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Status of the Adams County GIS Project

The Project

The Adams County, Illinois, Geographic Information System (GIS) is an on-going, multi-participant project designed to provide current GIS data for Adams County, Illinois.

Participants in this project include:

• Adams County,
• the City of Quincy,
  
• Adams Electric (a co-operative rural electric company),
  
• Adams Telephone (a full featured communications company),
  
• Comcast (a cable company with services in the Quincy area),
  
• Ameren/CIPS (an electricity and natural gas supplier),
  
• AT&T (a full featured communications company).

Agencies involved in the project include:

• the Great River Economic Development Foundation (GREDF), and
  
• the Quincy Area Chamber of Commerce.

The Forces Behind the Project

The Adams County Highway Department (ACHD), provides and houses the computer and network equipment required to store the data and disseminate the information over the internet. ACHD maintains most of the 130+ information layers in the system aided by the City of Quincy Engineering Department staff..

Poepping, Stone, Bach & Associates, Inc. (PSBA) personnel are responsible for maintaining the rest of the information layers along with programming and maintaining the ARCIMS website (www.adamscountygis.com) which provides many useful features. Software used to accomplish this is supplied by Latitude Geographics Company and Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI.)

PSBA personnel are also responsible for enhancement and maintenance of the computer and network equipment housed at the Adams County Highway Department.

History

The project was started in 1992 and the system is now used daily by many users to satisfy their need for information in their work and other purposes. The website can be used by any internet users with no restrictions and for no charge.

Accomplishment

The greatest accomplishment of this project has been to unite a diverse group of participants with the goal of building a geographically-based information system that would enable Adams County to progress to a more efficient, 21st-Century government.

Awards and Recognition

The project was selected in 1995 as a model application by the Federal Geographic Data Committee. Accordingly, Adams County GIS 2002 and one other county’s system in the United States were selected as the basis to build the National Spatial Data Infrastructure.

Also, Adams’ was the first county based GIS in Illinois to utilize National Resource Conservation Service digital ortho photographs as the base for rural mapping.

In 1997 and 2000, Adams County was again recognized by the Federal Geographic Data Committee with grants for Metadata Development.

The Adams County GIS has received the:

• Illinois GIS Association Service Award,
  
• Consulting Engineers Council of Illinois Special Achievement Award, and
  
• American Society of Civil Engineers Outstanding Civil Engineering Award.

The Adams County GIS also received the Outstanding Service Award from the Illinois Association of Floodplain and Stormwater Management Association.

Recent Enhancements

The website has been expanded to host GIS data for surrounding counties and cities in the Tri-State area under Adams County’s “Good Neighbor” policy.

Google Earth is now using Adams County's high resolution aerial photography to display the Quincy area geographic layout.