MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS
Being a Community GIS member has many benefits. Community GIS will allow you to utilize GIS tools to become more effective as a government in economic development, planning, public safety, etc. This tool set will be available to you wherever you have web access. It can be made into a public site for use by the public at large to view a potential zoning change, or for a developer looking at a building site, or it can be kept private for use only by those who have password access to the site.

Training
You will receive training on utilizing GIS and the functionality of Community GIS. This training will be offered for all municipal employees. Sessions will be scheduled at various times on several days to accommodate all schedules. You will also be offered training on the use of GPS for data collection, and at times you may be offered other pertinent training.

Hardware
Data collection is the most daunting task to creating a good GIS. To aid in this task, Southern Tier West will provide access to sophisticated Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment that can be used for data collection. This GPS system is capable of providing locational accuracies of less than 1 meter of error instantly. The GPS is an accurate, efficient way of collecting point (fire hydrants, D.I.'s), line (water lines, streets), and polygon (parcels, building footprints) data. Other tools to complement data collection for a good GIS that Southern Tier West makes available are:

• Laser Range Finder - has an accuracy standard of +/- 2 centimeters and is capable of measuring over 1,500 feet horizontally
  
• Digital Compass - combine with laser range finder to obtain location data for features that are difficult to access
• Digital Camera - create a digital image inventory to be included in your GIS
• Plotter - Southern Tier West will print up to five 32" x 44" maps for each member community
• Backup CD of Data - copies forwarded depending on how often data is updated