GIS

Geographic Information System

Engineering (GIS Division) maintains and develops the City of Nacogdoches Geographic Information System (GIS). The Engineering Department provides GIS services to city departments, outside agencies, and to the general public.

History of GIS at City of Nacogdoches

The City of Nacogdoches, which is spread over 25.3 square miles, comprises some 15,219 land parcels, 229 miles of streets, and extensive water, sanitary sewer, and storm sewer systems as well as other infrastructure.

The city recognized the need for a GIS with access to real property and infrastructure data to facilitate more efficient management of its infrastructure. In 1999 the city entered into an agreement with the HUES GIS Lab of Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) to develop a GIS Infrastructure database. Using student labor, raster, and vector data (primitive by modern standards), the HUES Lab hammered out the foundations of the current Nacogdoches GIS Infrastructure database.

The HUES Lab built the GIS database up to 15 feature datasets and some 130 feature classes. Much work remained to be done with regards to straightening up many of these rough feature classes. The acquisition of new city 6-inch aerial imagery in January 2005 (an HUES Lab accomplishment) made such work more feasible.

Management of the city GIS Infrastructure database passed into other hands in 2005. The city assumed complete management of its GIS operations in 2009.