The City of Mesa, Arizona, with a population of more than 450,000, recently decided on an organizational strategy that would move GIS functionality away from desktop software and onto the Web. This move makes the management of updates and adjustments to the GIS easier and allows more people within city government to take advantage of GIS-based applications.

With ArcGIS Server, City of Mesa utility field staff can map the locations of gas valves and track the condition of assets.

A long-standing user of ESRI's GIS software, the City of Mesa Utilities Department has had a vision of making GIS available to as many people in the organization as possible for everyday decision making. Even though GIS had provided plenty of productivity gains in specialized utility departments, such as engineering, operations, and design, Mesa Utilities wanted to provide these same tools in a cost-effective, user-friendly environment to other city departments.

After investigating ArcGIS Server and recognizing its potential benefits, the utility decided to implement the technology and move GIS operations from single-client GIS seats to an enterprise GIS platform via a service-oriented architecture (SOA). Once the new architecture was in place, several applications immediately went into full production, including the Inspector Activity List, Gas Valve Maintenance, Mailing Address Report, and Web-Based Utility Output Map Generator.

The Inspector Activity List application provides field crews with property and asset data needed to do the job. Available remotely via laptop computer, the GIS application integrates with an Oracle database, combining spatial asset and property data with work order data to create custom inspection reports. It serves 15 building inspectors and is anticipated to grow to serve about 50 inspectors citywide.

The Gas Valve Maintenance GIS application allows gas utility workers to interactively track gas valve maintenance. It is accessible both internally and externally, serving five members of the field crew via wireless laptop computers and 15 office support staff in three different departments. It is also being configured for use in other areas within the city that perform similar tasks and services.

With the Mailing Address Report application, construction office staff interactively select properties from a digital map to create custom mailing lists to notify residents of upcoming construction projects. The application integrates with the county parcel data and the utility billing system to retrieve property ownership data for generating the mailing lists. It will be rolled out citywide to serve the entire city employee base of 1,300 people.

Finally, the Web-Based Utility Output Map Generator application creates template maps on the fly. Users in any department can generate maps of customers, assets, land, and other data to meet their specific needs.

"This new strategic direction allows the City of Mesa to make available more enterprise GIS applications to the masses without high installation and training costs," says Jason Bell, IT services leader, City of Mesa. "We now have a developer-friendly environment for creating Web services. The biggest gain is the first step toward moving our enterprise to a more Web-centric GIS focus."

Mesa Utilities is using ArcGIS Server as an enterprise GIS platform for providing robust, user-friendly applications to its employees. The results have included better data management and improved productivity in the office and the field.

More Information

For more information, contact Jason Bell, IT services leader, City of Mesa, Arizona (tel.: 480-644-3642, e-mail: jason.bell@cityofmesa.org). Learn more about ArcGIS Server possibilities at www.esri.com/arcgisserver.