Agenda - 01-21-2003-9d - Laserfiche WebLink

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DRAFT Orange County Land Records GIS P O Box 8181 Hillsborough, NC 27278 January 8, 2003 MEMORANDUM To: Rod Visser, Assistant County Manager From: Roscoe Reeve, Land Records/GIS Director Subject: Orthophoto Project In 1984 and 1998 the County obtained orthophotos (computer rectified aerial photography) to serve as an accurate base for its property maps. The 84 orthophotos were on mylar and the 98 orthophotos were digital. They have proved to be a valuable resource for government offices, land professionals and citizens. In both projects the municipalities, OWASA and UNC participated in a Fair Share cooperative effort contracting with the County through inter-local agreements to obtain enhanced orthophotos (larger scale) and other GIS products. By financial contributions of the participants the cost to the County was reduced and because of wide participation a better price was obtained from vendors. In 2000-2001 we began to prepare for the next updating of the orthophotos to keep its value current as a resource for the main offices that use photography: Planning, ERCD, Assessor, EMS, Environmental Health and Land Records/GIS. Important projects such as school site search, addressing and development impact have been greatly enhanced by the use of orthophotos on GIS. Funds were approved in the CIP for aerial photography but funds have not been approved for orthophotos. In November of 2002 the Town of Chapel Hill decided to go ahead with the Orthophoto project to obtain new orthophotos for their area. They developed, with my participation, an RFP with options that would allow the County to obtain aerial photography and orthophotos if it desires, taking advantage of a larger scope project. If the County does not wish to participate, after reviewing the vendor responses, the Town hopes we will contribute to the aerial photography for the Town project.