Roswell, Ga. Adds GIS Maps to Its Web Site

The city of Roswell, Ga., knows how to put its public Web site to good use. The bustling community just outside Atlanta, which has experienced an explosive population increase from 30,000 to 84,000 within the past 15 years, presents comprehensive information about its services through its public website. In addition to learning about municipal services and events, residents can also use the site to pay property taxes, utility bills, and traffic citations. The city even offers a unique children's section on the site, providing information, games, and puzzles about city government, child safety, and the environment in a friendly format.

Most recently Roswell has chosen Orion Technology Inc's OnPoint to provide a new online service. Using the new OnPoint-powered Map Tools, visitors can browse clickable maps and zoom in to areas of interest. In this way, users can find addresses, parks, zoning information, public utilities, and even plans for future land use. By choosing different views, the users can tailor the information to precisely meet their needs in an intuitive, easy-to-use manner.

"We're extremely excited to have our OnPoint extension to the city's site up and running," says Derrick Smith, Roswell's GIS manager. "We needed software with lots of functionality that could be used throughout the city, but we really didn't want to hire a programmer to write custom extensions to our existing tools. OnPoint gave us exactly what we needed. And now our users won't have to wait endlessly for PDF versions of our maps to download?everything's interactive!"

Smith's GIS department is now working to leverage OnPoint's powerful feature set by offering additional features in the near future. Soon, Smith says, the city will incorporate all of its zoning documents into a Zoning Map feature of the new interactive mapping tool so that citizens can access all desired zoning information without ever needing to visit City Hall. As well, the city is in the process of taking aerial photographs of 59 square miles in the region at a scale of 1" to 660' in preparation for making these photos accessible through the new tool.

"Feedback from users has been very positive," says Smith. "It's been a very pleasant experience showing the city employees and citizens how to access maps and data." Smith says that he has even showcased the city's OnPoint implementation to GIS managers from nearby municipalities, receiving extremely positive responses.

Thanks to OnPoint, the Roswell's online savvy now empowers its residents with yet another valuable service. As the city continues to grow in the coming years, its residents will continue to benefit from a forward-thinking GIS department.

CM