Planning and financing infrastructure using GIS technology.

• Author: Hokanson, J. Barry
• Position: Geographic information system - Includes related article

One of the early payoffs of the powerful multi-purpose GIS in Johnson County, Kansas, is its easy use as a repository of capital plans, opening the door to further analyses, comparisons of growth strategies and coordination among local units of government.

When Johnson County, Kansas, finances infrastructure, it uses a new set of tools that includes a geographic information system (GIS). Planning and debt management are important to this fast growing county in the Kansas City region. Population has more than doubled since 1960, from about 144,000 to about 400,000 in 1994. Employment grew more than tenfold during the same period, from fewer than 20,000 jobs in 1960 to more than 200,000 today.

Such growth and development adds complexity to the task of maintaining services and building public facilities. Since 1985, the county government has issued more than $150 million in new debt. More than $200 million is needed for capital projects on the drawing board. Adding the five-year plans for all 21 cities, six school districts and other units yields a combined set of more than 700 projects totaling nearly $1.2 billion.

One tool for managing the infrastructure is the county's computerized mapping system. Dubbed the Automated Information Mapping System, or AIMS, the program was begun in 1984 when the board of county commissioners authorized a feasibility study for a GIS. Upon concluding that a GIS would be feasible, and following a multi-year project design, the $5 million program was undertaken in February 1986.

Mapping for Debt Management

Although infrastructure-related projects were not among its initial program objectives, GIS is now being used in Johnson County to coordinate debt financing. A special multi-agency group, the Debt Management Awareness Council (DMAC), is using this computerized system to support its efforts toward better debt management and timing among local governments. DMAC is a 30-member organization funded by contributions from participating units of government. This organization provided the impetus for creating a master database of countywide capital projects. Early in its organizing stage, the DMAC membership became convinced that it wanted to use the county's GIS as a tool for its work. The sidebar accompanying this article explains the origin of this group.

After a year of discussion about program direction and the respective roles of each member agency, DMAC began its primary task: collecting data from the various capital improvement programs (CIPs) for all local governments--cities, county, schools and special districts. Key data items were cost, dates, type of improvement, location and financing method for each project. The format for data submittal was on computer diskettes using a prescribed spreadsheet layout. The process of developing the database is diagrammed in Exhibit 1.

Implementation Hurdles

Conversion of the data into a form that could be used in the GIS was fairly straightforward, but locational information tended to be inconsistent in this first round because most agencies were unfamiliar with the procedures. In the first year of this project, more than 700 capital projects were entered into the system.

...