Geographic Information System (GIS) Mapping Software Datasheet

cityworks.com http://www.cityworks.com/products/what-is-cityworks/gis-interaction/GIS InteractionGeographic information system (GIS)mapping software has grown fromworkgroup and departmentaldeployment to pervasive, organization-wide technology for analysis anddecision making. This evolutionaryprocess will only continue to grow andbe accelerated by modern GIS webdevelopment framework such as Esri®ArcGIS Server. Local governments havetraditionally used GIS to produce andanalyze maps, but now with theincrease in GIS knowledge and skills,this important technology investment isbeing applied to managing publicassets. GIS is the perfect platform for local governments to design and create an integrated GIS-centric publicasset management system using spatial relationships as a way to manage, coordinate, and analyze all publicassets and work activities.Defining Asset ManagementAsset management is a broad term covering systems for monitoring and maintaining the value of assets. In thefinancial market sector, the term is often used as a shortened version for financial asset management whichapplies to the management of securities. To accountants, fixed assets are items which can be valued (capitalizedand depreciated) and posted to a ledger. For local government, asset management specifically applies tomanaging tangible assets, like computers, water and wastewater systems, streets and sidewalks, trees andparks, electric power systems, buildings, and treatment plants.Jurisdictions use asset management to maximize the value of their infrastructure assets by using life cycle coststo improve performance and extend asset life. Infrastructure asset management improves financial decisionmaking when taking into consideration all of the interdependencies of the tangible assets.In addition to managing infrastructure assets, local governments provide services in conjunction with propertiesand businesses. Planning and enforcement responsibilities within their jurisdiction include permits, licenses,planning and engineering activities, and code enforcement cases. These land-based, location-specific activitieshave been very difficult to manage and coordinate with other business processes. Because they have a specificlocation, cost, and life cycle, they essentially act as assets to the organization. Combining infrastructure assetmanagement with land-focused asset management enables an organization to establish an enterprise assetmanagement (EAM) model.An asset management plan begins by setting asset management goals and assessing what is needed toaccomplish them. For example, a goal may be to ensure water mains serving critical facilities, such as hospitals,do not fail, so a condition assessment of the water mains serving each hospital could be performed. Theassessment may lead to a decision to schedule regular inspections of these water mains. This cyclical conditionmonitoring drives rehabilitation or replacement decisions, and may even justify designing and building redundantwater mains to serve the hospitals. GIS is the perfect platform from which to design and create this type ofintegrated asset management system, taking full advantage of the spatial structure as a way to manage andanalyze linkages between all local government public assets and associated work activities.The GIS-Centric Approach to Asset ManagementOne of the first tasks for any asset management undertaking is an inventory of existing assets and the creation ofan asset registry. Esri’s ArcGIS provides a location-aware open-data structure, common framework, and datamanagement tools, making it ideal for designing and creating asset management solutions that rely on thegeodatabase as the asset registry. The GIS-centric approach leverages the investment in Esri’s GIS anddesignates the ArcGIS geodatabase as the asset registry and repository, providing a common framework formany disparate systems that are useful in overall asset management planning and policy making.GIS-Centric Software SolutionsCore to any asset management plan ismanaging and tracking historical,scheduled, and reactive work activities.Computerized MaintenanceManagement System (CMMS) softwareprovides these tools but has grownbeyond tracking and managing workactivities to include inspection andmonitoring tools for conditionassessment, thereby becoming an assetmanagement solution. However, not allasset management needs are providedby one software system. Because of thecommon framework and the opennessof the geodatabase as the asset registry, many software solutions are available to support an asset managementprogram. Consider the water main example above. A comprehensive asset management plan can benefit byincorporating other GIS-centric software systems such as water modeling, field inspection, automatic vehiclelocation (AVL), underground utility location software, and asset life cycle management and budgeting software. Itis critical these additional software solutions work in conjunction with the CMMS.Developing a GIS-Centric Public Asset Management SystemGIS-centric public asset management is a system design approach for managing public assets that leverages theinvestment local governments continue to make in GIS and provides a common framework for sharing usefuldata from disparate systems. Permits, licenses, code enforcement, land-use development and planning, andother land-focused work activities occupy location just as in-the-ground or above-ground tangible assets do. Allthese public assets are interconnected and share proximity. As yet, there is not a widely accepted term toencompass this subset of land-focused asset management, even though these public assets affect other tangibleassets and work activities and are critically important sources of revenue and points of citizen interaction.Infrastructure asset management and land-focused asset management are frequently interdependent rather thanseparate activities. For example, a proposed new subdivision may affect water pressure requiring a water systemupgrade. A proposed restaurant may affect the wastewater system requiring additional monitoring andmaintenance activities. A code enforcement violation may be resolved by generating a maintenance work orderwith a chargeback to the violator. A road cut and excavation may require securing a special permit. A permit maylead to the scheduling of an inspection. Requests for service from the public may spawn all of the above. Evenplanting a tree may require a special permit.Technology that enables citizen-sourced information gathering (or crowdsourcing) is also changing howgovernments collect and manage spatial data to improve customer service interactions. The challenge facinglocal government is the boundaries between infrastructure and land-focused asset management are converging.GIS capabilities that analyze spatial relationships among public assets provide important insights for overallprioritization of monitoring, maintenance, and decision making for both infrastructure and land-focused assets.CMMS asset management solutions arean important part of an overall EAMprogram but focused on physical assets.Local governments have important land-focused assets that occupy location justlike physical assets (such as permits,licenses, and code enforcement). Theseassets represent much of the revenuethat funds an organization. A truly EAMprogram for local government will makeplans to apply asset managementapproaches to land-focused assets aswell as infrastructure assets.Local governments allocateconsiderable resources toward developing and maintaining the GIS database as the authoritative dataset. Thesuccess and growth of GIS tends to lead an organization towards a desire to leverage the GIS for more thanproducing maps or performing analysis. GIS locationaware data structures and development environmentprovides a common framework from which to design and create asset management solutions.The convergence between infrastructure asset management and landfocused asset management is leading localgovernments to seek for solutions to accomplish all their public asset management plans and goals. Theyrecognize GIS reveals many details about the asset, nearby similar assets, and disparate assets, affecting short-term and long-term monitoring and management plans, and hence decision making. A modern GIS webdevelopment framework, such as Esri’s ArcGIS Server, is the perfect platform from which to design and createintegrated GIS-centric public asset management systems for both infrastructure and land-focused assets, and asa common framework to incorporate other applications to meet the organization’s GIS-centric public assetmanagement program. GIS Interaction