{"id":773137,"date":"2026-05-11T10:51:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcuser&#038;p=773137"},"modified":"2026-05-11T10:51:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:51:40","slug":"get-to-know-cobb-countys-gis-chatbot","status":"publish","type":"arcuser","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/get-to-know-cobb-countys-gis-chatbot","title":{"rendered":"Get to Know Cobb County\u2019s GIS Chatbot"},"author":6921,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","transcript_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[493251],"tags":[1741,322812,170542,485662,493484],"arcuser_issues":[493467],"class_list":["post-773137","arcuser","type-arcuser","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gis-at-work","tag-ai","tag-arcgis-api-for-python","tag-arcgis-enterprise","tag-arcgis-maps-sdk-for-javascript","tag-cobb-county","arcuser_issues-spring-2026"],"acf":{"short_description":"Explore how Cobb County\u2019s chatbot makes the county\u2019s GIS data more transparent and accessible.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"While greater demand requires greater capacity, the opposite is also true\u2014greater capacity creates greater demand. This is particularly true for the information services department of Cobb County, Georgia, where the use of GIS has grown exponentially for the past 26 years. It is now an essential part of the county\u2019s operations, supporting a wide range of departments and services.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe use of ArcGIS technology is applied in virtually all of the services provided by Cobb County,\u201d said Chunguang Zhang, information business analyst in the county\u2019s GIS Core Group, which is part of the information services department. \u201cWe\u00a0utilize\u00a0GIS in many ways\u2014from desktop-based editing of parcels, roads, highways, and water utility networks to managing real-time public safety and emergency event data. Today, Cobb County makes extensive use of both enterprise GIS and ArcGIS Online in the daily operations of county government.\u201d\r\n\r\nApplications range from parcel and land records management to public safety and emergency response to elections and voter services. If you can name it, Cobb County uses GIS to make sure\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0done well.\r\n\r\n\u201cThere are five members in our\u00a0group\u00a0and we support countywide GIS operations,\u201d said Zhang. \u201cWe oversee more than 30 GIS databases,\u00a0maintain\u00a0three production ArcGIS Enterprise portals, and run\u00a0numerous\u00a0internal and external GIS applications. In addition, we ensure the smooth integration of our ArcGIS platform with critical county systems like the UMAX water billing system and Accela business process. We also handle daily GIS-related requests from residents, such as GIS data sales inquiries, emails, and phone calls.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe sheer volume of these tasks caused Zhang to wonder if he could develop a GIS chatbot specifically for Cobb County to handle both public and internal inquiries in\u00a0real time.\r\n<h2>What Makes This Chatbot Different<\/h2>\r\nWhile large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT and Google Gemini\u00a0retain\u00a0extensive information, they are generalized models. They lack deep domain\u00a0expertise, which is critical in government applications.\r\n\r\nFor example, LLMs sometimes provide incorrect or misleading information (hallucinations). In government, misinformation can have significant consequences.\u00a0LLMs also lack domain-specific knowledge because they are trained using publicly available data that does not include proprietary or recently updated information. In GIS, domain knowledge is vital for\u00a0accurate\u00a0responses. Additionally, LLMs often do not reliably remember past interactions, leading to inconsistent user experiences. The probabilistic nature of current LLMs means that asking the same question multiple times can yield different responses, which is undesirable in a government setting where consistency is crucial.\r\n\r\n\u201cTo overcome these challenges, we implemented a solution using\u202fRetrieval-Augmented Generation [RAG],\u201d said Zhang. \u201cThis powerful framework enhances LLMs by integrating them with\u00a0private data\u00a0stored in a vector database. Instead of relying solely on the model\u2019s pretrained knowledge, RAG retrieves relevant, up-to-date information from our proprietary GIS dataset and provides it as context for the model. This approach significantly improves response quality and reliability.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":773139,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"In developing the GIS chatbot, Zhang compiled years of resident inquiries and staff responses from GIS-related emails for training purposes. To ensure the consistency of the chatbot\u2019s response, he leveraged ChatGPT to generate three similar variations of each question while keeping\u00a0exactly the same\u00a0answer. This ensured uniform and\u00a0accurate\u00a0responses every time.\r\n\r\nSoftware used for the GIS chatbot\u2019s development and operation included ArcGIS Enterprise, ArcGIS basemaps, ArcGIS\u202fMaps SDK for\u202fJavaScript, and ArcGIS API for Python. Other technologies used are\u00a0LangChain\u00a0open-source libraries and the ChatGPT API.\r\n<h2>The Future of AI in Cobb County<\/h2>\r\nBy integrating RAG for relevant and up-to-date knowledge retrieval and function calling for real-time GIS operations, Cobb County has built a GIS chatbot that overcomes the limitations of generic LLMs. The project leverages AI to improve public services and\u00a0optimize\u00a0GIS workflows.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe GIS chatbot answers frequent GIS-related questions and queries, which reduces the need for human interaction and support,\u201d said Zhang. \u201cThis improves response times and ensures consistency in the response. It also allows staff to quickly retrieve zoning information, parcel verification, address validation, and GIS application data.\u201d\r\n\r\nMoreover, the chatbot supports government transparency and operational efficiency, helping agencies within the county better serve their communities."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":773140,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"\u201cI envision increased use of AI to improve services and optimize GIS workflows at Cobb County in the future,\u201d said Zhang. \u201cThis includes automated feature extraction, change detection over time, and predictive\u00a0modeling\u00a0for infrastructure.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn its expanded use of AI, the county aims to use ArcGIS pretrained image models to extract features such as houses, streams, and roads from the county\u2019s annual Pictometry aerial imagery flights. The use of change detection would\u00a0analyze\u00a0temporal imagery to\u00a0identify\u00a0changes, such as new construction, deforestation, and post-disaster damage. Predictive\u00a0modeling\u00a0for infrastructure would use machine learning models to predict when infrastructure (like roads or water pipes) might fail based on historical patterns, current sensor data, accidents, and other road incidents.\r\n\r\nIn the meantime, Cobb County staff and residents with GIS-related questions now know where to turn to get geospatial information efficiently and effectively."}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Get to Know Cobb County\u2019s GIS Chatbot | Spring 2026 | ArcUser<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore how Cobb County\u2019s chatbot makes the county\u2019s GIS data more transparent and accessible.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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