County of Peterborough

Web GIS Application

Until recently, staff at the County of Peterborough – a rural region covering 3,900 square kilometers of farmland, villages, resort areas, lakes, and forests in central Ontario – worked with land-related data in paper form. For example, Planning technicians performed land subdivisions and prepared notifications for variances using hard copy plans. The Environmental Services staff planned recycling waste collection routes on a street atlas, which - although it was produced digitally - was plotted on paper for use in day-to-day operations. The Public Works department stored attributes of road sections, bridges, and other facilities in a computer database, but was limited to the use of hardcopy maps for geographic data. The Ambulance Service, recently acquired by the County, did not have access to digital GIS data for optimizing ambulance location and analyzing response patterns.

In May 2000, Bryce Mclean, Director of Finance at the county, Iain Mudd, Senior Planner, and Chris Lee, IT Administrator met with me - Anthony Bonnici, an independent GIS consultant who also teaches locally in the Geomatics programs at Sir Sandford Fleming College. After discussing the need to move the county into the 21^st century in terms of GIS and mapping technologies, we met with municipalities who had already implemented GIS to see their systems in action, listen to their stories, and ask them how they would do things differently. 

Early in the planning process we decided to go with a web-based GIS solution for a number of reasons. Since we are providing GIS data and capabilities to the eight townships, we needed a system that would be accessible from offices throughout the county. Because resources are limited, we wanted a system that was inexpensive to distribute and easy to use. Since GIS capability is added to the user's web browser using a free viewer plug-in, we avoid the need for expensive software at each desktop. And because the viewer is also very user-friendly and straightforward to use, costly training is not required.

After some research into available data and software, we choose Bentley MicroStation as our base mapping platform and Autodesk MapGuide as our web GIS solution, because of local expertise and compatibility with the City of Peterborough, located in the heart of the county.

We entered into data exchange agreements with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (for base topographic digital mapping) and Bell Canada (for 911 street segment data) – thus providing vast amounts of project-critical spatial and attribute data at no cost. In addition, we planned to port our County Assessment data, which we receive on CD three or four times a year from MPAC, into a GIS database.

Work began in earnest in December of 2000, when the first datasets arrived. Converting and transforming all map data to a common coordinate system and datum required a lot of work, but the effort required to integrate the various datasets was much greater. For example, it was necessary to link each parcel on the map with its corresponding assessment record in the database. This was straightforward in cases where the roll number appeared on the map, but in other cases, the association was made through the property address, which required much more operator intervention.

We approached each of the townships in our search for digital parcel fabric and were relatively successful in acquiring this information. However, the quality of the parcel mapping varied greatly, depending on the firm that prepared the data. With the help of several graduates from Fleming College – who were hired as subcontractors – the production work in geo-referencing and integrating the map data was accomplished.

To date we have purchased a new server to house the system and have purchased MicroStation, MapGuide and ColdFusion software.  Together with consulting fees for over 12 solid months of work, we have spent in the neighborhood of $100K, which is relatively inexpensive for a project of this magnitude.

The finished system includes rich spatial and attribute datasets, including layers of topographic data (lakes and streams, elevation contours, wooded areas, aerial photographs), parcel fabric (with buildings, address numbers, lot & concession numbers, settlement areas), and street segments (with street names and address ranges). Comprehensive databases of property, streets, public works, and ambulance response data have been incorporated. Map layers and database tables are searchable using a variety of criteria.

In addition, several custom applications have been developed in response to specific needs:

· Recycling Routes: collection routes by day or district can be displayed on the map, along with map tips to provide vital information and database forms to enable the display and editing of complete database records.

· EMS Call Density: the Ambulance Service can create maps and reports based on user-specified criteria to help in optimizing ambulance vehicle locations.

· Planning Review: The Planning Department can automatically produce maps and reports to identify significant environmental features within established minimum distances from a subject property.

· Tabbed Interface: users are assigned a subset of all available layers in order to simplify and streamline the interface. Switching between tabs is provided, although access to “private” layers is restricted.

· Red-lining: users can customize a map view by drawing lines and polygons and adding text before copying or printing it.

The system has been very well received by both technical staff and local politicians. Recently, a GIS Project Manager and two technical staff members were hired to maintain and improve the GIS datasets and system.

- Anthony Bonnici

January 2004