Barbacena-MG

[IMAGEM_CAROUSEL]

GIS in City Halls

Digital Cartography and other data collection techniques increased the volume of information in a Municipal Administration, in addition to the growth effect due to the natural expansion of the cities.

This information is usually found scattered in various technical and administrative secretariats, in different formats and often duplicated. Using a system to handle these data is recommended, because, in addition to enabling the storage of a large volume of data, it ensures the information integration.

Geographic Information Systems come as a tool to implement the integration of various fields of actuation. And, in turn, City Halls start to demand knowledge, programs and information in the sense of using this knowledge and these technologies.

GIS Mapping

Having a digitalized cartographic base is a large step. Updating is faster and more accurate. You can generate theme maps that can support the manager. But this alone does not enable the development of a GIS as a support tool to planning and decision.

The preparation of a plan focused on GIS applications, and mainly a full cadastral database (made up by specific information for each desired application), is essential. From this information the GIS applications will be based upon and the quality of the products and studies generated will be directly connected to the reliability of this information (mapping and cadastre).

Barbacena-MG City Hall

The city of Barbacena is located in the central region of Minas Gerais in Serra da Mantiqueira, at 1,160 meters of altitude, 170 km from Belo Horizonte. An estimated population of 115,000 inhabitants (IBGE, 2000) and subtropical weather enable a high life quality to its dwellers. Its economy is based upon agriculture, with focus on agricultural produce, flowers and animal husbandry.

In the urban perimeter of Barbacena, ESTEIO S.A. executed Aerial Survey services with the purpose to conceive a GIS for the City Hall. The service comprised the steps of aerial photogrammetric coverage in 1:8,000, field survey, digital stereoplotting in 1:2,000 scale, digital orthophotos in 1:2,000 scale. This cartography performed served as spatial base for the features of the GIS specific to the Barbacena City Hall.

Routines Developed

The multipurpose character of a GIS is intended to generate functionalities to support the decision making works related to aspects such as:

1. • Traffic and Transportation Planning;
   • Agricultural Planning;
   • Urban and rural Real Estate Cadastre;
   • Environmental and natural resources handling;
   • Territorial arrangement and spatial planning (use of land, whether rural or urban);
   • Services planning (education, Police, health and social services);
   • Location of Major Centers (Commerce, Banks);
   • Researches and environmental and public health policies;
   • Focusing on “risk groups” and their problems;
   • Acting as support for the Real Estate Registration and for misappropriation by the city administration;
   • Automated Mapping/Facilities Management (AM/FM) Applications, generally corresponding to information systems to support service companies in the fields of: Telephony, Water, Electricity, Gas and other public service dealerships.

Specifically for Barbacena City Hall, main routines developed focused on the following activities:

1. • Calculation and identification of real estate units in the plot;
   • Calculation of the smaller distance between entities (Plot-Building, Plot-Curb and Block-Curb) verifying if there are building alignment problems moving towards the limit defined by the City Hall;
   • Data update – Update Plots, Update Blocks, Import new plots, Import new blocks, Import new curb blocks, Update Database;
   • Search by cadastre database field;
   • Verifying the consistency of the Database with the Cartographic Base and vice-versa;
   • Coordinates Transformation;
   • Updating Streets Orientation;
   • Viewing Documents related to Themes;
   • Calculation of Plots Built Area;
   • Consistency of Plots Built Area;
   • Generation of Blocks Sketch;
   • Generation of theme maps;
   • Generation of files to use in other systems.

Technical Qualification

An important factor for the GIS success in the City Administration is to form a multidisciplinary team to manage the system. It is suggested that a minimum interdisciplinary team for a full GIS include in its members:

1. • Urbanist qualified in urban zoning, plot mapping, urban planning, environmental impact;
   • Engineer specialized in urban projects (water, sanitation, telephony networks etc.);
   • Engineer acting in the fields of GIS, digital cartography, aerial Photogrammetry;
   • Analyst that masters the computer programs needed to implement the system.

In some cases, these functions can be assigned to the same person that gathers, for instance, the conditions indicated on items three or four. The team also includes the technicians needed to digitalize the maps, perform field topographic works, etc., that can be under the supervision of an individual from the team.

For technical qualification of the multidisciplinary team, Barbacena City Hall selected technicians to form the system handling and updating team. These professionals received intensive Basic Cartography training and were trained in the use of AutocadMap (AutoDesk) and ArcView 8.2 (ESRI).