Until the Cass County commissioners have more answers than questions, they intend to continue withholding data requested by state officials for an online, interactive map.

“When you ask questions, someone should surely have an answer,” Commissioner Dave Arnold said in a recent interview. “We don’t think they had the answers that warranted us to do this.”

The project is IndianaMap, a statewide map that includes multiple “layers” of data accessible at no charge to anyone with Internet access. In August, Jim Sparks, the state’s geographic information officer, approached the commissioners about providing information for the map. The commissioners said no pending further discussion.

At the second September meeting, the commissioners spoke in unison on the matter. Commissioner Dick Rusk called it a complex issue, one with more questions than answers. Arnold voiced his concern.

“Personally, I don’t think it’s fair to the taxpayers of Cass County,” he said. “We don’t know enough to give them this information.”

Rusk asked that the matter be tabled for further study.

Commissioners Jim Sailors and Arnold agreed.

“I’m not interested in doing it at this time,” Sailors said.

“I’m not either,” Arnold said.

Sparks had asked for four data layers that are created and maintained by local government. Specifically, he wanted land parcels, point addresses, local roads and local boundaries, all of which are matters of public record. For the parcels, the data needed include the shape of the lot, the state of the property and local parcel ID numbers.

“That’s it,” Sparks said in a phone interview. “We aren’t looking for any other information more than that about parcels. It’s equivalent for the rest of them. It’s just a basic amount of information.”

So, why is it needed?

The data would be added as “layers” to information already obtained from state and federal agencies. The intent is to “stitch together” all 92 counties in Indiana to support efforts at economic development, disaster planning and recovery, transportation planning and water quality planning, Sparks said.

“We’re looking for just enough information to let other people get value out of those data sets. At the same time, we want to leave behind a lot of that information at the county level so that if people need to know more information they will still need to go talk to the local data stewards to get that information.”

Sparks hopes this is accepted as a win-win situation for GIS users and the county.

At this point, there are too many unknowns for the commissioners to proceed, Arnold said.

“We just need more answers,” he said. “What are they going to do with it? That’s what I want to know. Tell me how it’s going to work.”

A contention shared by the commissioners is that the information is already accessible to the public and to state and federal government.

“Why are they needing us to provide it?” Arnold asked.

For his part, Sparks said he would like to establish a long-lasting relationship for sharing the requested data.

“What we’re really trying to do is set up both a technical process and the relationships that will let this data sharing happen much easier in the future,” he said.

Because of daily changes at the county level, the information gets stale quickly so the technical process Sparks referred to would allow the information exchange to happen regularly and without human intervention or extra burden on county employees.

“Our expectation is that we will be pulling new information across this technology about once a month,” Sparks said.

Sparks stressed the importance of the initiative. A return on investment report from the Indiana Geographic Information Council stated that $1.7 billion worth of projects around the state were using IndianaMap data and a majority of the projects could not have happened without the map.

“So, clearly it is critical,” Sparks said.

With the four data layers, new value would be added to users of IndianaMap, which include government, the private sector, not-for-profits and the general public.

In regard to economic development, the map could make site location easier because of access to municipal and taxing district boundaries.

“We feel this will make the chore of choosing a site much easier and therefore give the state a competitive advantage when companies are looking,” Sparks said. “If it’s too hard, they’re going to keep moving. They’ll move onto the next state, and we want them to stop at Indiana.”

So far, 19 counties representing 42 percent of the population have committed to participation to the project. To get Cass County on board, Sparks is willing to continue discussions. He also encourages the commissioners to attend a series of information sessions scheduled for October, November and December.

The timeline for the project is as long as it takes.

“We’ll keep working and working until we get them all,” Sparks said.

A two-year grant worth $14,800 is available to set up the program. Even with the grant from the Department of Homeland Security, Arnold has his doubts because Cass County may not qualify for the full amount.

In 2007, the county installed a security system at the government building. When the time came for the state to pay, the county did not receive the money for nearly a year, and the vendor threatened to come in and remove the cameras.

“It’s not a good working relationship with vendors when you can’t pay them,” Arnold said. “That makes the county look bad.”

The commissioners made it clear that they were not going to provide the data layers without further details. Arnold said the door was not closed on getting something worked out, especially if the initiative is as beneficial as Sparks claims.

“I’m not against that,” he said. “I need to do my own homework, but I need some information to be able to collect before I can make a good decision for the taxpayers.”

Kevin Lilly can be reached at (574) 732-5117, or via e-mail at kevin.lilly@pharostribune.com



On the Web

To view Cass County’s online map, go to www.co.cass.in.us and click on the link for “GIS Mapping.”

To view IndianaMap, go to www.indianamap.org



Want to know more?

• To view the state’s online investment-return report, go to www.igic.org and click on “News” on the left hand side. The report, “The IndianaMap’s Economic Impact,” is the first link.