Unalaska, AK – The City of Unalaska is considering investing over half a million dollars on a Geographic Information System (GIS). The system creates an interactive, digital map of the city and all of its infrastructure, including water systems, electrical systems and more. It forms a link between scattered pieces of information.

"The idea is that it will improve efficiency, it will reduce costs, it will save time, it will save money," said CEO David Holdstock of Geographic Technologies Group, the company that is developing the city's GIS strategic plan. "It will manage and inventory all of the infrastructure. And the old classic story of the engineer who leaves the city with a wealth of knowledge that knowledge won't leave the city. It will remain in digital form even after staff leave."

The city will need to invest $517,000 over the next three years to create the system. The money goes towards amassing the data, buying computer hardware to store the data and access it in the field, licensing the software systems, and training staff to use it. City employees will be able to access the data though internal networks and through the internet, but it will be highly protected.

Holdstock said the GIS is useful not only for efficiently maintaining city infrastructure but also for hazard mitigation plans in the case of a tsunami or a massive earthquake. "GIS inventories all infrastructures. It locates people and assets and that can be used to determine the vulnerability of the city." Part of the system models how much of the city would be covered in water if sea levels rise.

The program will take the city three years to fully develop, though parts of it will be useable much sooner. It will be up to the city council to determine what information would be available to the public.