Story #59 - First GIS Project

Story #59 is a look back on the announcement of our first major GIS project.

Excerpt from SSM’s November 1989 Internal Newsletter Newsbeat, announcing the first major GIS contract for the firm.

Last month SSM won its first major Geographic Information System (GIS) contract — with Lawrence Township, NJ. The primary purpose of the project is to prepare updated tax maps which will assist in the Township’s property revaluation. The tax maps will be produced in an electronic format compatible with SSM GIS, in which tax lot information will be added. SSM will provide the township a faster and better way of organizing and maintaining vital tax and property information through the GIS. The project will take approximately nine months to complete.

The use of GIS has grown dramatically in the 1980’s and is now used in many businesses, universities, and governments. It has an amazingly wide range of applications. It is a computer system that ties data to specific locations and can solve complex planning and management problems.

GIS offers municipal officials and private institutions, as well as utility companies, the ability to manage their operations with a data base of spatial information. One of the valuable roles of a GIS is to integrate information across an organization so that it can be shared, interrelated, and used in common among different departments or groups. For example, if a township had to quickly locate all the gas mains and shut off valves in the event of earthquake, they could instantly do so through GIS.

When the GIS is in place, Lawrence Township will, among other benefits, be able to more efficiently and effectively perform tax assessments and planning. In the future, the Township will be able to add more information such as utility locations, at a relatively low cost.

Since this first major contract, SSM has aided our clients with GIS Management for more than twenty years.
Read more about GIS Data Management. Or, check out our GIS Services List.

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