Detroit city officials wanted to improve departmental efficiency by putting geospatial data online, enabling those needing the information to access it at the click of a mouse. In addition, they needed to implement technology that would allow employees to manage the geospatial data in its native format but still be able to share data interdepartmentally, regardless of format. GeoMedia technology provided the solution the city needed to increase productivity and efficiency, while reducing costs.

The Challenge:

The metropolitan area of Detroit, Michigan is the global headquarters to four of the world’s top automakers – General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Corp., Daimler Chrysler AG and Volkswagen of America. In addition, Detroit and its suburbs are home to other well-known organizations such as the Budd Company, and Kmart. Metropolitan Detroit encompasses Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties.

City officials were constantly bombarded with data requests. City executives wanted to improve departmental efficiency by putting geospatial data online, enabling those needing the information to access it at the click of a mouse.

The city of Detroit was familiar with geographic information systems (GIS) and had used Intergraph’s MGE software to manage two distinct city-supported data formats for more than 10 years. This approach worked well when working only with their own data; however, when city departments interacted with outside agencies such as Wayne County or the state of Michigan, they found themselves needing twice the data output and faster performance because these organizations supported different data formats.

The only way Detroit could share data with the state of Michigan and surrounding counties was to translate it into the format used by the outside agency. This proved to be both time consuming and costly. Furthermore, since Detroit uses its own established coordinate system, which is different from surrounding agencies, translating data was occasionally impossible.

Detroit received increased requests for geospatial data and needed a solution that would enable them to provide the services and still save money and manage the staff’s time more efficiently.

Without a solution, the city was faced with spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to convert all of its maps to the state coordinate system in order to facilitate smoother interaction with outside agencies.

The Project Objectives:

• Implement technology that enables employees to work in their native file formats while still being able to share data interdepartmentally

• Reduce staff hours and costs associated with converting data into the format supported by other departments and agencies

The Solution:

The city of Detroit found its solution in GeoMedia technology. The implementation of GeoMedia, GeoMedia WebMap, and GeoMedia Professional enabled the city to integrate data, regardless of format, and interconnect departments that support different platforms. With GeoMedia solutions, the city can translate its map data to the State Plan Michigan south coordinate system, which is widely used by Wayne County and the state of Michigan.

The city’s GIS Sales and Service Center provides key GIS services at no charge to outside counties and state agencies. Following the GeoMedia technology implementation, the GIS Sales and Service Center has expanded its ability to deliver geospatial data services and has grossed over $14,000 by satisfying the needs of non-city agencies, citizens, and the development community, for a nominal fee.

Using GeoMedia WebMap, the public can access, via the Internet, property maps together with general property and tax information such as assessed property value, legal descriptions, dimensions, and zoning for 400,000 land parcels in Detroit. In addition to property information, the public is also able to access information about city services such as police precinct maps, garbage collection, and public transportation schedules.

With the flexibility, scalability and open architecture of GeoMedia technology, Detroit found the solution to solve its major challenges. Now it is sharing all GIS information in its native format, overlaying other formats and improving interdepartmental and interagency communication while saving both time and money.

Web sites

• http://www.ci.detroit.mi.us
• http://imgs.intergraph.com/