September-December 2002—
Initially funded by three City departments (Public Works, Engineering and Community Development), GIS was introduced in September of 2002. During the first two months, many hours were spent performing extensive planning and research. A few factors to consider were what datasets were available? How many potential users there were? How was the City’s network configured? What software and hardware requirements were needed etc.? At the conclusion of this phase, two GIS rollout proposals were developed. The City selected a web-based approach.

January-June 2003—
The first year was largely devoted to building customized GIS applications. The selected development environment was ESRI’s ArcIMS, providing many users quick access to GIS layers regardless of operating system or network configuration.

July-December 2003—
The GIS department proved very valuable in helping the City respond to the devastating floods that hit Hudson in July of 2003. Using GPS equipment, staff collected points to show the extents of the flood waters in the downtown area, as well as showing areas along major drainage ways where blockages had occurred. In the weeks following the floods, the GIS department aided administration with neighborhood meetings designed to provide visual information to residents about the flooding.

January-December 2004—
Administration restructured the GIS department to serve all City departments.. The department trained City staff on how to use the GIS to enhance daily operations. Major data collection projects began, including the sanitary sewer and storm water systems. The City managed these projects “in-house,” with the assistance of University of Akron interns.

January-October 2005—
The purchase of ESRI’s ArcSDE allowed the GIS department to aggressively consolidate all City data into a single database. This process involved the conversion of large amounts of data, allowing the City’s GIS data to be joined and connected to other datasets, such as crime data, permit data etc. The data collection projects continued with projects for the City’s water system, City trees, and other City assets.

November-December 2005—
The new ArcIMS .NET GIS Viewer was released. After using separate GIS viewers on the City’s Intranet, the new GIS Viewer allowed all existing GIS applications to be consolidated into one. The new viewer was also released to the public, allowing residents to access the GIS externally for the first time.

January-Present 2006—
Data Integration—following the release of the GIS Viewer, many datasets have been integrated to be used within the GIS. The Public Works’ Work Order Window (WOW) on the GIS Viewer is a good example of how the City’s asset management program has been tied directly to the GIS. The Finance department also has integrated its utility billing information to the GIS to allow users to quickly see if a property’s utilities are served by the City. The GIS Department is currently working with the Police department to implement a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system.