News
Baltimore Launches Online GIS Mapping System – City launches a new tool aimed to help homebuyers and promote the city.
Detailed picture of city now a click away
Easy-to-use Internet map can be homebuying tool
A city Web site that pinpoints neighborhood boundaries as well as historic and council districts is being promoted as another tool to help buyers find homes in Baltimore.
By Scott Waldman
Special To The Sun
The iMap (http://maps. baltimorecity.gov/imap) allows users to overlay different types of information on the map through an easy-to-use list of check boxes. Users can zoom in and out to find city schools, museums, street intersections and even trash dumps.
An aerial photography option and links to Web sites – where residents can signup for city services such as bulk trash pickup and street repair – are also included.
"When you start offering up so much information, it really helps out the buyer," said Tracy Gosson, executive director of LiveBaltimore Home Center, a nonprofit organization that promotes the benefits of living in the city.
Kerri Tkach, a real estate agent with Ron Zimmerman Realtors in Federal Hill, discovered Baltimore’s iMap recently and thinks the Web site will soon become an invaluable tool for city Realtors and potential homebuyers.
"There hasn’t been anything like this," Tkach said.
But city officials said they want the site to be a tool for city residents as well as those considering moving to Baltimore.
"I think people will depend on it and it will be a communication tool," said Bill Ballard, director of Enterprise Geographic Information Services, part of the Mayor’s Office of Information Technology.
Privacy was a concern in the designing process of the iMap, Ballard said. The aerial photographs don’t reveal anything about a particular address that isn’t already available on the Internet, he said. In the future, more information may be included about certain city buildings, he said.
"This isn’t a finished product," Ballard said. "It’s a starting point."
Though other cities such as Dallas and Washington have similar mapping systems, Ballard said Baltimore’s map was an improvement on traditional models because it is easier to use.
"We’re taking a very complex idea and data and transforming it into something [anyone] can use," Ballard said.
A similar online mapping system in Washington has proven to be an effective tool for area Realtors, said Vicki DeFries, director of Washington’s Property Services Modernization Program. She helped oversee that map’s development.
"They can look at real estate in an easier and simpler way than they had in the past," DeFries said.
LiveBaltimore’s Gosson predicted that the new iMap would make her job of promoting the city a lot easier. For one thing, she will have a lot less to remember.
"For professionals in the business, it’s nearly impossible to retain all the information," Gossen said. "It’s nearly impossible to know every neighborhood in the city."
Copyright © 2004, The Baltimore Sun
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