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Commissioners review county GIS demo; staff weigh cost and data completeness before subscribing
Summary
Recorder’s office showed a GIS mapping tool that includes sewer and water features; commissioners discussed whether the city should subscribe or rely on existing studies and county data and identified that a functional GIS requires field data (manholes, valves) entered correctly.
During the April 2 meeting, the county recorder’s office demonstrated a GIS map funded in part with a COVID grant that shows sewer lines, water lines and other infrastructure. Staff and commissioners discussed the potential benefit of subscribing to the county’s GIS or buying access through a vendor such as Sunrise, but also noted that a usable GIS requires effort to field-locate and document manholes, valves and hydrants.
Commissioners said Jones and DeMille (the city’s recent engineering consultant) already provided study work and that duplicating data would be expensive; staff suggested the city should seek to obtain existing layers from consultants and the county before spending on a new subscription. Participants noted that a robust GIS with photos, depth measurements and valve data is useful for daily operations and for answering developer questions about closest hydrants or sewer manholes, but is only as good as the underlying data.
No formal purchase or subscription decision was made; staff said they will ask Jeff Albert and Jones & DeMille what data the city already has and whether that can be ingested or shared by the county’s system before committing city funds.
