Athens County
                    Cooperative Land Administration
                    and Information Mapping system
 
May 20, 2004
 
Athens County Commissioners
15 South Court Street
Athens, Ohio 45701
 
Commissioners:
 
The GIS Steering Committee met today:
 
The GIS Steering Committee is made up of GIS funding partnership
agencies.  Present GIS Steering Committee members represent:
 
Athens County:
 - Commissioners
 - Emergency Communications
 - Auditor
 - Engineer
 - Health Department
 - Planner
 
Ohio University:
 - Vice President for Administration
 - Facilities Management
 - ILGARD
 - Facilities Planning
 - Environmental Safety and Health
 
Athens City:
 - Mayor
 - Service Director
 - GIS Coordinator
 
Athens Township:
LeAx Water Board:
US Dept of Agriculture, Soil and Water Conservation:
 
An Automated Vehicle Location (AVL) meeting was held among SEOEMS,
Emergency Management, Emergency Communications, the County Engineer
Department and the GIS Coordinator.  AVL was discussed and
demonstrated 2 years ago, but was placed on hold because it was
determined that the radio systems needed to be upgraded before AVL
could be considered further.  An alternative/supplementary system was
discussed called "Time Distance to Arrival Solution" (TDTA) that uses
triangulation by two or more tower locations as opposed to GPS.  The
main advantage of TDTA over GPS is that buildings, foliage and storms
do not hamper operations.  A committee to be headed by the GIS
Coordinator and including the Emergency Communications Director, CTAC
President, SEOEMS Director, and Emergency Management Director, was
formed to guide further discussions on AVL.
 
The CTAC Committee was briefed by the SEOEMS Director April 7th on the
status of AVL technology and the plan to develop a joint SEOEMS/Athens
County Engineer pilot project.
 
A follow-up Pictometry meeting was held for police, fire, 911, OU, and
Auditor people.
 
Facilities Management has updated their database with all newly
constructed buildings.  They are acquiring a new GPS unit and are
experimenting with ArcPad (Handheld GIS field tool).
 
ILGARD is continuing to update our parcel fabric with new splits from
the Auditor's Office.  Scott is writing a manual to archive the splits
process he is using.  Our ArcIMS GIS Website has a new look.
Please provide me with your feedback on the new look.
 
The new County map prototype will be ready for review within two weeks
and the map should be printed for distribution by July 15th.  ILGARD
has acquired a license for AutoCAD to use in preparing GIS download
files in AutoCAD format.
 
We are researching a new concept for labeling that forces the parcel
owner names to be displayed within the parcel boundaries.
 
Our next GIS Steering Committee meeting will be held July 15, 2004
at 10:00 A.M. in the ILGARD conference room.
 
Sincerely,
 
Archie Stanley - GIS Coordinator
555 East State Street - Athens, Ohio 45701
Phone (740) 593-5514 - Fax (740) 592-4616
E-mail: 
astanley@AthensCountyGovernment.com