The city of Parkville has entered into a deal with a software company to provide interactive GPS mapping services for the city and for citizens.
Parkville director of public works Daniel Harper presented the agreement at the Tuesday, Oct. 3 meeting of the Parkville Board of Aldermen with Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) to implement ArcMap GIS software.
Currently, Harper said, the city has a partnership for some limited mapping features with the county that can be observed through their Beacon service. To better utilize the data functionality, having internal mapping allows for the combination of spatial coordinates with a database. An example of these features in action would be the publishing of road conditions over time for citizens to see how the city is progressing or publishing permits throughout the city.
Much of the data the city collects and utilizes either already contains spatial coordinates or has the ability to, but the city does not currently have the connecting tool to display this information for use by city staff, external clients, and to publish for the public.
Other jurisdictions in and around Parkville are primarily using the ESRI ArcMap system, such as Platte County, Parkville Special Roads District, South Platte County Sewer District and some private utilities. The ability to share map layers to build internal maps to the city is a critical feature in constructing the system rather than re-developing the same data internally for the city.
Due to the widespread local usage of the software and the ability to work across jurisdictions more easily, staff selected ESRI’s ArcMap software, which provided rates based on pre-negotiated State of Missouri rates. The total for the three-year agreement is $46,500. The first year due is $15,500 and will be funded through the public works general fund.
Also at the meeting, the city approved agreements with BBN Architects, Renaissance Infrastructure Consultants, R.L. Buford, Terracon, and VSM Engineering and authorized the mayor to sign agreements with Garver, George Butler Associates, McClure Engineering, OWN, Vireo and WSKF Architects for various on-call engineering and architectural services.
Harper said there are times when the city requires professional staff with specific technical backgrounds to complete tasks. While the city employs professional staff with technical knowledge, regular staff cannot be experts in everything. To supplement these internal skills and address technical needs, staff rely on the professional services of engineering and architectural consultants on an as-needed basis. These services are utilized across the city by multiple departments and at various times throughout every year.