The
city of Huntsville, Ala., added a new Web mapping capability to its Web site. The new feature, called
Interactive Maps, is now online and gives citizens, businesses and Internet users immediate access to location-specific information about the city.
Previously, access to the city's geographic data was available only by request and involved requestors making a trip to city offices and paying a reproduction fee. Not only does the new system save time and money for citizens and businesses, but also it streamlines the workload of city personnel by making information available online. This also allows city departments who depend on mapping data for their jobs to always access the latest, most accurate information.
"We are already getting 250 to 300 map queries per day. We expect this to steadily increase as more of the community finds they have easy access to the useful data," said Tim Barnes, GIS manager for Huntsville's Urban Planning Division GIS Department.
Interactive Maps integrates geographic data in various formats from 24 databases developed and maintained by the city's GIS Planning Division. Users can locate, retrieve and display geographic information by simply entering an address. Data layers, such as orthophotos, zoning, city limits, flood maps, council districts, voting districts and recreation leagues, can be overlaid on the display and used to create a customized map of any specific area within the city.
