A: Municipalities in Northern Ontario are faced with the double challenge of satisfying requests for information from a wide variety of requesters (internal staff, councillors, ratepayers, investors, business people, officials from other levels of government, the media, and social service organizations) and finding the answers from a widely disparate collection of data (tax rolls, zoning records, inspection data, various local inventories, etc.).

The GIS will simplify these challenges. Through a process of integration and automation, GIS will set up and deliver a set of “views” that customizes the presentation of information to the specific needs, interests and capabilities of different groups of users.

The system will:

ü       Provide municipal officials and staff with a tool that will support and enhance their own activities on                  behalf of the community and ratepayers.

ü       Provides local officials and staff with a tool through which they can manage their own documentation;

ü       Respond to public demands for better access to government information more efficiently;

ü       Reduce the staff time required to handle general inquiries;

ü       Act as a data repository to address the needs of the Provincial Asset Accounting requirements;

ü       Support Economic Development and Tourism promotion;

ü       Facilitate partnerships with community organizations and display data sets from and for various organizations;

ü       Offer a single-entry system for updating and sharing data such as business directories, economic information, membership lists of business groups, etc.,

ü       Use a convenient Web-based application that can be accessed from the Municipal  website and  reflects the look and feel of that website;

ü       Provide taxpayer self serve options such as zoning changes, building permits, well and septic location, infrastructure enhancement plans.