This paper was delivedered at the 2013 Geospatial World Forum in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, May 15, 2013.

1. THE ROLE OF REGIONAL
GEOSPATIAL COORDINATION FOR
EFFECTIVE CITY MANAGEMENT
Greg Babinski, MA, GISP
Finance & Marketing Manager
King County GIS Center
Seattle, WA, USA
URISA Past-President
URISA GIS Management Institute Committee Chair
COGO Secretary
Summit At-Large Editor
2013 Washington GIS Conference Co-Chair
Geospatial World Forum
Rotterdam: 15 May 2013

2. Agenda
 The Organizational Context
 Why Regional Geospatial Coordination?
 Reduced costs
 Financial benefits
 Enhanced business benefits
 Case studies overview
 GIS as a public utility
 Discussion

3. KING COUNTY,
WASHINGTON
 Microsoft
 Gates Foundation
 Boeing
 Paccar
 Nordstrom's
 Amazon
 Starbucks
 Port of Seattle
 Weyerhaeuser
 Univ. of Washington
 Google
 Skype
Population (1,931,000 (14th most populous US county)
Area: 2130 square miles (sea level to 8,000’)
39 incorporated cities
Viable agricultural and private forestry areas
Remote wilderness & watershed lands

4. HOW IS GIS USED FOR KING COUNTY BUSINESS?
 Mapping
 Public information delivery
 Growth management & planning
 Property assessment
 Land development permitting
 Site selection
 Simulating environmental conditions
 Emergency response planning
 Crime analysis
 Transportation planning
 Bus & van routing
 Road maintenance management
 Public health service delivery
 Service center location analysis
 E911 operations
 Airport sound abatement
 Boundary management (legislative districts, voter
precincts, tax unit boundaries, etc.)
 And the list goes on…..

5. KCGIS Center & Agency GIS End-Users

6.  King County GIS
 City of Seattle GIS:
 Seattle Public Utilities GIS
 Seattle City Light GIS
 Suburban cities: Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland,
Renton, ~20 other municipalities
 Puget Sound Regional Council (growth and
transportation planning agency)
 Sound Transit (regional transit agency)
 Puget Sound Energy (private gas and electric utility)
 Cable service providers
 E911 emergency dispatch districts
 ~15 public school districts
 ~25 public utility districts
 Mukleshoot Indian Tribe
 U.S. Federal government
 State of Washington
THE ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

7.  Reduced costs:
 Back-office functions are critical and difficult, but do
not add value
 Shared back-office functions save money and are more
sustainable
 Financial benefits:
 GIS staff can support focused productivity enhancing
applications to support agency business processes
 Enhanced business benefits:
 GIS staff can focus on value-added agency focused
work
 Shared applications
WHY REGIONAL GEOSPATIAL COORDINATION?

8. REGIONAL GEOSPATIAL COORDINATION: REDUCED COSTS
King County T-Net

9. REGIONAL GEOSPATIAL COORDINATION: REDUCED COSTS

10. REGIONAL GEOSPATIAL COORDINATION: REDUCED COSTS
King County
Regional Imagery
Consortium
 51 agencies
 $1.1 million
project cost
 65%+ cost
savings for
each agency
 2-year cycle
planned

11. REGIONAL GEOSPATIAL COORDINATION: REDUCED COSTS
King County GIS Data Portal

12.  Reduced costs:
 Back-office functions are critical and difficult, but do
not add value
 Shared back-office functions save money and are more
sustainable
 Financial benefits:
 GIS staff can support focused productivity enhancing
applications to support agency business processes
 Enhanced business benefits:
 GIS staff can focus on value-added agency focused
work
 Shared applications
WHY REGIONAL GEOSPATIAL COORDINATION?

13. KCGIS GIS ROI Study
Consultant Team from UW Evans School of Public Affairs:
 Prof. Richard W. Zerbe
 Danielle Fumia & Travis Reynolds
 Pradeep Singh & Tyler Scott

14. KCGIS GIS ROI Study Results

15.  Reduced costs:
 Back-office functions are critical and difficult, but do
not add value
 Shared back-office functions save money and are more
sustainable
 Financial benefits:
 GIS staff can support focused productivity enhancing
applications to support agency business processes
 Enhanced business benefits:
 GIS staff can focus on value-added agency focused
work
 Shared applications
WHY REGIONAL GEOSPATIAL COORDINATION?

16. REGIONAL GEOSPATIAL COORDINATION: ENHANCED
BUSINESS BENEFITS
King County GIS Training Program

17. REGIONAL GEOSPATIAL COORDINATION: ENHANCED
BUSINESS BENEFITS
King County GIS Training Program

18. REGIONAL GEOSPATIAL COORDINATION: ENHANCED
BUSINESS BENEFITS
eCityGov Alliance: Regional GIS-based Applications
10 partners & 27 subscribers

19. REGIONAL GEOSPATIAL COORDINATION: ENHANCED
BUSINESS BENEFITS
eCityGov Alliance: Regional GIS-based Applications

20. REGIONAL GEOSPATIAL COORDINATION
Other components of regional geospatial utilities:
 Architectural design
 Hardware and software procurement
 Contract administration
 Database management services:
 Primary data centers and emergency back-up hot sites
 Database administration
 System administration
 Metadata management

21. REGIONAL GEOSPATIAL COORDINATION
Other components of regional geospatial utilities:
 Architectural design
 Hardware and software procurement
 Contract administration
 Database management services:
 Primary data centers and emergency back-up hot sites
 Database administration
 System administration
 Metadata management

22. URISA’s GIS Management Institute
Promoting Regional Geospatial Coordination
GMBOK:
GIS
Management
Body of
Knowledge
Municipal GIS
Operations
GCMM
Accreditation
GCMM: GIS
Capability
Maturity
Model
URISA
Education
ULA & UMA
GIS
Management
Educational
Program
Accreditation
GISCI
GIS
Managers
Certification
Component
GMCM:
Geospatial
Management
Competency
Model
Future:
ROI Services
Other
Accreditation
Benchmarking

23. Babinski’s Theory of GIS Management:
As GIS Operational Maturity Improves, ROI Increases
URISA’s GIS Management Institute
Promoting Regional Geospatial Coordination

24. Agenda
 The Organizational Context
 Why Regional Geospatial Coordination?
 Reduced costs
 Financial benefits
 Enhanced business benefits
 Case studies overview
 GIS as a public utility
 Discussion

25. Greg Babinski, MA, GISP
URISA Past-President
URISA GIS Management Institute Committee Chair
COGO Secretary
SUMMIT At-large Editor
Finance & Marketing Manager
King County GIS Center
201 South Jackson Street, Suite 706
Seattle, WA 98104
206-263-3753
greg.babinski@kingcounty.gov
www.kingcounty.gov/gis