San Juan County GIS manager outlines program expansion, new countywide imagery and GeoHub usage

Daniel Yohi, San Juan County's GIS manager, gave an overview of the county's geographic information system during the Jan. 7 commission meeting, describing current services, an ongoing aerial imagery capture and public web tools, and plans to expand system architecture and outreach.

Yohi said the county is conducting its first full county aerial flyover since 2009; at the time of the presentation he reported the capture was about 87% complete for higher-elevation areas and about 85% for lower-elevation areas. He told commissioners the imagery supports assessor appraisals and future studies, including work related to a proposed freight rail line.

Yohi reviewed public-facing services hosted on the San Juan County GeoHub, noting the GeoHub had about 22,651 page views in the past year and close to 600,000 total since 2012. He said the assessor's parcel map is the county's most-visited application (more than 62,000 views), and highlighted a mobile app called "Cleanup San Juan" that allows citizens to report illegal dump sites for review by the county solid waste division.

On next steps, Yohi asked the commission to consider investments in system architecture and user training so county staff and the public can better use mapping products for decision-making, emergency response, and regional coordination. Commissioners asked about coordination with the Navajo Nation on rural addressing; Yohi said county staff are coordinating with multiple Navajo Nation divisions and that differing projects and multiple teams have complicated data sharing, but that county staff are actively working to obtain consistent addressing data for areas such as Shiprock.

Commissioners thanked Yohi for the presentation and several said they would follow up with him on addressing and public access to mapping tools.