I think the DC experience is just the tip of the iceberg. I can't tell you how many GIS clients have had to reconfigure or performance tune their GIS to use this important tool to help manage their operations. Too many GIS professionals have advocated creating an enterprise data model, inside the GIS, when the most successful projects have focused on retaining geometric data in the GIS and transactional data in high performance data models.

Picture processing v. data processing
Some might argue that the physical geometry of municipal agencies are not updated for years after their initial entry into a GIS. If the price was right, orthos could be updated annually. Information that is entered on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis, has traditionally been the domain of ERP vendors, including SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards and Lawson.

The true distinction at DC and other lighthouse state and local government agencies is the realization that the enterprise data model must incorporate daily events or transactions, tied directly into their workflow.

There are many day-to-day transactions of managing and tracking “people and property. Such as the following:

• Requests for service
• Permit applications
• Code enforcement actions
• Parcel histories
• Contractor licenses
• Field inspections
• Business licenses
• Fees
• Equipment nameplate data
• Costing information
• Work histories
• Preventive maintenance (PM) activities
• Spare part cross-referencing to the warehouse
• Time sheet reporting
• Asset valuations
• Vulnerability assessment

In addition, there are a of host of industry specific repair, replacement, and rehabilitation data that are daily activities, as well.

The enterprise data model represents the central nervous system for managing the operation of government.

The problem with most public sector agencies, and the most challenging for the new Department of Homeland Security, will be to consolidate the disparate information into a sophisticated enterprise data model that lets the right hand know what the left hand is doing. GIS can play a key role in portraying the data, but needs to get past the ability of simple viewing and querying such as " find all the sewer mains." It needs to move onto more advanced querying and display such as " find all sewer mains, located underneath airport runways, that have not been closed-circuit televised in the past three months, or “where are the manholes or entry points that have not been bolted down by city staff or contractor."

The DC model is simple, yet powerful. Create a comprehensive enterprise data model that reflects the real world daily operations of government and perform ad hoc spatial queries that are relevant and timely. By limiting the GIS to its graphic symbology, geo-coordinate location, and alphanumeric identifier, sophisticated boolean queries can be launched (i.e. either from the GIS or Enterprise Application) that queries the enterprise data model, selects the corresponding records, and highlights the requisite IDs for projection onto a validated and current GIS.

Chuck Hansen
President and CEO
Hansen Information Technologies