Subscribers to RLIS Live learn about new features including anytime, anywhere access to GIS data.
Every week, the Metro Council Chamber becomes a roundtable for strategic decision-making by the Metro Council and regional leaders about land use, transportation, climate change and other issues critical to the Portland metropolitan area. For more than 20 years, those decisions have been informed by Geographic Information System data provided by Metro's Data Resource Center. On Tuesday, the council chamber filled with many of the men and women from the region's city and county planning departments who provide that data through Metro's Regional Land Information System.
The first RLIS subscriber meeting, held December 7, brought together data providers, data users and the DRC staff that stitch together the data contributed from multiple sources into a seamless whole known as RLIS Live. RLIS Live is available by subscription at the Metro website with many of the layers provided at no charge.
Anticipated to become a yearly event, the three-hour meeting offered staff an opportunity to bring subscribers up to date on the recent shift from providing the more than 100 layers of GIS data every quarter on a DVD to making the data available for download anytime directly from the Metro website. Breakout groups provided subscribers a chance to learn about specific aspects of RLIS Live including ways to use the data, how to view and download data layers from the Discovery site and details about data sets.
RLIS subscribers come from agencies, businesses and associations and include city and county planners, real estate developers, environmental groups, neighborhood associations and a growing number of application developers that create the kind of apps the public is accustom to using on smart phones and websites.
"Metro's GIS data has been used internally by staff for years to support policy- and decision-making," said Mike Hoglund, director of Metro's Research Center. "But it's also a service of value Metro provides to the region. GIS technology is constantly evolving," Hoglund added, "Because RLIS Live stays at the forefront of that technology, the region has the data it needs to be innovative in its thinking and problem solving."
RLIS Live supports the region's six desired outcomes by providing GIS data to inform the decision-making that leads to vibrant communities, economic prosperity, safe and reliable transportation systems, and leadership on climate change.