During a GIS presentation on November 16, Hinesville Mayor Allen Brown and Liberty County Board of Commissioners Chairman Donald Lovette signed a proclamation making Nov. 16 geographic information systems day for Liberty County and Hinesville. 

“We appreciate the work the GIS does,” Lovette said. “After Hurricane Matthew came through, the GIS maps helped tremendously.”

Launched in September 2008 in Liberty County, GIS is a system used to gather, manager, and analyze geographic data. GIS can be used by all of the public and can be used to obtain property information including zoning and updated digest year values.

“For the county it’s important for planning because it’s used in all aspects of local government,” mapping technician Jay Johnson said.

The presentation included an augmented reality sandbox that read the contour of the manipulated terrain in real time through the computer. Augmented reality sandboxes create topography models by using real sand to create an elevation color map, topographic contour lines, and simulated water.

The GIS team also presented a 45 minute interactive PowerPoint to go in depth about what GIS is, how it works, and how to use the GIS website and app that is available to both Hinesville and Liberty County residents. GIS is commonly used for tropical information and hurricane related information, but has many other uses including detecting flood zones and maps. In Liberty County the new 911 system is dependent on GIS to accurately point addresses.

“This presentation is our first stepping stone,” Mapping and GIS supervisor Scott Wall said. “Next year we hope to have it on a bigger scale.”