Abstract

Spurring Economic Development Through GIS
Track: State and Local Government
Authors: Preeti Tuladhar, David Stoloff

In the past year, the City of Kissimmee established an economic development department tasked to stimulate corporate investment in the city. To that end, money has been budgeted for the current fiscal year to develop a GIS web portal where developers can perform location suitability analysis for new development projects. We intend to use the ArcGIS business analyst API for Flex in conjunction with ArcGIS Server to deliver an easy-to-use, interactive visualization tool for prospective businesses. Demographic, transportation, zoning and topographic data layers, among others, can be queried, weighted, combined and analyzed to produce overlays that quickly communicate information that businesses need to make informed choices about development opportunities in the city. We anticipate the project will be mostly if not fully complete by the conference date. Our hope is that sharing our experience and results will make it easier for other municipalities to leverage GIS for fostering economic development.