BENTONVILLE — It’s not broken, but Benton County will fix its online mapping program.
The reason for the changes is a common one in the world of information technology — progress.
“The old program is no longer going to be supported,” Richard Booth, county GIS project manager, said of the need for the changes. “It began to be phased out about 1 1/2 to two years ago.”
The plan is for the new program to be rolled out within the next week or so, Booth said. The GIS mapping feature is a popular one, he said.
At A Glance
Popular Feature
Benton County’s Geographic Information Systems feature is one of the most popular destinations on the county website www.bentoncountyar.gov. It ranks third behind online tax payments and public records. The county offers a selection of parcel information maps, Sheriff’s Office crime information maps, a food inspections map and a create your own map section.
Source: Staff Report
“If it’s down for more than 10 minutes, we get calls,” Booth said. “It’s used pretty heavily.”
The site is frequently used by title companies, Realtors, surveyors and others who need information about property in the county, Booth said. Individuals use the site as well as businesses, he said. The new program will feature both simple searches and more advanced search capabilities, Booth said.
“You may have a resident who is having a boundary dispute with his neighbor,” Booth said. “People may be interested in buying a piece of property and they’re looking for more information about it. We have a lot of investors from out of state calling wanting information about areas they’re interested in possibly developing.”
County Assessor Bear Chaney said his office uses the mapping feature on a daily basis. Chaney also works with people outside the office who are interested in the information available through the site.
“Our appraisers use it every day,” Chaney said. “They’ll use it to look at where they’re going to be going out to visit that day. A lot of times out in the county there’s places where there are locked gates and this lets us see if there’s a reason for us to contact the property owner to get access to the property, if there’s been some changes or new construction.”
Chaney said his office also uses the site to verify information without having to send someone to make a site visit.
“We had someone call us to ask us about their property assessment. They said a mobile home listed was gone,” Chaney said. “I can pull it up and see if it is in fact gone. It does save us time when we can look at it and see if something is gone or if something has changed. Out on the ground it can be hard to know exactly where you’re at sometimes, and we can use this to get a better idea of which parcels we’re looking at.”
Roderick Grieve with Grieve Appraisal Service in Bentonville said he’s used the service for as long as it has been available. Grieve said he uses the site to obtain parcel information and flood hazard information. He also uses the aerial photography feature of the site.
“It’s a very good way to get a snapshot of a parcel,” Grieve said.
Grieve said he’s worked with the county informally on the upgrade and he looks forward to it.
“It looks like it’s going to be terrific,” Grieve said. “It’s got a lot more features. I was a little hesitant at first. You get used to the old way. But once I got into it, it was terrific.”