Current Lancaster County, SC GIS News

The Current Lancaster County, SC GIS News page provides information on how Lancaster County, SC GIS is progressing as Lancaster County continues to advance. This page is updated quarterly throughout the year. Please contact the Lancaster GIS office with questions or comments.

Something to Think About
Everything you experience from day to day happens somewhere in geographical space. With GIS, you have at your fingertips, the ability to search, research, measure, compare, and answer complex questions that used to take many sources and a good deal of time. What is going on in your geographical space today?

See What Others Are Doing With GIS 
A Geographic Information System (GIS) enables you to superimpose more layers of distinct geographic information on this base map in order to perform spatial analysis. Epidemiologists can use GIS analysis to model and predict the spread of a disease. Urban planners can use GIS in order to understand how new developments will affect traffic flow and demand on local services.
Follow the link above to see how people are using GIS around the world. 

NetworkGIS
*** If you didn't already know... GIS runs on our computer network.


See What Lancaster County, SC is Doing With GIS
The Lancaster County, SC GIS office is working to build the BEST GIS possible. We are making great strides in doing that. Here is a list of some active GIS projects. This projects list below is not exhaustive but should keep you well informed of our progress and direction:

1. GIS Governance - We are now operating with one in place.


Geospatial governance is a critical component to a holistic Geospatial Strategy and aligns an organization's location technology investment with its goals. It encompasses the system that directs and controls an organization's geospatial resources; people, processes, technology, and structure that enables actions to align them to the organization's mission and vision. Good policy emerges from decision-making processes that give the right people the right information at the right time in the right way. GIS offers an important advantage when formulating policies because it enables simultaneous analysis and visualization of different types of data that would not (or could not) otherwise be combined. 

2. GIS Committees - We are now operating with them in place.

  • GIS Executive CommitteeSets and drives the priorities for the GIS Strategy and Mission. This committee is accountable for managing and addressing business issues, monitoring risk, quality, and project timelines. This committee will discuss and advance the IT side of GIS as well as formulate GIS direction from GIS Advisory Committee results. Meet as needed.


  • GIS Advisory CommitteeCommunication with County departments on use of GIS and set the Vision for use of GIS in your organization. This committee will promote discussion of the GIS needs of all County departments which will help steer the direction for GIS in Lancaster County.  Meet quarterly.


  • Local/Regional Coordination Committee - The Lancaster County GIS participates in both local and regional GIS coordination. Much of the participation is related to data sharing, data acquisition, and overall coordination. The Lancaster County GIS currently participates in data sharing with the Lancaster Water and Sewer, the City of Lancaster, Lancaster County Gas Authority, the Lancaster County School District, and bordering counties to help reduce the cost of purchasing expensive aerial photos and technology sharing. The benefits of this coordination are not just in cost-savings but also in creating positive lines of communication throughout the county. Meet quarterly.


3. GIS Hardware - We are now currently bringing new servers online.
Through the use of Covid relief funding, we were able to purchase new servers on which to run the GIS. Our previous were placed online in 2013. We definitely got our use out of them and it is now time for a change. The new GIS servers will be running ArcGIS Enterprise and maintained using a diagnostic software ArcGIS Monitor. All was purchased using Covid relief funding.

4. New Aerial Photography - This is currently being flown (January 2024)
This is the final flight for our current contract with Eagle View/Pictometry. We are receiving 3" aerial photography for the entire county. The Lancaster County, SC GIS was able to work with Eagle View/Pictometry to iron out the best contract for the County getting the best product for the best price. Kudos to them. Delivery date will be early July 2024.

5. New LiDAR - This is currently being flown (March 2024)
Lidar, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth. Lancaster County will have LiDAR points for our panhandle region down to the race track and extend over to our eastern county border. The LiDAR will allow the County to move into 3-D GIS which can be vital in land development. We also can create new topographic lines from the LiDAR data. This data will help many County departments as well as developers.


7. New 3-D Mesh Data - This is currently being flown (March 2024)
A 3D mesh is 3D textured model of a project area in which the ground and above-ground feature facades are densely and accurately reconstructed. The 3D mesh can be viewed from any angle to get a realistic and accurate depiction of the project area. We will use the 3-D mesh in ArcGIS Urban software. ArcGIS Urban technology empowers urban planners with enhanced visibility into data. They monitor fluctuations over time, evaluate the feasibility of proposed projects and predict their effects on the environment. We will look to expand the use of ArcGIS Urban into may other County departments.

8. Road Asset Collection Project - This is currently being done 
More information to follow.

9. Storm Water Asset Collection Project - This is currently being done 
More information to follow.

10. Lancaster County, SC GIS Resources Web Page Built 
A web launch page is in place for staff and customers to obtain and use everything GIS. Everything GIS done by Lancaster County can be accessed through this site. This includes access to specialty web maps/apps, purchasing GIS data, and downloading static GIS PDF maps commonly used by staff. If you have suggestions for additional web maps/apps or static PDF maps, please contact the GIS office.