February 1st, 2007

The GIS That St. Johns Built

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Rocky Agbunag, with St. Johns County, Florida’s Public Works Department, watched with the rest of the state as hurricane after hurricane—Charley, Frances, Ivan, and then Jeanne—pummeled Florida in 2004.

“One hurricane after another—you just feel for those who were hit,” said Agbunag, the asset management coordinator for St. Johns County.

In addition to the lives that were affected, the damage to public and private property was catastrophic—a nightmare for those who are in public works.

St. Johns County in recent years has been spared Mother Nature’s wrath. But its location on Florida’s northeastern coast makes it as vulnerable as any part of Florida to the ravages of the sea.

A storm of another kind has been brewing in recent years: an unfunded government mandate, Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement 34, which requires 87,000 state and local governments across the United States to move their accounting practices to a business accounting model. For public works departments, this meant for the first time that infra-structure assets—bridges, roads, storm and sanitary sewers, and the like—need-ed to be valued and reported on. At a minimum, this mandate would require a systematic inventory of such assets. Since 2003, all governments have been expected to comply.

Meanwhile, population growth and development are booming in St. Johns County. Now the ninth-fastest growing county in the United States, the current population of 160,000 is expected to double in the next 20 years.

Threat of hurricanes, a government mandate, and an influx of people— combined, these factors created a perfect storm that required the St. Johns County Public Works Department to quickly change the way it did business.

“We needed first and fore-most to know our universe of assets and what condition they were in, and then we needed to develop a way to better track and maintain these assets,” Agbunag said. “We needed a better way to analyze and visualize and prepare for change.”

About GEOSPAN

GEOSPAN is the provider of the technology leading spatially accurate GEOVISTA® Multi-Angle Imagery™ and GEOVISTA® 3D Spatial Imagery™ products. GEOSPAN patented technology offers fully integrated high-resolution 360º oblique aerial and street-level GEOVISTA® imagery. GEOVISTA® panoramic imagery solutions support a variety of state and local government GIS applications including E9-1-1, emergency management, homeland security, law enforcement, planning, property assessing, infrastructure inventory, pavement analysis, and transportation. GEOVISTA® solutions also serve a variety of private sector markets including real estate buying and selling, visual mapping, insurance, mortgage lending and micro marketing.

MEETING GASB STATEMENT 34 REQUIREMENTS—Since implementing the GIS-EAMS, the county expects to improve its annual work plan budgeting process. Having a clear understanding of assets’ condition, the county will be better prepared to assess the value of those assets, thereby meeting GASB 34 reporting.

MOWING—Mowing areas were quantified and delineated in the GIS, which has enabled the county to quantify mowing activities by area and thereby track performance based on established goals.

DITCH CLEANING—Ditches were identified and mapped. Using the new GIS maps, maintenance crews can see the size and shape of a ditch before going out into the field. They can determine equipment and other resources needed before even leaving for the job site.

REPAVING—Pavement segments were created within the GIS, with a pavement management system integrated with the CMMS and GIS. As a result, the county now has better tools to analyze and plan for work within the street network. The county also now can visually identify activity overlap between the pavement management division and other divisions within the public works department.

STRIPING—Striping identified within the GIS has enhanced the ability to determine which roads have adequate striping and which roads do not. Aerial images and video logs are used in addition to querying the GIS database for a particular type of striping in a given area.

TRAFFIC SIGN MAINTENANCE— Crews equipped with integrated GPS equipment and digital cameras can continually update the GIS database while performing work in the field. Crews can position a sign in the GIS map and attach a picture and GPS coordinates.

STORMWATER STRUCTURES MAINTENANCE—Crews can effectively anticipate problems due to collapsed or nonfunctional storm structures. The county can quantify structures and locate manholes in support of NPDES and GASB 34 requirements.