It is apparent that technology is getting better as new ways of using it are also on the rise. Within Geographic Information System (GIS), technology also continues to advance and allow for data to be edited in many different environments. One enhancement of technology that GIS has encountered is the ability to make a copy of a database, release it to a field crew for disconnected editing and then bring those field edits back into the original database. In GIS it is considered a “checkout database” and it is something that the Village of Morton Grove is taking full advantage of for their Street Sign Inventory.
The village has a GIS Specialist on site only three times every two weeks making consistent editing a tough task. But with the use of a disconnected editing environment the GIS Specialist can now turn the project over to the community staff and train them how to edit the sign model personally. This will not only make the project more efficient, it will also give the sign shop employees a chance to manage the signs as they are changed out on a daily basis, thus enhancing the integrity of the data. Once a week when the GIS Specialist comes on site, they can review the data, load it back into the original database and then give the sign shop a new database to edit for the following week.
With this work flow in place, it is not too hard to imagine the amount of time and money that will be saved by using the latest improvements in technology. Time and money that would have normally be spent using the old fashioned editing methods.