About GIS Department

What is GIS?

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are systems of spatial and tabular data, software applications and web IT infrastructure used to display and analyze information. Almost all County departments interact with location-based data, such as:

Tax Director’s / Recorder’s Office: Property ownership.
McKenzie County Water Resource District: Water pipelines and infrastructure.
Planning & Zoning: Land use and development.
Road & Bridge Crews: Road networks and infrastructure.
Weed Control: Areas of infestations.
Sheriff’s Office: 911 incident locations.

GIS makes this information accessible and actionable for these and other departments.

Core Principles

The GIS Department is guided by the following core principles:

Inclusivity: We support county workflows, public needs and inter-agency collaboration.
Best Practices: We adhere to industry standards in data integrity, database security and web GIS access.
Value Focused: We respect the value of time, ensuring data is reliable, resources are user-friendly and support is accessible.

Key Methods

To meet our core principles, McKenzie County GIS focuses on:

Engagement: Collaborating with co-workers, partner organizations and the public to understand their needs.
Elaborate Processes: Maintaining thorough processes for creating and managing datasets.
Enablement: Developing applications that empower users to answer their own questions.
Continuous Evolution: Staying updated with technology advancements to ensure McKenzie County evolves and avoids stagnation.