GENEVA — The city is eyeing a new state-of-the-art zoning and planning tool that literally will put Geneva on the map.
The city will join an eight-city feasibility-study grant application for a geographic information system (GIS).
GIS captures, stores, analyzes, and helps manage and present data. The system is capable of integrating, storing, editing, analyzing, sharing and displaying geographic information, City Manager Jim Pearson said.
Assistant City Manager Jennifer Brown said the system can be used to map underground utilities, locate manholes, measure parcels of land, and display zoning maps and water and soil-test analyses.
GIS technology can be used to support many applications, including in science, accounting, police and marketing uses. The system also allows emergency planners to calculate emergency response times in the event of a natural disaster.
“(Once) you gather the GIS information, you have to enter it into the software to make it usable and accessible,” she said.
The Ohio Department of Development is offering incentives for communities to incorporate GIS into their zoning systems with an $80,000 grant for system feasibility studies, Brown said.
“The grant is meant as an incentive to get communities to work regionally with the GIS,” Brown said. “Right now, there are eight other communities in on this application, with no matching funds or applications fees (required).”
Water distribution supervisor Dave Gilbert said the system is an invaluable tool for cities.
“We stopped in several communities and looked at several GIS systems,” Gilbert said. “The one we are looking at is by far the most widely used and recommended and for a good reason, (given its) cost and usability. Now, the question is how to get the most out of the information we gather.
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