State to Fund GIS Agreement Renewal

Joe Short

County IT Director Joe Short approached the commissioners this week with an update regarding their Geographic Information System agreement with WTH Technology. According to Short, the agreement has expired and needs renewed, but he says the state has offered to cover the cost of renewing the agreement in exchange for sharing their GIS information.

Short says the state will fund $2000 toward the agreement for the next two years, while the GIS cost is only $1500. The extra $500, Short says, can be spent on related expenses to the GIS system.

Short explained that the GIS information shared with the state contains no personal information, but only geographic data.

“Basically boundaries, townships, emergency response agencies, roads as far as road names, address points, parcel information as far as parcel boundaries and the state ID on that boundary, and the address,” Short said. “No personal information of course, just basically information for when you’re dispatching different emergency agencies.”

Currently, 86 counties throughout Indiana are participating in the program, and it’s a modern step for Starke County to be counted amongst them.