| How GIS is helping local governments offer better | | | | trash, recycling, household waste pickup, bulk waste |
| services to citizens | | | | removal etc. The complaints are colour-coded on a |
| Geographic information systems (GIS) can play a | | | | map of the area – red for pending requests, |
| very useful role for local governments. A municipal | | | | yellow for work in progress and green for the work |
| GIS, for example, can help provide services to | | | | completed. Managers can thus get an idea of |
| citizens in a much better way. It is extremely useful | | | | what’s happening where with just a glance of |
| in public works, for elections, law enforcement, | | | | the map. What’s more, they can also identify |
| emergency response, planning, effective property | | | | areas where problems recur, and take preventive |
| tax, water tax, collection and infrastructure | | | | action. One local government in the USA uses GIS to |
| development. GIS services enable staff in local | | | | provide its county dispatch center with accurate |
| authorities to access a single, central repository of | | | | address information. The accurate addresses are |
| land and property data which they can use to carry | | | | invaluable in attending to 911 emergency calls, |
| out a myriad of local government functions. These | | | | reducing the time needed for police and medical |
| include zoning plans, planning permissions, property | | | | personal to reach their destinations. More than 40,000 |
| tax, and so on. Most local governments in the | | | | address points were created and added to the GIS |
| developed countries rely heavily on GIS services | | | | that the county used. In India too, some progress |
| today. It’s not a concept that has caught on in | | | | has been made in this direction. A lot of |
| India, but will become widespread in the future. The | | | | e-governance initiatives set up by state governments |
| benefits are far too substantial to ignore. GIS | | | | use GIS for the benefit of citizens. An NGO recently |
| implementations by Municipalities in India have reaped | | | | used GIS technology to survey and map slums in a |
| huge benefits especially in the management and | | | | city, generating critical information that could be used |
| decision making level of the organization. GIS offers | | | | to provide essential public services to slum-dwellers. |
| cost and time savings, increased accuracy, | | | | The data enabled detailed analysis of slums, helping |
| productivity and revenue for local authorities, not to | | | | governments to better prioritize sanitation and |
| mention better decision making. To understand how | | | | housing. Municipal GIS also opens the doors to a |
| municipal GIS are such an invaluable tool, let’s | | | | participatory role by citizens. It can enable information |
| take the example of a city council’s waste | | | | exchange between citizens and local authorities, and |
| division. When requests/ complaints come into the | | | | bring about a big improvement in governance. |
| division, they are grouped into various categories like | | | | |