A GIS Plan for a Planned City
Like many other cities, the City of Irvine, California has been using GIS for decades. The master-planned community formed in the 1960s, but the City found itself without a master plan for GIS.As a hub for education and technology for the region, much is expected from the City regarding data and technology for staff, residents, and businesses. The City understood that their data management and GIS needed to systematically advance to meet the needs of the City. They were also striving to achieve the City Council’s Strategic Goals of promoting a prosperous business climate, ensuring a safe and secure community, promoting economic prosperity, maintaining an effective government, and enabling residents.
Michael Sheeran, GIS Supervisor, points out, “Our GIS is a success and our team has been implementing various end-user tools. However, we were missing a systematic plan to promote, socialize, and advance the GIS for all the users internally and externally. We know what GIS can do but we needed a fresh perspective and plan to advance GIS to a primary decision-making platform for the City.”
The City elected to contract for the development and implementation of an Enterprise GIS Master Plan and Enterprise Data Management Plan. After a competitive bid process, the City selected Geographic Technologies Group (GTG) to develop the plan. Curtis Hinton, President of GTG states, “It was exciting to be selected by the City of Irvine. Having done many plans in the area, including Orange County, Pasadena, West Hollywood, and Simi Valley, our team had insight into the GIS activity in the region. We understood that Irvine strives for excellence in its service delivery and needed a plan that was innovative and leveraged GIS technology and data to the fullest.”
The strategic plan highlighted several high-profile projects. For example, the City of Irvine is home to the Orange County Great Park, which spans 1,300 acres on the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro. The Great Park, which is a focal point of the community embraces recreation, competitive sports, parkland, and the environment. The Strategic Plan identified the data and applications that should be used to manage and promote the park.
Mr. Hinton points out, “Our team identified a number of high-profile projects that will continue to elevate GIS at the City. Additionally, the plan laid out an aggressive training and education regime that will allow for a fuller understanding of GIS at all levels of the organization. The GIS team at the City is exceptional. They began implementing the recommendations even before the plan was finalized.” The five-year plan is detailed and serves to enable the City to align GIS efforts with Council goals and ensure that the very best data and geospatial services are available to staff and residents.
For more information about GIS and GIS Strategic Planning, email Curt Hinton at curt@geotg.com
