REGIONAL GIS PRACTICES

Regional development organizations are using GIS for a variety of strategic planning and community development services. Many regions employ GIS to enhance the development and implementation of their comprehensive economic development strategies (CEDS). A number are using GIS for land use analysis, industrial park marketing, local infrastructure inventorying, and zoning and census tracking. Others use the technology for rural transportation planning, including centerline road mapping. Some regions are now incorporating GIS into their homeland defense and disaster mitigation programs. Several regions use GIS to plot brownfields in their areas and promote them as opportunities for economic revitalization opportunities.

Using ESRI’s ArcIMS software, a number of regional development organizations are using the Internet and broadband technologies to make their GIS data and services available to local governments and businesses in their regions. Other, more innovative, uses include tracking illegal dumpsites, coordinating an aero-tourism business, studying the impact of intermodal transportation on regional economic development, and monitoring abuses against the elderly.

The following summaries are descriptions of how regional development organizations used Regional GIS Advancement Scholarships awarded by the NADO Research Foundation in 2002, under a partnership with the Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI).

GIS Improves Regional Economic Planning Processes in Iowa

Iowa Northland Regional COG
Sharon Juon, Executive Director
319.235.0311 / sjuon@inrcog.org

The Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments (INRCOG), located in Waterloo, serves six counties and 53 communities in the northern part of the state. INRCOG began using GIS in 1997 for most of its planning, development and grant applications. The scholarship helped the group upgrade their ArcView from 8.1 to 8.3. With the increased skills and technology, the organization is now using GIS to help communities throughout their region prepare plans and grant applications for various economic development initiatives.

INRCOG used the new technology to complete the comprehensive economic development strategy (CEDS) for their region in 2004. GIS maps produced by INRCOG and included in the CEDS addressed labor migration patterns, transportation routes, soil quality, metropolitan trails, and industrial parks.

Southern Tier West RPDB (NY)
Don Rychnowski, Executive Director
716.945.5301 / drychnowski@southerntierwest.org

In New York, the Southern Tier West Regional Planning and Development Board (Southern Tier) significantly enhanced its GIS operations through the scholarship program. Already well-versed in ArcView 3x and its extensions and ArcIMS, Southern Tier increased its internal GIS capacity by training its planning staff who are now producing enhanced maps and data for the three-county region.

Southern Tier’s transportation department used the technology to enhance the marketing of a transportation corridor in the region, including improved maps of infrastructure that prospective businesses could use along the corridor. The group is using GIS to help the West Valley Nuclear Site develop a strategy for selling land contingent to the site to businesses. They have assisted a local town throughout its comprehensive planning process by supplying maps that display parcel locations, ground slopes, existing and future land use, and geographic characteristics.

GIS Airlifts Natural Resource-Based Tourism in NW Mississippi

South Delta PDD (MS)
William Haney, Executive Director
662.378.3831 / haney@tecinfo.com

The South Delta Planning and Development District, headquartered in Greenville, Mississippi, provides services to six counties and 35 municipalities in the northwestern corner of the state. The GIS scholarship facilitated the district’s first foray into the world of GIS.

The South Delta PDD’s service area includes portions of the Delta National Forest and the Yazoo River. The area is rich in wildlife and fish; the forest is world re-known for its hunting and fishing opportunities. Income related to natural resource tourism (hotels/motels, restaurants, gas stations and convenience stores, fishing and hunting fees, equipment, guides, rental cars, tour buses) is exceptional.

To facilitate the growing tourism industry and to help bring more hunters, fishermen and tourists in general to the forest and the surroundings, tour outfits in the region are looking at aero-tourism. The South Delta PDD is helping this initiative by mapping rural airports within a 50-mile radius of the Forest.

Using GIS to locate and plot the facilities, the South Delta PDD and tourism related businesses are hoping to increase the level of wildlife-based tourism in the region. The PDD recognizes the potential ripple effect for local economies as hunters and others come to enjoy the forest and all it has to offer while spending their travel dollars throughout the region.

Mapping Brownfields for Economic Recovery

Northeast Ohio Four County RPDO
Joseph Hadley, Executive Director
330.836.5731 / rmorgan@nefcoplanning.org

The Northeast Ohio Four County Regional Planning and Development Organizations (NEFCO) provides services to 126 units of government located in a four-county region. Using the software and training provided through the scholarship, NEFCO worked with data from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Division of Emergency and Remedial Response (DERR) to plot sites that may potentially be defined as brownfields and could be cleaned up and redeveloped.

This was the first step in preparing a map using GIS that shows brownfields locations throughout the four county area. The next phase will involve culling the data to include only brownfields properties, and to be inclusive as possible with regard to identifying brownfields in the region.

NEFCO plans to make the brownfields maps available to local governments in the region for their planning uses. Ultimately, the information will include descriptive data about each site and will identify information about conditions that can be used for planning and marketing purposes.

GIS Data Fuels Energy Cooperative Investment Decisions in Wisconsin

West Central Wisconsin RPC
Jerry Chasteen, Executive Director
715.836.2918, jerry@wcwrpc.org

Using the technology and training provided through this program, the West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission conducted a growth analysis for the Eau Claire Energy Cooperative. The commission compiled census data, building permits, transportation count data, land use changes and proposed transportation improvements into a series of maps for the cooperative.

The data showcases the growth trends in the cooperatives’ service territory, allowing the group to use the data to make more educated decisions regarding utility investments.

While the West Central Wisconsin RPC has been using GIS technology for more than a decade, the scholarship program helped position the commission as the “first-call entity” for GIS related data requests. The RPC provides information on a regular basis to local, county, regional and state economic development officials. An added benefit is that the commission now integrates land use, natural resources, transportation, and infrastructure as part of its comprehensive planning efforts.

Using GIS to Reduce the Digital Divide in Southwest Georgia

Southwest Georgia RDC
Dan Bollinger, Executive Director
229.522.3552 / dbollinger@swgrdc.org

Within the past 10 years, two textile and apparel factories closed in Pelham, Georgia, a small city of 4,000 in the southwest part of the state. To help position itself as an ideal location for potential businesses and industries, the city asked the Southwest Georgia Regional Development Center to produce GIS maps that locate the city’s broadband customers. The city also wanted the maps to show the different signal strengths and antenna types. The city has used the maps to expand its technology infrastructure as a means to recruit more business.

GIS Helps Florida Counties Prepare for Storm Surges in Hurricane Season

Southwest Florida RPC
David Burr, Executive Director
239.656.7720 / dburr@swfrpc.org

The Southwest Florida RPC serves a six county area that includes 1.3 million residents and continues to see major growth in new residents. While the weather is typically amenable, the region is subject to disastrous hurricanes as witnessed during 2004. The RPC has taken a lead in providing information to the region about impending storms. Equipped with ArcIMS, obtained through the scholarship program, the RPC can now upload regional hurricane data to their Web site, including data on hurricane shelters, hospitals and evacuation zones. The information posted on the Web also shows areas in the region that are susceptible to storm surges set-off by tropical storms and hurricanes.

GIS as Sleuth: Mapping Illegal Dumpsites in Missouri

Meramec RPC (MO)
Richard Cavender, Executive Director
573.265.2993 / rac@meramecregion.org

Illegal dumping has emerged as a major issue in the region served by the Meramec Regional Planning Commission (MRPC) in south- central Missouri. The MRPC provides services to seven counties and 29 municipalities. Working with the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District, MRPC has taken on the issue of illegal dumping as part of its strategy to promote a desirable quality of life for present and future residents and businesses.

The scholarship program gave MRPC new skills and technology that supplemented their existing GIS capabilities, allowing them to identify and map 69 illegal dumpsites in the seven county region. Mapping the sites was critical to showing the illegal sites’ locations and size, as well as proximity to the region’s water supply.

Further studies using the data generated by this first phase of the project will show the potential impact of the sites on water quality and will be used in clean-up efforts.

Eastern Maine Development Corporation
Jonathan Daniels, President/CEO
207.942.6389, jdaniels@emdc.org

As Bangor, Maine responds to issues associated with urban development, it became apparent that one section of this small city of roughly 30,000 people was particularly challenged by fast growth of retail development approaching traditional residential neighborhoods. The Stillwater Avenue corridor had become congested and was experiencing significant problems due to increased traffic. Local residents were concerned that the increasing retail traffic would negatively impact their neighborhoods.

The Bangor Area Comprehensive Transportation System (BACTS), which serves as the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the area, determined a transportation study of the corridor was needed. Working with the Eastern Maine Development Corporation (EMDC), GIS maps were prepared to show undeveloped land along one portion of the corridor, flood zones, wetlands, habitats as well as existing retail buildings. Potential buildings were also mapped, along with existing roads and parking lots. The information will continue to be used to determine which portions of the corridor will be preserved because of wetlands and various rare species located in the habitat. The data and maps will also help determine new development locations and resulting vehicle and pedestrian access.