A Geographic Information System (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.

GIS allows us to view, understand, question, interpret, and visualize data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts.

GIS helps you answer questions and solve problems by looking at your data in a way that is quickly understood and easily shared.

KVCOG uses the latest GIS software, ESRI, and has an extensive database that includes geographic base data at the town, regional, and State levels. This data is used in a variety of projects, including transportation, economic development, and planning projects.

KVCOG provides a variety of mapping services to member towns upon request. We can create customized maps of communities showing a wide range of information including but not limited to: natural resources, public facilities, infrastructure, development trends, and/or locally-defined land use districts.

Digital Tax Maps

KVCOG is pleased to offer tax map digitizing. Prices are dependent on the size and scope of the project; members will most likely find KVCOG to be less expensive than private company alternatives as a direct result of membership.

Why digitize your Tax Maps?

The major advantage of digital maps is their versatility: digital tax maps can be viewed and printed at any scale and customized with different labels to suit different purposes.

A combination of numerical, textual and visual elements (e.g. digital photos of properties including buildings) can be embedded into the system and retrieved based on numerous spatial or statistical selection criteria.

Digital maps can be maintained and updated much faster than paper maps.

Digital maps require limited physical storage space and can be easily electronically backed up and protected against data losses, addressing the problem of a lack of office space and safe map storage facilities in municipal offices.

Digital tax maps can be easily overlaid with other information layers such as land use planning zones, new road openings, building footprints or physical terrain features. This allows the performance of different analysis and planning tasks within a local government unit. The integration of digital tax parcel data into assessing databases can provide a very quick and easy way to access all land and tax records through a spatial interface.

You can use satellite images to overlay digital municipal base maps.

Data and maps can be made accessible through internet and intranet, and can be easily shared in an electronic working environment.

Transparency and efficiency of local direct taxation can be enhanced.

Development Suitability Analysis

One of the most useful applications of GIS for planning and management is the land use suitability mapping and analysis. Broadly defined, land use suitability analysis aims at identifying the most appropriate spatial pattern for future land uses according to specify requirements, preferences, or predictors of some activity. The GIS-based land use suitability analysis has been applied in a wide variety of situations including:

• Ecological approaches for defining land suitability/habitant for animal and plant species
• Suitability of land for agricultural activities
• Geological favorability
• Environmental impact assessment
• Landscape evaluation and planning
• Selecting the best site for the public and private sector and regional planning

Visual Impact Assessment

(Currently, Kennebec County only – Somerset by 2017)

Using Digital Elevation Models from LIDAR data, KVCOG can now perform various forms of visibility analysis, ranging from constructing shadow models of structures and sight lines to generation of viewsheds and skylines.

If there is a cell tower or wind turbine proposal in your community we may be able to help with which areas of town will be visually impacted by them.

For more information, please contact Joel Greenwood:

Joel Greenwood, Executive Director
453-4258 ext. 213