Think of the data that city governments collect by address: tax assessment records, building permits, liquor licenses, birth and death records, crime incidents, building inspection records, dog licenses, water meter readings, and much more. Think of data they collect using other geographic references: street pavement records; street intersection traffic control devices; harbor and river traffic and events; public transit route volume, revenue, and schedules; and block and census tract summaries of housing and population. Almost every function of local government—garbage collection, nursing districts, urban forestry districts, school districts, fire response zones, etc.—uses some geographic area to manage its resources.

The use of GIS technology by cities and counties over the past 25 years has shown that the geographic nature of the data they process provides almost unlimited opportunities for improving the service-delivery, management, and policy-making activities in those governments. GIS allows digital map information to be combined with attribute information about features on the maps, thereby providing local governments with new ways to use the enormous amounts of data that, in most cases, are already in computerized form to solve complex urban problems and manage resources more efficiently and effectively.

More Information

For more information, visit www.esri.com/localgov.