When the District of Columbia began its GIS implementation in 1995, the intention was to create an enterprise GIS that district agencies, the federal government, D.C. citizens, and outside organizations could all utilize.

The lead agency for this initiative is the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), which coordinates GIS activities throughout the district's government, providing technical assistance and developing and maintaining the central GIS infrastructure.

In June 2002 the District of Columbia launched DC Atlas, an Intranet GIS-based application for its employees. OCTO worked with Esri Business Partner Michael Baker Jr., Inc., with which the office had a long previous relationship, to develop the ArcIMS application that brings together data from the district's 67 departments and delivers it to staff members' desktops.

An ArcSDE geodatabase enables district employees to access more than 150 map layers including demographic, socioeconomic, and spatial data. DC Atlas supports the district's departments with instant access to a wealth of information such as orthophotos, planimetric maps, and maps of service areas, political and administrative boundaries, development areas, fire and police station locations, hospitals, schools, and libraries.

The system includes a notification tool for selecting property owners within a circle or polygon and then generating labels, a mix and match capability for selecting any of the 150 map layers, and the DC MapMaker, which uses a Java applet with ArcIMS to map addresses submitted in an Access or Excel format.

For non-GIS users the ArcIMS system is intuitive and easy to learn. "They log on with a Web browser and the application is set up with predefined views and queries," says Barney Krucoff, GIS group manager, Michael Baker Jr., Inc. "GIS users who want the full power of Esri's software have access to ArcView 8.x and ArcInfo 8, which are deployed from a Citrix server."

Participants in the new system are genuinely pleased, and districtwide departments are finding they are now better equipped to make faster, more informed decisions. "It's definitely becoming part of the Business process," says Vicki DeFries, GIS manager, OCTO. "We've been conducting training classes twice a week, every week since June. There has been an immense amount of positive feedback about it. It's easy to use, and it does what people want without having to go through an entire GIS course."

For more information, contact Barney Krucoff, GIS group manager, Michael Baker Jr., Inc. (tel.: 703-317-3073, e-mail: bkrucoff@mbakercorp.com).