How GIS Can Pay its Own Way
“A quick study of the cost benefit model related to GIS use in county parcel data”
By, James H. Davis
Content OGInfo.com, LLC
February 5, 2010,
In Texas, local appraisal districts are tasked with keeping track of surface ownership, related improvements, commercial and industrial improvements, oil and gas assets and personal property. These efforts are all focused on market values for tax appraisal purposes. The discussion and bullet points below are designed to point out how the use of GIS will pay for itself.
We start with the way parcel maps are created, used and maintained if they are still in the analog (paper) stage. Since Texas appraisal districts are fairly new government entities, the range of different types of paper maps are as diverse as the counties themselves. Many counties have relied on the old style oil and gas maps that have been used in the energy sector since Spindletop. There are many counties who have acquired complete copies of former ASCS map sets, which are large black and white aerials affixed to hardboard backing for durability. There are also many counties who have developed their own “block” type maps, which use a scaled down county map with a block grid to refer the user to a particular plat with more detail.
Drawing and updating these maps within the appraisal district is a slow and tedious process if they are updated at all. When tracts are resurveyed or when a tract is split into two or more tracts, local mappers must follow metes and bounds to have the tract(s) properly represented on the map. Generally speaking, a small to midsized county has to establish at least one and possibly two full time positions to keep their paper maps up to date. Moving to GIS will not eliminate these positions as the cost savings related to the use of GIS really comes in with those who use them. The points below represent the differences in using paper versus GIS:
PAPER: Appraiser, clerks and related staff do not have ready access to maps and must stop what they are doing and engage the mapping department when there is a map needed. This slows their productivity as well as the mappers’ productivity.
GIS: With GIS distributed throughout the office, staff will have ready access to maps at all times and therefore will gain efficiencies because of that access.
PAPER: Paper maps keep the maps centralized and not distributed. An appraiser must consult a mapping department when going out in the field. Should that appraiser need additional maps to complete their task, they must drive all the way back in to the central office.
GIS: Again, with GIS distributed throughout the office and even in the field, appraisers will not be required to continually consult the mapping department. Field appraiser would also have the capability to arm themselves with this data on a laptop, which would make them much more efficient in planning and executing their daily fieldwork.
PAPER: Paper maps of parcel data are single layer maps therefore they do not allow for users to overlay other layers as needed. Should another layer, such, as flood plain, zoning, neighborhood codes, etc. need to be overlaid for appraisal purposes, this must be done manually. Manually calculating acreage on irregular shapes is time consuming and costly.
GIS: One of the primary strengths of GIS is its ability to handle multiple layers, therefore giving the organization the capability to do simple or complex geospatial analysis with speed and accuracy.
PAPER: Changing values and/or classifications of parcels in a particular geographic region takes a tremendous amount of time when compared to how it’s handled using GIS.
GIS: Examples of this would be the need to select an irregularly shaped grouping of properties for appraisal adjustments. Done manually this would be time tedious and time consuming.
PAPER: Utilizing paper maps as it relates to servicing the needs of land professionals, surveyors, appraisers and other researchers creates a bottleneck in a counties mapping department and often times leads to maps being misplaced and/or worn out.
GIS: The use of GIS will allow the county to publish their parcel data online, thus allowing easy access to land professionals to research without the need to come down to the appraisal district office and utilize their staff in assisting. With GIS data on a CD the appraisal district would then create another revenue stream by providing this data pursuant to Open Records Request.
PAPER: Other entities within a county could also utilize GIS for cost savings within their own departments.
GIS: Sheriff’s departments would be able to see who the property owners are within their own patrol units on their “heads up” display. School districts would be able to better schedule school bus routes and determine with ease whether a student is “in district” or not. 911 departments would be more efficient in dispatching medical emergency calls since they would have exact home locations. Cities utilize this data as well when doing notifications pursuant to rezoning request, etc.
SUMMARY: Large and medium sized counties and cities throughout the United States have adopted the use of GIS over the years for one simple reason and that is “cost savings”. Many of the functions carried out by large counties and cities in today’s modern world would be virtually impossible without the use of GIS.
Small to mid-sized counties have been slow to adopt GIS due primarily to the cost of entry and the sheer fact that they would have to outsource the initial parcel or polygon creation job and would be faced with a large one time budget item. Local culture plays a role too in slow adoption of GIS in that the old saying, “if it aint broke, don’t fix it” applies in many cases. Generally speaking, people are resistant to change, and that is understood when the ideal of going GIS is discussed.
We start with the way parcel maps are created, used and maintained if they are still in the analog (paper) stage. Since Texas appraisal districts are fairly new government entities, the range of different types of paper maps are as diverse as the counties themselves. Many counties have relied on the old style oil and gas maps that have been used in the energy sector since Spindletop. There are many counties who have acquired complete copies of former ASCS map sets, which are large black and white aerials affixed to hardboard backing for durability. There are also many counties who have developed their own “block” type maps, which use a scaled down county map with a block grid to refer the user to a particular plat with more detail.
Drawing and updating these maps within the appraisal district is a slow and tedious process if they are updated at all. When tracts are resurveyed or when a tract is split into two or more tracts, local mappers must follow metes and bounds to have the tract(s) properly represented on the map. Generally speaking, a small to midsized county has to establish at least one and possibly two full time positions to keep their paper maps up to date. Moving to GIS will not eliminate these positions as the cost savings related to the use of GIS really comes in with those who use them. The points below represent the differences in using paper versus GIS:
PAPER: Appraiser, clerks and related staff do not have ready access to maps and must stop what they are doing and engage the mapping department when there is a map needed. This slows their productivity as well as the mappers’ productivity.
GIS: With GIS distributed throughout the office, staff will have ready access to maps at all times and therefore will gain efficiencies because of that access.
PAPER: Paper maps keep the maps centralized and not distributed. An appraiser must consult a mapping department when going out in the field. Should that appraiser need additional maps to complete their task, they must drive all the way back in to the central office.
GIS: Again, with GIS distributed throughout the office and even in the field, appraisers will not be required to continually consult the mapping department. Field appraiser would also have the capability to arm themselves with this data on a laptop, which would make them much more efficient in planning and executing their daily fieldwork.
PAPER: Paper maps of parcel data are single layer maps therefore they do not allow for users to overlay other layers as needed. Should another layer, such, as flood plain, zoning, neighborhood codes, etc. need to be overlaid for appraisal purposes, this must be done manually. Manually calculating acreage on irregular shapes is time consuming and costly.
GIS: One of the primary strengths of GIS is its ability to handle multiple layers, therefore giving the organization the capability to do simple or complex geospatial analysis with speed and accuracy.
PAPER: Changing values and/or classifications of parcels in a particular geographic region takes a tremendous amount of time when compared to how it’s handled using GIS.
GIS: Examples of this would be the need to select an irregularly shaped grouping of properties for appraisal adjustments. Done manually this would be time tedious and time consuming.
PAPER: Utilizing paper maps as it relates to servicing the needs of land professionals, surveyors, appraisers and other researchers creates a bottleneck in a counties mapping department and often times leads to maps being misplaced and/or worn out.
GIS: The use of GIS will allow the county to publish their parcel data online, thus allowing easy access to land professionals to research without the need to come down to the appraisal district office and utilize their staff in assisting. With GIS data on a CD the appraisal district would then create another revenue stream by providing this data pursuant to Open Records Request.
PAPER: Other entities within a county could also utilize GIS for cost savings within their own departments.
GIS: Sheriff’s departments would be able to see who the property owners are within their own patrol units on their “heads up” display. School districts would be able to better schedule school bus routes and determine with ease whether a student is “in district” or not. 911 departments would be more efficient in dispatching medical emergency calls since they would have exact home locations. Cities utilize this data as well when doing notifications pursuant to rezoning request, etc.
SUMMARY: Large and medium sized counties and cities throughout the United States have adopted the use of GIS over the years for one simple reason and that is “cost savings”. Many of the functions carried out by large counties and cities in today’s modern world would be virtually impossible without the use of GIS.
Small to mid-sized counties have been slow to adopt GIS due primarily to the cost of entry and the sheer fact that they would have to outsource the initial parcel or polygon creation job and would be faced with a large one time budget item. Local culture plays a role too in slow adoption of GIS in that the old saying, “if it aint broke, don’t fix it” applies in many cases. Generally speaking, people are resistant to change, and that is understood when the ideal of going GIS is discussed.
