History of Southern Nevada GIS

1981
Clark County conducts a formal cost-benefit study and determines an automated parcel mapping system would result in a significant savings for County departments and regional districts. A system that includes infrastructures and facilities management capabilities would realize even larger savings.

1982
Clark County Department of Comprehensive Planning begins to develop a resource level GIS based on the USGS quad maps.

1986
Clark County initiates a four square mile Pilot Study to explore the potential application of GIS technology to local government activities.

1988
A GIS Data Committee emerges with representation from several local government agencies in Southern Nevada. The committee meets monthly and becomes the genesis for GIS cooperation in Southern Nevada.

City of Las Vegas begins digitizing mylar 200 Scale Landuse Maps to create the first parcel layer for the Las Vegas Valley.

1989
Clark County Manager creates GIS Management Office reporting directly to the Assistant County Manager. Initial responsibilies are to coordinate GIS efforts in the Las Vegas Valley and to maintain the Emergency Dispatch Base File.

Thirteen local governmental agencies implement GIS Interlocal Agreements. The partipants joined together to develop regional Geographic Information Systems (GIS) resources for Southern Nevada.

Black and white orthophotos (6 inch pixels) are funded through the GIS Interlocal Agreements for 350 square miles of the Las Vegas Valley.

1990
A $2M parcel conversion contract is awarded to SmartScan to convert Assessor paper maps to Arc/Info format. Estimated number of parcels to convert: 235,000

1991
City of Henderson begins to develop GIS resources to support Planning activities.

1992
Clark County GIS Management Office completes the conversion of a manual Emergency Dispatch Base File into an automated Street Centerline Database.

1993
Parcel conversion complete. Actual parcels converted: 285,000.

The Regional Flood Control begins conversion of Master Planned Facilities.

The Regional Transportation Commission begins to inventory Traffic Analysis Zones and Citizen Area Transit (CAT) bus routes.

1994
Election Department Precinct data is converted to a GIS format based on the Street Centerline Database.

1995
City of Las Vegas completes conversion of landuse and zoning data registered to the regional parcel data set maintained by the Clark County Assessor's Office.

1996
Orthophotos are again procured through the cooperation of the GIS Interlocal Agreements.

Southern Nevada receives Making A Difference Award from ESRI recognizing the positive impacts GIS technology has made on local governmental operations.

McCarran Airport begins to automate facilities ranging from terminal lease space to underground infrastructure.

1997
Southern Nevada receives Excellence Award from Automated Mapping/Facilities Management (AM/FM) Organization recognizing the remarkable coordination achieved in establishing a regional GIS.

The Las Vegas Valley Water District completes conversion of local distribution system.

1998
Clark County GIS Management Office releases GIS OpenDoor utilizing Visual Basic and MapObjects. Initial functionality was limited to displaying sectional tiles of parcel and zoning information with aerial photography. Also released is GISPLOT which is a desktop tool that provides easy access to UNIX Arc/Info plot resources.

Clark County funding is established to procure color rectified aerial photography twice annually greatly improving the efficiency of local governmental operations.

City of Las Vegas deploys the Interactive Internet Mapping Application providing access to parcel and zoning information.

Clark County Building Department begins project to scan and index all development review related documentation. Their lead is followed by Comprehensive Planning, Public Works, Assessor's Office, Treasurer and Recorder.

Clark County Water Reclamation District deploys GIS "Call Before You Dig" application at the front counter.

Clark County completes the conversion of Zoning records for the Las Vegas Valley.

1999
Clark County Department of Public Works deploys an Internet Mapping Application to inform the public regarding road construction projects and more.
Las Vegas Valley Water District releases an Intranet workflow application throughout the organization.

Utility Coordination Committee's deploys Project Conflict Avoidance client/server application integrating eighteen public utility agencies and private utility companies in an effort to coordinate construction projects and to avoid project conflicts within the Las Vegas Valley.

The Clark County GIS Management Office deploys the OpenWeb Info Mapper Internet application giving users access to a wide variety of property information.

2000
The 10th Annual State GIS Conference is held at the Orleans Resort and Hotel. The conference provides an opportunity for GIS Professionals from throughtout the state to get together to share their experiences and to learn from others.

Downloadable GIS Data Sets are offered via an ftp site. The data includes street centerlines, general points of interest, tax code boundaries plus much more. This data supports basic GIS activities including geocoding addresses and creating small scale mapping products.

2001
Open Web Info Mapper now contains zoning information for the Cities of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas.

2002
Census data, Zoning, Land Use and Comprehensive Planning data has been added to the free Downloadable GIS Data Sets.

Performance enhancements have been made to  OpenWeb Info Mapper. The application now uses ArcIMS technology.

2003
Condo Owner information has been added to the Select Property page in OpenWeb Info Mapper as available.

2004
Areas of Common Interest Search items have been added to OpenWeb Info Mapper.

Selected GeoDatabases have been made available from the free download page.