Movement afoot to implement new mapping system

The City of McMinnville?s Planning and Zoning Commission and Warren County?s 911 are trying to take the city and county departments into current Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology. The system could have long-term benefits for everyone.

GIS is a collection of computer hardware, software and geographic data for capturing, managing, analyzing and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.

Collaborating in a effort to get the system is McMinnville?s city planner Jack Qualls and Warren County?s E911 center director Chuck Haston.

The system will take all the data it is given and place it into one map. Combining all the information will result in one big detailed map that can be used by any department as well as give mobile data to police departments, ambulance services, the fire departments, and the 911 Emergency Service.

?That?s the main benefit,? said Haston. ?A map that can then be distributed to all the emergency services by laptop computers and then all the data is in the vehicles with them.?

The information obtained will not only help the emergency service personnel find the street and the house, but it will also allow them to determine the best way to approach the house as well as the best way to access the house.

Planning and Zoning employees will be able to use the detailed map to immediately answer any questions including property lines, right-of-ways, streets, zoning, the location of manholes and much more. Eventually, the system would also have the ability to know where water and sewer infrastructure is.

In the future, the system could be accessed by the police chief to study how crime patterns change from month to month to help decide where officers should be assigned. The district attorney?s office could access the system to monitor drug-related arrests to find out if an arrest was within 1,000 feet of a school, which would worsen the penalty.

The initial cost for the system is $2,000 with an annual maintenance cost of $600. Because it is a collaboration between Planning and Zoning and E911, the initial cost of the system and annual maintenance will be split between the departments.