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History of GIS in Columbia County
In 1995, Columbia County and fellow
member counties of SEDA-Council of Government were flown by ADR, Inc of
Pittsburgh, PA. The result of the flight was aerial photography to be used
for the development of each county GIS. Geographic features such as road
centerlines, stream centerlines and boundaries, buildings represented as
points, and bridges were created from and referenced by the aerial
photography.
This data was utilized for the 911 rural
re-addressing project in 1996-1997. The vendor the county hired used the
county’s GIS road and building data to establish road ranges and assign
addresses to residences based upon distance along a road. The road segment
length used was 52.8 feet (1/100th of a mile, 5,280 feet) for two
addresses—one address on the left- and one on the right-side of the road.
This length is what determines a residences address as you progress along a
road. This means that an address a half mile on the left side of the road
would have an address of 49 and on the right side, 50.
In December 1997, the county hired a GIS
Coordinator, Mr. Tim Murphy, to take the aerial photography and data
developed from the photography and organize and establish a system usable by
county offices and the public. The necessary software was acquired,
database design began, and the data was loaded and began being maintained.
In 1999, the commissioners reaffirmed
their commitment to GIS by establishing a new office, the Columbia County
GIS Office, to provide GIS data, services, and technical support to other
offices and the public. Not long after the formation of the office, the GIS
Office began the conversion of paper tax maps into a digital database layer
for the GIS. Much of the conversion was performed by the office’s only
staff member on the approximately 34,000 parcels within the county.
In late 1999, the GIS Office began data
creation for a grant obtained by the Planning Office to analyze stormwater
runoff of those watersheds that feed the Susquehanna River. The data
creation and mapping for the Stormwater Management Plan continued into late
2001.
In January 2001, the GIS Office became a
Cooperative Technical Partner (CTP) with FEMA. The GIS Office entered into
a Professional Services Agreement to convert the Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs)
and Flood Boundary and Floodway Maps (FBFMs) to a digital format. Work
began in January 2002 and by February 2003, all data was complete and
delivered for review. FEMA is presently reviewing the county’s work.
In September 2001, the county became a
local partner with the PA GIS Consortium. The Consortium’s primary effort
has been the EPA Demonstration Project, which demonstrates that locally
independent data is usable at the Federal-level. For our involvement, we
have received training ($5,200-worth), software ($10,000-worth), updated
2001 digital aerial photography for $3,000 (a savings of $75,000 or more),
and technical support provided by GIS vendor ESRI. Columbia County
participated in a Technology Transfer with PA GIS Consortium in an effort
assist local government in setting up a Web-based GIS. Columbia County
continues to support the PA GIS Consortium’s mission and both parties
continue to benefit through our partnership.
By June 2002, nearly three-quarters of
the county’s parcels had been converted to digital format. Sweet Solutions
of Mifflinburg, PA was hired to complete the remaining parcel conversion.
The entire county parcel layer was completed by June 2003. The GIS Office
continues its effort to correct existing anomalies that were present in the
original tax maps.
In November 2003, with the help of the
PA GIS Consortium, the county’s web-based GIS was put online and is
undergoing beta-testing. |
