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Good afternoon, State Senator Norm Needleman has proposed an act to make geographic information system tools and software available at low cost to municipalities. The public hearing is being held tomorrow (2/27) at 11:15 AM, in room 1A of the LOB. It is item number 4 on the agenda. Here is the link to Proposed S.B. No. 550: https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cga.ct.gov%2Fasp%2Fcgabillstatus%2Fcgabillstatus.asp%3FselBillType%3DBill%26bill_num%3DSB00550%26which_year%3D2019&data=02%7C01%7CCTGIS-L%40LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU%7Cec9e731b9229404cd74408d69c2260d1%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C0%7C636868068836444671&sdata=z%2F6rxTOYsGNFbf3DGGIAeyBgkEJyMUJj1XBvxy9ozeE%3D&reserved=0 Here is State Senator Needleman's act introduction: Good afternoon, my name is State Senator Norm Needleman and I am speaking today in support of Senate Bill 550, "An Act Concerning GIS." Every municipality in Connecticut - all 169 of them - have their own Geographic Information System provider that is in control of the specific window into their town. That means 169 different towns and cities paying up to 169 different providers. That's just not wasted efficiency, but it actually makes GIS usage more difficult. If you're looking up property information in Essex, and you want to compare with a property in Chester, you have to close the window showing GIS maps for Essex, then go to Chester's website and look up their systems - sometimes, all this is necessary to compare land separated by only hundreds of feet and a town border. As the First Selectman of Essex, working in multi-town groups, once you have to cross the town line, individual services are like falling off the face of the earth. Connecticut is a small state, and by adapting its GIS use into one common platform would have several benefits. It would control costs and create a more efficient platform where 169 different payment services become one single, centralized point of entry, while incentivizing towns to work together and collaborate to share their data, which could lead to a variety of additional uses. In other states, this information is brought together to make traffic safer, optimize installation of public services, map out instances of crime and even coordinate response to emergencies. This is an area where statewide municipal oversight of GIS systems would allow for simplified data management. The state could negotiate with IT providers and obtain a better rate for municipalities across the state while providing a more overarching and detailed service for all of its users. We don't need to have 169 solutions to one common problem. A state-wide GIS system would go a long way toward reducing inefficiencies and improving town-to-town communication, if not cooperation and collaboration, leading to benefits across Connecticut. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This list (CTGIS-L) is an unmoderated discussion list for all CT GIS Users. To change subscription settings or unsubscribe, visit http://s.uconn.edu/ctgisL.