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9'-111 City of San Marcos Geographic Information System Strategic Plan Baèkground A Geographic Information System (GIS) is an organized collection of computer : hardware, software, geographic data, and personnel designed efficiently to collect or ! capture, store, update, manipulate, analyze, and display all forms of geographically , - referenced information. In essence, a GIS system enables individuals to visually relate data or information onto a map. The data as well as the maps are in electronic formats. Examples of GIS include: Þ portraying all the utilities associated with a map, where the water & wastewater information is stored in Public Works, the map stored in Environment & Engineering, the Electric Utility housing the electric data, and the telephone and cable information obtained from private industries; . Þ depicting all sexual assault cases in two neighborhoods where the map came from Environment & Engineering and the crime data from the Police Department; and Þ demonstrating the previous 12 months of commercial development where the development data were obtained from Planning & Developmental Services and the maps from Environment & : Engineering; ¡ Þ the electric utility showing all electric feeders from a substation and determining which sections of town are affected by a power outage. GIS In San Marcos The foundations for a GIS began in the Environment & Engineering Department in 1986 with digital aerial topographic maps of the city and ETJ on a 80386 microcomputer using Intergraph's Microstation CAD (computer aided drafting) package. Using these aerials as a base, parcel information was scanned from paper utility maps created in the 1970's to provide a digital parcel file. Locations of water and wastewater lines, water valves and manholes were also placed in digital or computer graphic files. In 1989, the