The City of Bedford is a small, well managed city in central Virginia with extensive infrastructure and the usual governmental departments. City management was interested in using GIS to help consolidate data, especially real estate and infrastructure data, into a single database that would be easily accessible to all departments and offices.

Like many local governments, funding was the obstacle to developing a comprehensive and accessible GIS. The source of funding for Bedford was found in their General Fund, with a major portion from the City Electric Department.

The City of Bedford staff wanted comprehensive digital access to the City’s spatial information, but did not have the staff to develop a multi-departmental GIS project. Anderson & Associates created an Internet based, centrally managed geographic information system solution with approximately 60 layers of data for Bedford. The GIS data ranges from Sewer, Water, and Electric, to Planning, Industrial Development, Land Records, and Building Permit Information.

The intra-departmental cooperation has been crucial to the success of their GIS endeavor. Users can take full advantage of the City’s data through the integration of information from multiple departments. The City of Bedford has found that when they are able to integrate the information from many departments into one centralized tool, they can take full advantage of the City’s data and make more informed decisions.

This centralized data hub has also helped departments solve ongoing problems and increase revenue. Many of the City’s utility poles are owned by the Electric Department and private utilities often attach their services to the City’s poles. Record keeping passed through several hands over the years, and the City decided to bring their records up to date and to inventory the data in a way that flows into a GIS. This data has been analyzed to ensure private companies are being charged the appropriate fee and several additional attachments have been accounted for. This organized and visual display of the data provides an accurate record to justify the increase of the attachment fees up to the regional standard.

Contact Melissa Scott at 800.763.5596 to learn more about MapGuide sites. &

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