Monongalia County came late to the GIS, or geographic information system, party.
Less than a decade ago, when far smaller and more rural counties had already switched over to digitized data, paper maps were still in use in the Monongalia County Courthouse.
Mike Paugh, the county’s GIS and floodplain coordinator, explained that a lot has changed in the past nine years or so.
“I’d say we’ve not only caught up, but we’ve surpassed many of those counties that began utilizing this technology before us,” Paugh said. “We’ve really moved forward since then.”
GIS is essentially aerial photography upon which overlays can be created. Uses for GIS mapping include updated MECCA 911 addressing, floodplain information, parcel mapping zoning district boundaries.
In June 2016, all that information became accessible to anyone with a web browser through the county parcel viewer website, ags.agdmaps.com /wv/mon/.
“The amount of information that’s available in there is pretty impressive,” Paugh said, noting that everything from ownership, parcel and structure values, past sales of the parcel and even structure floor plans can be accessed.
Paugh said the county is in the process of the getting the updated 2019 imagery loaded into the site.
He said the information is culled and used by county agencies ranging from MECCA 911 to the county assessor’s office and beyond, including federal agencies like FEMA.
And it’s constantly evolving as more advanced software comes online. Paugh said the county is interested in a program that would plug drone footage into the GIS software to create three-dimensional representations of an area.
“So you imagine an area that’s been flooded and multiple structures have been washed out. You could fly the drone and plot those points on the ground using the drone-to-map software. From that you can create a 3-D image, including where those structures stood and how tall they were,” Paugh said.
“I guess overall the point I’m trying to make is GIS is such a powerful tool, and not only for county employees and agencies, but it’s a tool that anyone can use.”
Which, according to Commission President Tom Bloom, is one of the reasons it has the commission’s support.
“Just the amount of information that’s available for free to the public is extensive,” Bloom said. “It’s also made it very easy for developers and businesses to go in right away and gather a lot of information without spending a lot of time and money. It’s so much easier and clearer and we keep adding layers to it. We’re thrilled with it.”
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