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Geographic Information Systems
NIRPC utilizes Geographic Information System (GIS)
technology to meet the increasingly diverse spatial
data requirements of comprehensive transportation,
environmental and economic development planning, and
regional initiatives. Realizing the importance of
collaboration in these three planning domains, NIRPC
seeks to employ a variety of data that will be used
to develop a regional comprehensive plan.
To that end, GIS has the
technological ability that incorporates graphical
features with tabular data in order to assess
real-world problems.
Using GIS, all data can be matched to a set of “x”
and “y” coordinates, which allows for spatial
integrity of geographic data. Ever increasingly,
geographic data and information are being used to
enhance the decision-making process across many
agencies.
With GIS, maps can be programmed using simple code
and then stored in a computer allowing for future
modification as needed.
GIS utilizes raw data and pinpoints exactly how this
data connects to our Earth in a multitude of ways.
Data can be transferred and processed at a much greater
speed, helping to involve all decision makers in the
northwest Indiana region.
A large portion of data NIRPC utilizes comes from
the Indiana State data framework that is now
supported by Indiana legislation due to the
ever-increasing need for accurate state-wide data,
and the progressing importance of GIS. In addition,
data is collected from municipalities and created at
NIRPC. Certain GIS data projects in progress at
NIRPC are a regional land use inventory, crash and
safety data to identify problem locations,
demographic data, traffic counts, and other projects
that help inform the public of how the region is
constantly changing.
The GIS coordinator for NIRPC
is Matt Hay, and he can be reached at
mhay@nirpc.org.
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