Columbus discovers GIS – and steps into a new world

An Ohio city is counting on the information superhighway to meet the existing demand for services and to ensure its role as an information provider for an economically prosperous region.

Cities destined to prosper in the Information Age are likely to be those with the best information infrastructure. This infrastructure includes not only state-of-the-art hardware, but a carefully planned and developed system capable of offering broad and speedy access to information. Using this infrastructure, cities will attract and retain businesses capable of employing high-skill, high-wage workers.

Because those workers are the ones whom cities — like all businesses — are attempting to attract, Columbus, Ohio, is building its own lane on the information superhighway.

Columbus is known internationally as a center for research and high-tech industry, hosting such companies as Ross Labs, CompuServe and Battelle, as well as the facilities at Ohio State University.

The city also is investing in and deploying a fiber optic network and recently began work on an ambitious Geographic Information System (GIS) with UGC Consulting, Denver; Resource International, Westerville, Ohio; and locally based BBS Corporation and ERM Technologies. Both initiatives are integral in making the city a central access point for the kinds of information that will facilitate economic development well into the future.

Dramatic Evolution

The city’s communications infrastructure is evolving dramatically. Its combined fiber-optic and coaxial cable network will provide for the uninterrupted transmission of audio and data and will connect city agencies to what, in effect, will be an Information Super Hub. By the end of this year, the communications network is expected to allow for expansion into video signal transmission across a fiber optic network.

This fiber optic backbone is being installed in phases. The first connects what is known as the “City Hall Hub,” including City Hall, Beacon Building, 99/109 North Front Street and Central Safety facilities. Phase II will link this hub to the nearby statehouse, Rhodes Office Tower and the Franklin County complex, including the county courts building. A link to the city’s utilities’ complex and eventual fiber optic extension to the city’s multi-department Fairwood complex is also planned.. The network will be expanded even farther through a planned linkage to Ohio State’s central communications facility.

Beginning in 1994 and continuing through 1999, Columbus is also migrating from a centralized, proprietary mainframe operation to an open systems distributed processing environment. This new environment increases the emphasis on wide area networking.

Once it becomes operational, the city’s wide area network will facilitate the transmission of files, data and information across fiber optic lines connecting city agencies. This technology will provide for an expanded exchange of data, audio and video communications throughout the city’s operating agencies and within the Greater Columbus community.

Beyond Mapping

The GIS, which is being built over the next several years, is one of several related city-wide initiatives, which include expanding economic opportunities, improving and enhancing the city’s efficiency and effectivenes, and providing what in essence will be a market-driven community service.

To better understand how Columbus’ GIS will work, consider this: cities like Columbus share at least one thing in common with utilities and railroad systems; each has a large number of facilities and assets at fixed “X” and “Y” locations. These assets–and their X-Y coordinates — can and have been mapped for decades. The mapped records, maintained over the years on paper, vellum or microfilm, typically are bulky, easily disorganized, time-consuming to find and difficult to coordinate.

More important, as an increasing number of city and county governments have learned, paper-based systems are increasingly ill-suited to meet the time and “what if” scenarios necessary for decision making in the 1990S.

Columbus’ GIS will go beyond the mapping and engineering functions most typically associated with GIS technology. The GIS now being designed for the city will reach into virtually every aspect of local government service — code enforcement, development, emergency response and management, financial management, fire protection, health management, infrastructure and facility management, land use management, police protection, public administration, public safety, recreation and parks management, roads and streets management and utilities management. It also will provide analytical capabilities that aid the city’s business decision processes, enhance the reengineering of work flows that can improve the efficiency of city government and offer the ability to link to and improve coordination between overlapping government jurisdictions.

In short, the GIS holds the promise of helping to change the way Columbus goes about its daily business.

Using the GIS, a broad and extensive range of information will be available to city departments and to the greater Columbus community via the extensive fiber optic network currently under construction.

With improved access to information, better decisions can be made, and work on projects involving several city departments can be cut to a fraction of the time typically required.

What’s more, city officials will be able to use the graphic capabilities of the GIS to show citizens and business organizations specific improvements that are planned or have been completed in their neighborhoods. Higher staff productivity, increased quality and better access to city information are also expected to be positive results. The idea of a city like Columbus acting as an information provider is a path-breaking concept. So is the city’s decision to build a GIS that extends across all city departments.

The project reflects the city’s approach to establishing Columbus as a central source of information about development and economic issues. And while budget dollars and staff remain precious, Columbus officials are counting on the ability of GIS and the fiber optic communications network not only to meet the existing demand for services, but to also ensure the city’s role as an information provider for an economically prosperous region.

Greg Lashutka is mayor of Columbus and president of the National League of Cities. Bart Elliott is associate principal and public sector business manager for UGC Consulting, Denver.