself the wealth of explanations
about GIS others have to offer.
by: Nathan Tarter
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GIS in Tompkins County
Tompkins County began its GIS efforts in the mid 1990s when the Assessment Department started the process of converting paper tax maps to digital format. Over the course of the past ten years, the County has developed a robust GIS that is used by many county departments as well as local governments.
Currently, the Department of Information Technology provides leadership and oversight of the County's GIS program. In addition, the Planning Department employs staff that support its day-to-day GIS needs. Tompkins County GIS provides several basic services:
- Development and maintenance of Countywide tax maps;
- Development of new data layers;
- GIS Technical assistance for local governments and other county departments;
- Map creation for county departments, local governments, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and the general public;
- Application support for Emergency Response;
- Database distribution through local and NYS GIS data repositories;
- Web Application development and support for local governments, other county departments and the general public
- GIS software license Administration
Everyone
is Talking about GIS.
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