November 19, 2014 – Lisa Miller, Data/GIS Director, and several GIS Coordinators from the region provided an overview of activities related to GIS in their jurisdictions.  Bi-State staff has built relationships with the GIS staff in the various cities and counties in the region.  The GIS data they produce and maintain is integral to the work Bi-State staff does for the region — from planning documents, to direct technical assistance to member governments, to regional maps and projects.  Some examples include the following:

• County-assessed value from GIS databases is used to determine approximate property loss due to potential flooding in Hazard Mitigation Plans produced for Muscatine and Rock Island Counties
• Current parcel-level base maps and jurisdictional boundaries are used to keep zoning and other maps up-to-date for many member governments
• Detailed point of interest, parks, schools, and other features are collected from local GIS partnerships to insure regional maps, like the QC Marathon Map and XStream Clean Up Maps are accurate

Henry County

Bruce Lang is the GIS Coordinator in Henry County, Illinois.  Bruce and his staff use GIS on an ongoing basis to maintain cadastral property maps for property taxation, voters registration precinct boundaries, and zoning information; provide property changes for E911 emergency services; and perform various inquiries including "location compliance" of convicted offenders and FOIA requests.

This year, staff used GIS tools to develop natural disaster maps (tornados, floods, etc.) for creation and FEMA adoption of the "Henry County Multi-Jurisdictional Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan.“  GIS staff partnered with Bi-State to digitize zoning areas in unincorporated areas from paper maps dating from prior to 1959.  Staff is working with Henry County Economic Development Partnership (HCEDP) to expand Enterprise Zones in eight Cities/Villages in the County.

Staff also implemented online access to the county’s GIS database.  Two levels of access are available: free and subscription-based.  Subscriptions are $600 a year and include additional information primarily useful to appraisers and law offices.  There are currently 15 paid subscribers, plus 12 additional subscribers who receive a free subscription due to their relationship with the county, like township assessors.  For more information contact, Bruce Lang, GIS Director, at (309) 937-3404 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Muscatine Area Geographic Information Consortium (MAGIC)

Mark Warren, GIS Manager for MAGIC, explained that the consortium was formed in 1999 as a partnership with the City of Muscatine, Muscatine County, and Muscatine Power and Water — a shared investment in the development and management of geographic information system (GIS) data and technology.  This partnership promotes more efficient & effective government by avoiding redundant GIS data creation via a central data repository; providing cost-shared investments in GIS technology, data, and staff; and supporting better decision-making related to community development and management.  Besides maintaining many layers of geographic data, a major project for 2014 has been acquiring updated basemap aerial imagery.  MAGIC participated in the Bi-State-coordinated, multi-jurisdictional Aerial Photo Flyover and realized an approximate 35% savings over acquiring comparable product alone.  MAGIC uses industry-leading Esri^TM software, and a multi-jurisdictional, enterprise license agreement provides almost unlimited deployment and access to most advanced features of the software to all MAGIC partners.

MAGIC staff are keeping up with current trends in GIS with several services.  Web-based access to the consortium’s GIS data is available for the public, through the Beacon website, http://beacon.schneidercorp.com/.  Staff also “serves” GIS data to users and clients across the three organizations and others via a Server/Desktop environment and is implementing several mobile applications to collect GIS data.  ArcGIS Online is currently being implemented for in-house, partner, and public consumption of GIS information.  For more information, contact Mark Warren, GIS Manager, at (563) 262-3328 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

City of Moline and Rock Island County, Illinois

Todd Green, GIS Administrator for the City of Moline, works closely with Rock Island County GIS staff and the county’s parcel data in many of its GIS activities.  City staff use GIS to answer many complex questions, for example: “Are drivers routing themselves in the most efficient manner and can the number of garbage routes be reduced without introducing overtime?”  GIS is also used to increase staff efficiency by helping to manage rental properties.  Numerous interactive maps aid in customer service to city residents and others including an alderman/ward query, garbage/recycling pickup, city attractions, boil orders, leaf collection progress, gravesite locations at Memorial Park Cemetery, and school district boundaries.  In the past year, staff used GIS to map and document flooding data and information to better prepare for future years.  Staff is planning to get involved in mapping crimes across the city in coming months.  The city also participated in the 2014 Multi-Jurisdictional Aerial Photo Flyover and with the new geospatial data will continue working with 3-D modeling, incoming solar radiation potential, steep slope identification, and line of sight calculations, and will also update various GIS layers like building footprints.  For more information, contact Todd Green, GIS Administrator at (309) 524-2295 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Scott County, Iowa

Ray Weiser, GIS Director for Scott County highlighted four recent GIS projects.  Staff worked with the Auditor’s Office and Davenport Assessor’s Office to implement a Department of Revenue land use based ag valuation for parcels in the county.  The new assessment approach involves land use adjustments and updated corn suitability ratings with an automated process in a GIS environment.  Another project included creating new detailed maps and trail markers for the Conservation and Health Departments.  These were incorporated into an emergency trail marker system and new brochures for county parks.  Staff is also working with Scott County Emergency Communication Center and Emergency Management Agency to update addressing and emergency response layers to the dispatch center and to provide street centerline information to Medic EMS for ambulance routing.  Finally, staff developed a secure application for sex offender compliance and tracking.  Scott County Sheriff’s Department, the City of Davenport, and the Iowa Department of Corrections have fast, efficient, and secure access to these GIS-based tools.  For more information, contact Ray Weiser, GIS Coordinator, at (563) 328-4137 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..