Turning Government Data into Spatial Intelligence
Webinar · [Date TBD] · From Data Silos to Spatial Intelligence — Event 1 of 4
How local governments are moving GIS from a department into an enterprise platform — and the first integrations that pay back.
Presented by MBS, a Sealaska Company · Organized by ConnectMii Events / AssetMapping.Events
Moderator: Greg Babinski, GISP · Presenters: [MBS Speaker, Title] · [City GIS Director, Jurisdiction]
Overview
Most local governments licensed Esri years ago, and the maps work. What they rarely have is a platform: a governed set of authoritative layers that permitting, public works, 311 and finance all read from and write to. This session laid out what that platform looks like and how cities get there without a rip-and-replace.
The speakers agreed on the starting point. Geocode the records you already hold, name an owner for every authoritative layer, and pick the one integration that removes the most manual reconciliation. Everything else builds on those three moves.
“Enterprise GIS isn't a bigger map. It's the moment location becomes the key that joins every system the city runs.”
The integration you skip now is the spreadsheet you rebuild every quarter.
Key Takeaways
- 01
Most cities already own the GIS platform. The gap is integration and governance, not licensing.
- 02
Geocode the records you already have before buying new data.
- 03
Name a data owner for every authoritative layer.
- 04
Start with the integration that removes the most manual reconciliation.
- 05
Treat address and parcel as the shared keys every department must use.
- 06
Build integrations on documented APIs so vendor upgrades don't break them.
- 07
Measure payback in staff hours saved and questions answered, not maps produced.
- 08
Put governance in writing before the second integration, not after the fifth.
Scoping an enterprise GIS program?
Jump to Field GuidePresentation One — [MBS Speaker]: “What Enterprise GIS Actually Means”
[MBS Speaker] framed enterprise GIS as an operating model rather than a software tier: one governed location layer that every business system references.
From viewer to system of record
A map viewer shows data. A system of record is where the authoritative version of an asset, parcel or address lives — and where other systems go to check it.
Governance comes before scale
Without named owners and update rules, each new integration copies the data problem into another system.
The enterprise GIS maturity ladder
| Level | What it looks like | Typical pain point |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop mapping | Analysts make maps on request | Answers take days and live in PDFs |
| Departmental web maps | Each department publishes its own layers | Conflicting versions of the same asset |
| Shared enterprise platform | One portal, shared basemaps and standards | Business systems still disconnected |
| Integrated system of record | Permits, work orders and 311 read and write location | Requires governance discipline to sustain |
“If two departments can disagree about where a hydrant is, you don't have enterprise GIS yet.”
Presentation Two — [City GIS Director]: “What It Took in Our City”
- We started with address cleanup. It was unglamorous and it paid for itself first.
- Every layer got a named owner and a published update schedule.
- We connected permitting to the asset layer before touching anything else.
- Council support came from one dashboard that answered a question they'd asked for years.
- We documented every integration so it survived a staff change.
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| Cross-department questions | Two weeks, three spreadsheets | [Same-day answer from shared layers] |
| Dig permit conflicts | Discovered on site | [Flagged at permit intake] |
| Asset records | Four versions in four systems | [One authoritative layer] |
Case Study — “[Jurisdiction]: Connecting Permits, Assets and 311”
The driver
Council wanted one view of open code cases, aging infrastructure and pending permits by neighborhood — and the city couldn't produce it without weeks of manual work.
The problem
- Permitting, asset management and 311 each kept their own location data
- Addresses didn't match across systems
- No owner for the authoritative asset layer
- Every cross-department report was rebuilt by hand
What was integrated
| System | Integration | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Permitting | Parcel and address validation against the GIS system of record | [Result] |
| Asset / Work orders | Work orders created from and tied to GIS asset IDs | [Result] |
| 311 / CRM | Requests geocoded at intake and routed by location | [Result] |
Figures as reported by the presenting agency; not independently verified.
Field Guide
Before you start — enterprise GIS readiness checklist
0/10Where integration fits first
| System | Integration pattern | Why first |
|---|---|---|
| Permitting | Address/parcel validation via API | Stops bad data at the source |
| Asset & work orders | Shared asset IDs and bi-directional sync | Removes the most reconciliation work |
| 311 / CRM | Geocode at intake, route by location | Visible to residents and council fast |
| ERP / Finance | Asset cost and lifecycle joins | Links maps to the capital plan |
Questions to ask any GIS integration partner
- Which of your integrations are still running three upgrades later?
- How do you document integrations so our staff can maintain them?
- What does your governance model look like on day one?
- How do you handle on-prem, cloud and hybrid ArcGIS Enterprise?
- Which CRM and ITSM platforms have you connected to Esri?
- How do you measure payback for a city our size?
- Who on your team will we actually work with?
- Address and parcel cleanup
- Name layer owners
- Publish data standards
- First API integration (permitting or assets)
- Shared dashboards for leadership
- Document every integration
- 311, ERP and field apps connected
- Real-time feeds
- Digital-twin-ready asset data
Audience Polls
Multi-select questions do not total 100%. Placeholder data shown.
[Panel reaction placeholder] The panel noted that a quarter of attendees have no integrations yet — and that staffing, not budget, was the most-cited barrier. Both point to starting small with one well-governed integration.
Full Q&A
[Moderator's note placeholder] The strongest theme of the session: cities don't need more software to start. They need ownership, a shared address standard and one integration done properly.
Glossary
- Enterprise GIS
- GIS run as a shared, governed platform that business systems rely on, not a single department's tool.
- System of record
- The authoritative source for a piece of data that other systems reference.
- Geocoding
- Converting addresses or descriptions into map coordinates.
- API
- A documented interface that lets two systems exchange data reliably.
- ETL
- Extract, transform, load — moving and reshaping data between systems.
- Data governance
- Rules for who owns, updates and approves data.
- Hybrid cloud
- Running some systems on-premises and some in the cloud, connected.
- Spatial data warehouse
- A central analytical store that keeps location as a first-class field.
- Digital twin
- A living digital model of physical assets used to simulate and plan.
- ArcGIS Enterprise
- Esri's self-hosted GIS platform for organizations.
- ITSM
- IT service management platforms such as ServiceNow.
- CRM
- Customer relationship management platforms such as Salesforce, often used for 311.
Speakers
Founder of GIS Management Consulting Services and the GIS Management Academy; past president of URISA (now the Geospatial Professional Network); American Geographical Society Ethical GEO Fellow; long-standing focus on GIS return on investment.
Contact[Two-line bio for the MBS presenter: Esri architecture, integration and governance experience.]
Contact[Two-line bio for the public-sector practitioner and the program they led.]
ContactAbout the Organizations + Resources
Esri partner delivering ArcGIS Enterprise administration, cloud and hybrid migration, custom APIs, and integrations with platforms like Salesforce and ServiceNow.
[Short description of the presenting city or county and its GIS program.]
Training and consulting focused on GIS management, governance and return on investment.