Oak Hill's GIS operations honored nationally

Oct. 3—Advances in technology have resulted in more efficiencies as municipalities and other agencies or organizations strive to continue providing necessary services for the public.

For about a decade, the City of Oak Hill has been among the many municipalities which have more and more utilized geographic information systems (GIS) to simplify operations.

Oak Hill's efforts were recognized over the summer during the annual Esri user conference in San Diego. The city's GIS coordinator since 2019, Tyler Bragg, was recognized on behalf of Oak Hill's GIS department.

"Besides solving our location-based data needs with infrastructure, GIS has helped us streamline our workflow and made it easier to retrieve data," said Oak Hill city manager Damita Johnson. "We are honored to have received such a prestigious award.

"Tyler has been very innovative in designing GIS programs for us and paving the way for this recognition."

The Oak Hill City Council recognized Bragg during its regular meeting in September. Bragg said the award "reflects very highly" on city operations.

Bragg earlier this year said the use of GIS has been critical as Fayette County's largest municipality continues its focus on providing services to its residents. "Bill Hannabass spearheaded the use of GIS as city manager at the time, recognizing the importance of GIS, what the system's capabilities are and how useful it is," Bragg explained. Even prior to (former GIS coordinator Marvin Davis, 2015-19) being here full time, the city worked with GIS on a part time basis, he noted.

Code enforcement was among the early uses, said Bragg, who first became involved with GIS during a five-year active duty period as a geographic intelligence specialist with the United States Marine Corps.

"We use GIS for a very broad spectrum of applications in our municipality, from infrastructure management (such as sewer), public works such as road paving and sidewalks, drainage is another big one," said Bragg. "So, we are able to go into the system and keep track spatially of where things happen. For example, what section of road was paved when, and now we have a historical account so we can look back on it and see when that section of road was paved, how much it cost.

"You're able to keep track of all that data, which you can then use to guide future endeavors, future projects, as you move forward."