July 31, 1999
 
Athens County Commissioners
15 South Court Street, 2nd Floor
Athens, Ohio 45701
 
                                RE: Monthly GIS Progress Report
 
Commissioners:
 
Last month I further described three configurations of ESRI software called
Spatial Database Engine. ArcSDE appears to be a possible consideration for
eventual use in our GIS.  ArcSDE is a special release of ESRI's Spatial
Database Engine (SDE), specifically designed for existing ARC/INFO sites.
It is intended to help ARC/INFO sites integrate their data with SDE
software's client/server technology.  This enables a site to reach a much
broader user base without the need for data duplication or conversion.
ArcSDE, an extension to ARC/INFO, comes with two servers, the SDE for
Coverages server and the SDE for DBMS server.  It also includes five SDE
client connections.
 
The technology applied in ArcSDE offers ARC/INFO users numerous benefits:
 
  * Serve ARC/INFO data to any supported client.
  * Serve ARC/INFO data across any TCP/IP and heterogeneous networks.
    Smooth transition from file/tile-based systems to management of
    spatial data in a DBMS.
  * Manage very large volumes of geographic features in a continuous,
    non-tiled database.
  * Provide open access to the search and query functions via a standard,
    published application programming interface (API).
  * True client/server computing
  * Provide public access to spatial data over the Internet.
 
So, I believe that ArcSDE will eventually be a good thing for our GIS.
However a decision now will be premature.  We will continue to develop our
GIS as an ARC/INFO site, and retain the option to migrate to SDE technology
through ArcSDE at a later time.
 
An ESRI - St. Louis training person, J.D. Overton will come to Athens the
week of August 9th to train Ken Highland, John Branner, J.B. Hoy,
Mike Finney, and I on NovaLIS Parcel Editor software at ILGARD's
computer facility.
 
EmergiTech and Digital Information Systems are progressing with our E-911
project.  This project is on schedule and is now 68 % complete.  The
completion date for this project is January 31, 2000.  Attribution of
building structure locations (address database development) is in progress
and nearing completion.  Three townships and four cities/villages remain
to be coded.  Attribution of the street centerlines (development of street
centerline database) is complete for those areas that address attribution
has been completed.
 
I spoke with Will Bain of the Athens County Office of the U.S. Department
of Agriculture, Soil and Water Conservation Division.  I provided an
overview of our GIS project for his use in applying to ESRI for a GIS grant
that their Agency is eligible for.
 
Dave Owen, and Don Weekley from ILGARD succeeded in transferring the
Auditor's mainframe CAMA data to ILGARD computers.  This will allow us to
create a Pilot Project in which we may demonstrate and evaluate the CAMA
data combined with our parcel data.
 
John Branner has arranged for our orthophotos to be compressed under
"Mr. Sid" software.  We should receive the final product next month.
 
Doug Bentley, Bob Troxel, Randy Mace and I traveled to Gallia County to
observe their E-911 Dispatcher Mapping System, and House Numbering
Operation.  Gallia County is very happy with their systems, and we all
liked what we saw.  Their systems were developed by the same consultant
that is developing ours.
 
Dave Lovett, Dave Owen, and I traveled to Green County to observe their GIS
and Auditor's public access setup.  We met with Luwanna A. Delaney, Greene
County Auditor, Steve Tomcisin, GIS Director, and several other staff
members.  They operate an ARC/INFO GIS installation and their Map Objects
based public access system was developed in-house with assistance from
ESRI.  They house their Map Objects Internet Map Server based web site on
the public library server and update the data on two week intervals.
A copy of their Public Access System is attached.
 
Tom Harner, GIS Coordinator for the Clermont County Auditor, contacted me
after reading our monthly GIS progress reports on the Internet.  Clermont
County has already traveled down the GIS path we are headed.  They have CLT
CAMA, and use ESRI software.  We will have much in common with them, and I
plan to compare experiences with them as well as visit their GIS.
 
Attached is a copy of an article regarding integrating Computer Assisted
Drafting (CAD) with GIS.
 
Our next GIS Steering Committee meeting will be September 16, 1999 at
11:00 a.m. in the O.U. Facilities Management conference room.
 
Thank you for allowing me to coordinate this important aspect of Athens
County's future, and for your usual cooperation.
 
Archie Stanley
GIS Coordinator