Your map to the future: Geographic Information System

Posted February 17, 2010
By Dr. JoAnne Castagna
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, North Atlantic Division

2/17/2010 - NORFOLK, Va. — Imagine: You are managing a project for the U.S. Army and you need to acquire a piece of property or provide a piece of property to another entity. What do you do? At the Corps we make it easy. You consult with your organization real estate staff.

Real estate will locate and dust off several property maps to find the location of the property and will be able to answer questions, such as, "Where is the piece of property? Are we relinquishing all or part of it? Are we already leasing the property? Are there buildings on the property?"

Today, this task is made easier with Geographic Information System, or GIS, technology. The GIS can create multi-layered electronic maps, including all property information in one digital environment, saving project managers and the real estate support team considerable time and money.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk District, embraced GIS in 2005 to improve its real estate management program and quickly retrieve various kinds of property information and maps to help manage military projects.

The district's real estate staff has available electronic maps created with GIS technology instead of previous outdated methods such as printed and often outdated maps. The GIS method has proven to be a better tool for planning, appraising, acquiring, leasing, managing, analyzing and/or disposing properties.

The geographic information system is computer-based and capable of capturing, storing, analyzing and displaying location-based information as well as electronic maps, reports and charts.

This technology tool also takes information from various sources, such as aerial photographs or electronic data, and combines these layers of information to provide significant and more accurate analysis.

For example, Norfolk District currently takes information from various sources, such as historical printed maps, aerial photographs, wetlands data, building location information and environmental data. By taking this information and combining it with GIS data, multi-layered electronic maps are created – all together in one digital mapping environment.

Norfolk District's military properties include:

• Fee acquisitions: Property the district purchased for a fee.
• Acquired lesser interests: Property the district does not own but has the right to use, such as lease.
• Disposal: Property the district sells or transfers to another party.
• Outgrants: Government property used by others for non-government purposes, such as for road and utility easements, cell tower leases/licenses and school use.

"With GIS, the district's military projects property information can now be viewed in one digital mapping environment," said Jeff Swallow, district geographer. "This up-to-date information is easily accessed by computer and maps can be changed instantly, and we plan to expand this application to civil works projects in the future," he added.

Since GIS-created maps have multiple overlays and include varied sources of information, decision makers can see how this information affects each other.

This easy analysis was not possible in the past when printed maps were used. Printed maps had limited and sometimes outdated information, and were also a labor-intensive process to update.

"Originally, cartographers created these maps by hand, using pen and Mylar on drafting tables. They would then be stored in filing cabinets and map rooms," explained Swallow. "When these maps had to be changed it was done manually on the original Mylar map. The maps had to be located and laid out on a table to make the changes. Plus, all the information you needed was never on the same map," added Swallow.

To provide all Corps districts the benefits of GIS, Swallow is part of a USACE team that is creating a new and more "robust" Real Estate Management Information System (REMIS) that incorporates GIS. REMIS will help district's better manage real estate assets, according to Swallow.

In addition, linking REMIS with GIS will enable real estate staffs to easily access legal and financial accountability information about properties, providing a better method to track property finances for required financial reporting purposes.

In the end, each asset in REMIS will have a corresponding mapping location in the GIS as an analysis reference for the real estate community.

"These electronic maps are beneficial to the Corps' real estate staff and project managers because they are more accurate and provide current information. Corps real estate offices can now view land assets in a dynamic digital environment - think Google Earth - and make better decisions using this digital GIS technology," Swallow added.

To learn more about GIS and how to include GIS in your projects, contact the Norfolk District geospatial service section at (757) 201-7616.