November 14, 2023

Huntsville celebrates GIS Day Nov. 15: Take the Quiz!

This post was originally published on this site

The next time you turn on your cell phone, look up an address online, or check the weather forecast, you can thank someone working in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Since the 1990s, these quiet data wizards have transitioned from providing basic global directionality to supporting essential technology in daily lives.

The City of Huntsville’s GIS team is only 12 members strong, but they cut a dashing digital swath across every aspect of municipal operations, which in turn significantly impacts the community’s quality of life. Gatekeepers of the “address,” they recognize geospatial data is the key driver for everyday things like permits, work orders, trash collection and emergency response.

“GIS is much more than mapping,” said Amy Kenum, GIS Director for the City of Huntsville. “This technology allows us to see and model complex relationships and patterns to more intelligently respond to needs. For example, we use geospatial technology to create urban greenways, provide detailed property information, determine food deserts, healthcare needs and other important objectives.”

To recognize the importance of GIS’s role in improving lives, the City of Huntsville is celebrating GIS Day on Nov 15. It’s part of a national effort to educate the public on the technology’s significance and to inspire others to a high calling to use the technology for good.

“GIS has evolved from a niche field powering things in the background to playing a key role in everyday tasks,” said Nick Haney, GIS Program Specialist, City of Huntsville. “A lot of people today participate in GIS and are not aware of it, such as using their smartphones, which have a lot of apps powered by GPS data.”

The use and application of geospatial technology are now critical to operating infrastructure, sustaining Huntsville’s natural resources and stimulating growth. It better informs decision-making and makes useful geographic information open and easily available to the public as a platform for innovation (check out the GIS webpage).

The GIS team has created a series of apps for residents to use in its Web Map Gallery. They have taken vast databases of information, paired it with directionality, and parsed it for the public to access.

If you are looking for a specific species of tree that grows in Madison County, try out the Native Species app.
If you want information about a particular piece of property, check out Detailed Property Information. This robust application includes details such as ownership, site map, environmental features (sinkholes, streams), traffic counts and travel times, property tax assessments and more.
See who is buried in Maple Hill and where a specific grave is located using the Cemetery Burial Locator.
View images of the City of Huntsville back to 1937 with Aerial Imagery.

Bike routes, greenways, historic markers, Community Watch areas and FEMA maps are just a few of the over 100 user-friendly data applications GIS has also created for residents, some of which were developed by request.

“Someone will call us up and ask for a particular dataset, and we’ll see what we can do,” Haney said. “We really take pride in being able to fulfill a need.”