Madison County has been awarded the 2004 GIS Best Practices Award, an award for exemplifying OGRIP’s goals and objectives for developing advanced, Enterprise GIS systems in the State of Ohio.

OGRIP is focused on the effective and efficient use of Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies throughout the state of Ohio. OGRIP serves as the primary coordinating body for spatial and geographic information initiatives between federal, state, regional and local governments.

Since 2001, Madison County GIS has emerged as one of the leading systems of its type in Ohio, winning for the second time in three years OGRIP's GIS Best Practice Award. This year Madison County is being recognized for its development of MCEMIS, or the Madison County Emergency Management Information System.

Rob Slane, Madison County CIO will be accepting the award on behalf of Madison County at the Ohio State GIS Conference Friday, Oct 1st at 11:00 AM.

Development of this system has been made possible by the following offices and departments.

Madison County GIS & Information Technologies - for spearheading and technical management of the project
Madison County Sheriff’s Department - for providing a major funding source and consulting with emergency personnel to define requests and document end user requirements
Madison County EMA - for providing a major funding source and consulting with emergency personnel to define requests and document user requirements
Madison County Commissioners’ Office - for providing a major funding source and support
Madison County Auditor’s Office - data sharing and data / software funding source
Local Fire, Police, and EMS - for consulting with emergency personnel to define requests and document user requirements, as well as, providing technical expertise

MCEMIS functionality
the ability to automatically pinpoint the location of a 911 call, providing emergency personnel with an amazing amount information, including an interactive digital map with aerial photograph and digital photo of the house or business.
provide the above information to emergency personnel in a vehicle or mobile unit.
utilize GPS to provide location based data
assist in determining the most efficient routes for emergency personnel.
actively track the movement of severe weather and forecast condition for a specific location.
model the location and characteristics of hazardous chemical plumes, identifying who is a risk.
launch 3,000 simultaneous 'reverse 911' calls, delivering specific information to calling trees or homes, schools, businesses, etc.. in a targeted geographic location. (such as those who are in the patch of a toxic plume)

"The overall goal of MCEMIS is to provide County, Municipality, and Township emergency personnel with the best tools and data available in the event of an emergency, as well as, on a daily basis." - Rob Slane, Madison County CIO

"MCEMIS is an enterprise system, committee managed and designed to incorporate all aspects of emergency management, shifted and molded based on end user requirements, not just at the County level, but on all levels of cooperative efforts. Utilizing a mixture of funding sources, with an open mind and a ‘can do’ attitude, various forms of technology have been integrated into a customized, easy to use, multifunctional GIS front end. Most importantly, this was all accomplished by a small county on a minimal budget with big ideas." - Rob Slane, Madison County CIO

Madison County’s Geographic Information System (GIS) has been awarded the 2002 Best Practices Award, an award for exemplifying OGRIP’s goals and objectives for developing such systems in the State of Ohio.

OGRIP (Ohio Geographically Referenced Information Program) is an organization whose goals are to:

-encourage the creation of digital geographic data of value to multiple users,
-foster the ability to easily determine what geographic data exists and
-foster the ability to easily access and use this data.

Receipt of this award is formal recognition of the achievement of those goals by Madison County.

Started in 1995 by County Auditor Jim Williamson, Madison County’s GIS has emerged as one of the leading systems of its type in Ohio.

GIS Administrator Rob Slane joined Madison County in early 2001 to expand the GIS into an enterprise-wide system. Today it is actively used to improve public safety, infrastructure management, planning, building & zoning, public health in addition to appraisal purposes in the Auditor’s Office.

The Best Practices Award will be presented to Madison County during the Town Meeting portion of the 2002 GIS Conference on Friday, September 27th in Columbus.