J O I N C O M M U N I T Y G I S . . .
The Community GIS Project relies on economy of
scale to provide a reliable, high-quality project to you for very low
cost. Community GIS is based on a membership concept. Any
municipal government located within the Southern Tier West region of
Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, or Allegany Counties is eligible for
membership. By becoming a member, your municipality will have
continual access to GIS data from anywhere via the internet.
Becoming a member can be accomplished in a few
easy, but important and necessary steps:
- Your community must have a use for the
system. You must understand the basic premise behind GIS and be able to
demonstrate how you will use the system in your community. Practical
uses include economic development, infrastructure management, planning,
assessment, code enforcement, and public safety.
- Your community must commit financially
to the project. Southern Tier West offers several options on how to
take advantage of Community GIS. They are described under "Fee
Structure" below.
- Ensure that whomever will be utilizing
the system has reliable internet access and a web browser; preferably
Internet Explorer 6.x. High-speed access is not required, however
higher speeds will greatly improve performance.
- Work with Southern Tier West staff to develop a viewer to best suit your community needs in terms of data, tools, and the interface.
With basic CAP membership, Community GIS can be purchased separately for a fee of $400 (all work to be provided within the current calendar year). This includes 16 hours of technical assistance, which can include data collection. The STW Information Services Department is currently providing FULL GIS capacity (software, data, expertise) to local governments on a case-by-case basis for a fee. Sixteen hours of technical assistance is available through the GIS option - - 6 more hours than a non-CAP member receives for the same fee.
Benefits of Being A Member
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.
Training
You will receive training on utilizing GIS and the functionality of the Community GIS Viewer. 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.
Data Collection
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. Again, you have the option to
be trained to collect your own data with these GPS Units. These units are
available to CGIS members only on a first come-first serve basis.
Remember, through CAP Membership, members receive 16 technical hours which
can be used for GPS Data Collection. It is often the case that Southern Tier
West staff will come in and perform initial GPS Data Collection for new
members. This is an opportunity to get data collected efficiently by trained
STW staff. If you don’t have technical assistance hours, STW Staff is
available to perform GPS data collection at a rate of $40 per hour.
If you are considering membership, we recommend you fill out our GPS Data Collection/Inventory Application. This aids us in identifying how we can best service ne members with our services.
Data Maintenance and Access
As an active CGIS Member, Southern Tier West will update any GIS Layers that
you submit updates for. This is only for GIS layers that are created for the
specific member. As a member, you also get access to several other GIS
layers that Southern Tier West has access to like county parcel layers, DEC
wetlands layers, STW regional layers, and NYS Aerial Imagery. Southern Tier
West automatically updates any of these layers when they are available from
the source.
Professional Expertise
The Southern Tier West staff is always here and ready to help Community GIS
members. Our staff has combined experience of over 20 years with GIS and
computers. This is a resource that is made available to members.
Southern Tier West Regional Planning & Development Board, Center for Regional Excellence, 4039 Route 219, Suite 200, Salamanca, NY 14779
CONTACT: John Buzzard at (716) 945-5301 ext 208 or jbuzzard@southerntierwest.org