Acquiring information
that has traditionally involved a trek to the BCEO's Tax Map
Department in downtown Hamilton just got a lot easier. Now tax
map records can be obtained online anytime thanks to a new Interactive
Web Map developed by the Engineer's Tax Map / GIS and Information
Services Departments.
Butler County Engineer
Greg Wilkens noted that the BCEO's GIS operations were consolidated
with the Tax Map Department earlier this year and worked with
BCEO Information Services on development of the new service.
Powered by Silverlight/ESRI mapping technology, a user-friendly
application was developed which provides access to information
that has, until now, only been accessible to the public in the
Tax Map Office by using paper map books.
"We're excited
to offer this new service and believe it will be a convenient
alternative for many users of our tax mapping services,"
Wilkens said. "Our Tax Map and Information Services personnel
did an outstanding job of putting this together."
The new Tax Map Interactive
Web Map empowers the user to access survey information 24 hours
a day seven days a week from any location that has Internet access.
The map displays a representation of the parcels, access to the
plats of survey with the option to download the plat, view aerial
photography, and link to the Auditor's Real Estate data for each
parcel.
Interested users can
access the interactive map via a link on the Butler County Engineer's
Office web site at www.bceo.org. The link is located in
two areas:
If users would prefer
to access the site directly, the specific web address is http://gis.bceo.org/.
GIS Overview
and Review
The main duties of
the Tax Map Department are to maintain survey maps and information
as they relate to parcels, addressing, and center line mileage.
Updated GIS technology allows the Engineer's Office to maintain
Tax Map information more efficiently. "We hope to create
a more accessible process for the public as well as our own employees
who need to utilize this information," said Tax Map / GIS
Manager Lydia Thacker.
GIS is an acronym for
Geographical Information System and has become an increasingly
important tool in the field of engineering. It is a computer
system for creating "intelligent maps." What this means
is that real life features such as roads, survey monuments, traffic
signals, utilities, and storm sewers, or, real life events --
traffic crashes, traffic counts, water testing -- are located
and a map of these features is created. The features and events
are represented by lines, points, or areas on the map and located
where they actually are or have occurred on the earth. The location
of these features can be obtained by a surveyor using survey
equipment, digitizing from an aerial photograph, or using handheld
GPS (Global Positioning System) location devices.
After the location
is established any information or data about that feature or
event can be connected to it by using a database and creating
an "intelligent map." Using an interactive map, the
computer operator can click on a feature or event represented
by a line, point, or area and a data sheet appears with information
about that feature or event.
The new GIS technology
is being integrated with more traditional forms of map record
keeping that allows the Engineer's Office to provide the information
in a variety of digital formats. While tax maps have historically
been kept in the form of large, cumbersome paperbound books,
the goal is to offer more flexibility with a wide range of electronic
formats with which to deliver the same information based on specific
needs.
# # #
For more information
contact:
Chris
Petrocy, BCEO Public Information Supervisor
Greg Wilkens, P.E., P.S.,
Butler County Engineer
Phone 513.867.5744 • Fax 513.867.5849
