Geographic Information Sciences Department

2004-05 Strategic Plan

Mission Statement:

The Geographic Information Sciences (GIS) department exists to maintain a high quality, uniform standard of geographic information across all local government departments and offices and to disseminate the information to those entities and the public.

Vision Statement:

In an environment of constantly changing information, The Geographic Information Sciences Department will strive to maintain and disseminate the most accurate GIS data to the public servants and residents of Wise County.

Operating Philosophy:

The Geographic Information Sciences Department will strive to provide the most current and accurate mapping possible and to do so in a manner that facilitates cooperation and efficiency.

Most significant Issues and Challenges:

• Source data changes on a daily basis
• Incomplete data (incomplete or non-existent property descriptions)
• Timely acquisition of data from other County Departments
• Maintaining communication and cooperation between departments necessary to create an enterprise GIS

Goal:  To provide the county and its citizens an up-to-date parcel map.

Objective:  To remain current on mapping land transfers which occur daily along with property subdivisions etc.

Actions/Strategies:

• Work with the Circuit Court Clerk's Office and the Commissioner of Revenue's Office to assure new parcel id numbers are being assigned correctly
• Map new parcels using land records, survey, plat or any other viable description available
• Make mapping information available to Wise County Departments and the general public by providing web-based access to the information.

Goal: Quality control the parcel map by adding geometry and property owners for parcels that are not in the database.

Objective: Improve the quality of the parcel map by reducing both the number of "circles" (parcels) that cannot be located or mapped and the number of parcels with the designation of "Not In Database" or NIDB.

Actions/Strategies:

• Use DEVELOP students to research the parcels
• Utilize several databases to track research and history of properties
• Consult with the Commissioner of Revenue's Office to determine the status of parcels
• Update the GIS map and publish to the Internet for use by other departments and the public

Goal: Provide the Commissioner of Revenue a visual map for coal mineral ownership.

Objective: Create a coal mineral ownership map and formulate a uniform coal tract numbering system.

Actions/Strategies:

• Acquire requisite mineral data from the Commissioner of Revenue's Office and Coal Companies
• Meet with the Commissioner of Revenue and Coal Companies to develop an indexing standard for tract numbers
• Formulate a plan for incorporating the coal tract data into the GIS map
• Complete the task and publish on the web

Goal: Secure server for data sharing between departments.

Objective:  Provide all county departments access to the Wise County GIS files and the VGIN ortho-photography.

Actions/Strategies:

• Secure funding for server
• Obtain, install, and configure hardware and software for server
• Load updated GIS files and VGIN ortho-photography onto the server
• Enable countywide department level access

Goal: Implement a maintenance schedule for all Wise County GIS layers.

Objective: Define and implement a quality control system for the updates and maintenance of the Wise County GIS.

Actions/Strategies:

• Prepare list of layers on Wise County GIS
• Determine layers which can be removed or added to Wise County GIS
• Communicate with departments on update frequency of layers
• Prepare database with layers and update information
• Implement update schedule accordingly

Goal: Create Metadata (data about data) for each layer on Wise County's GIS.

Objective: Provide users updated information about each layer; when the layer was updated, who to contact, etc.

• Research metadata tools and select which tool to use
• Gather metadata which currently exists and determine which layers do not have metadata
• Enter metadata into software for each layer
• Publish Wise County metadata on the web through the National Spatial Data Clearinghouse

Goal: Add a feature to search by recent sales to the Wise County GIS.

Objective: Provide users a way to search for current sales or transfers by town or other features in the Wise County GIS.

• Research current GIS sites with the feature search by sales
• Devise a plan for adding the search by sales feature to GIS
• Consult with vendor and Commissioner of Revenue's Office to design search
• Work with vendor to implement plan

Goal: Create Department of Geographic Information Sciences web page to be included on county's website.

Objective: Provide public with GIS department information and a link to the Wise County GIS.

• Create web page with location, contact information, etc.
• Add GIS logo, GIS website and link strategic plan, ordinance, etc
• Provide data to Data Processing Manager to publish on web

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