City accepts bid for GPS services

By Lisa Hobbs

In an effort to bring McMinnville into the 21st century with high-tech mapping, global positioning and geographic information systems, McMinnville officials have accepted a bid from Highland Mapping for $10,744.

The company will furnish a variety of GPS equipment and GIS consulting services for the Planning and Zoning Department.

Along with global positioning and mapping for Planning and Zoning, the new equipment and software will have added benefits for fire, street, sewer and water departments.

Planning and Zoning currently has GIS, Geographic Information System, but it doesn’t have GPS, Global Positioning System.

GIS is a system for capturing, storing, analyzing and managing data. GPS employs the only fully functional Global Navigation Satellite System. Utilizing a constellation of at least 24 medium earth-orbit satellites that transmit precise microwave signals, the system enables a GPS receiver to determine its location, speed, direction, and time.

Thanks to the GIS system, Planning and Zoning uses its computers to make up-to-date maps of the city, which comes in handy after annexation. However, it is more of an in-house computer/laptop setup and it lacks portability.

GPS will allow the department to go out into the city and record the location of items within the city. Once the information is obtained, it can be brought back and put into the computerized system.

The new system will be useful to three other departments in the city: street department for storm drains, fire department for fires, and water and sewer department for manhole covers. The location of storm drains, fires and manhole covers can all be easily found using the GPS system.

According to Mayor Royce Davenport, a few years ago a rural fire department did not know where all the fire hydrants are. Emergency 911 Center employees drove around the area. While using a GPS system, they were able to get the exact locations of the hydrants and place them on the 911 maps. The center can now give the location of the fire, as well as the closest fire hydrant.

Officials have passed the resolution unanimously.