Wilson County Continues to Leverage GIS

Wilson County, Kansas has been a Schneider client since June of 1998.  Instrumental in the partnership has been Sandy Cox, GIS Coordinator, until her retirement in December 2011.  In 1998, Sandy needed new mapping for 911 addressing she was doing for the County.  Sandy looked at various vendors all over the country to best help with her situation.  However, no one would work with the County to pull parcel information from their existing CAMA appraisal system, none that is except for The Schneider Corporation, formerly ProMap.  Thus the long and formidable relationship between Schneider and Wilson County began.

There were many advantages of having GIS in the rural community.  There were now parcel locations mapped, rural cemeteries mapped, rural water districts mapped and flood plan areas mapped, along with individual road grader districts.  The roads were now being maintained and roads were mapped for school bus routes.  Four individual school district boundaries were now easily seen and mapped within the County.  Mapping was now available for the voting precincts for the rural areas and the ward in the two larger cities.  The County was now able to buffer for zoning and the State Board of Health requirements.  Wilson County has all of their recorded gas and oil leases mapped out to show what parcels are leased and to which companies.  Requests for copies are now readily on hand for aerial photography on parcel maps.  Many more advantages come up quite frequently as something new comes across the County’s desk.

Many users can utilize with easy use Schneider’s Beacon site.  The appraiser’s office does the editing and other departments depend on the GIS for viewing (i.e. Road and Bridge, Register of Deeds, Clerk and Election Official and Environmental use).

Wilson County isn’t the only one to utilize Beacon realtors, bankers, oil and gas companies, and the cities have become dependent upon the information provided by the County.  Beacon cuts down the traffic in the county offices and it’s available to reach a worldwide audience.  Beacon’s user-friendly interface and 24/7 availability makes it a tool utilized by all.

Sandy continues to move Wilson County’s GIS forward in 2012, returning part-time to continue her journey.  We look forward to our continued growth and updates that Beacon can provide Wilson County for years to come.

Wilson County Beacon modules:

  • Account Management – Manages subscriptions and access to modules
  • Comparable Search – Based on user specified property details
  • County Defined Maps – Standardized countywide maps available for downloading
  • Mailing Labels – Available to internal departments only
  • Out Building Information – Orion collected information about improvements
  • Residential Information – Orion collected information about dwellings
  • Taxation – Displays the tax breakdown of properties assets
  • Tax History – Previous four years of information