Project History

Mahoning County has contracted with various consultants and vendors since 1997 to provide the most comprehensive and state of the art GIS system available. A GIS policy board was established in 2001 to provide the necessary governance and to establish a GIS department. The GIS department is comprised of individuals from the Auditors office, the Engineers Office and the Sanitary Engineers Office.

The primary function of the GIS department is to provide the data and tools necessary to achieve targeted fundamental goals established by their respective departmental needs. A “Needs Assessment” of the county was performed by the GIS Department in May of 2001. The results of this assessment were used to design and to provide the County with a comprehensive plan for hardware and software procurement, as well as to provide a sufficient foundation for building a Countywide GIS infrastructure.

With the advancement of technological achievements in the past few years there is a need to keep all offices using the GIS in "real time". The county is attempting to communicate with all interested parties on a real time basis. The GIS employs a SQL 2005 Server using an ESRI “Geo-Database”. The GIS is capable of serving both the internal departments such as the Auditors office, Engineers office, Sanitary Engineers office, etc., with real time changes being observed at other independent locations connected to the Mahoning County GIS Web Site.