A Vacant Land Study for the City of Anderson, SC

     The City of Anderson, South Carolina has been growing for the past several years and

that growth is expected to continue.  The entire Interstate-85 corridor between Atlanta,

Georgia and Charlotte, North Carolina has optimistic economic forecasts.  Anderson has

already benefitted by its close proximity to I-85 and would like to take advantage of further

growth.  Within Anderson's city limits are several hundred vacant land parcels with unique

characteristics and possibilities.  Prior to this project, the City did not have a complete list 

of these parcels.  Because economic growth is a top priority for Anderson, this project will help

build the City's GIS capabilities and prove to be a powerful tool for the future of the

municipality.



     The first phase of this project was to develop a centralized database containing all the

vital information regarding vacant land.  The data included the following spatial and aspatial

attributes:  tax assessment map number, owner's name and address, assessed value,

approximate acreage, zoning classification, adjacent land uses, information on street frontage

and type, traffic counts of any fronting streets, available utilities, general topographic

descriptions, and special conditions such as floodplain, soil types, etc.  The data would be

concentrated in a database which would afford easy, efficient, and fast retrieval and access. 

Besides prospective developers, such information could be used by City employees, Realtors,

utility companies, citizens, and so on.



     Furthermore, in conjunction with the City's Zoning Ordinance which is currently being

updated, the information would greatly assist in identifying future areas of growth.  This

capability will therefore aid the City in establishing a future development plan.  Potential

developers would also be able to run what-if scenarios to match their needs with the vacant

parcels.  The database will be able to find all suitable parcels by considering traffic counts, 

lot sizes, topology, proper zoning, available infrastructure, etc.



The Project


     In response to the range of needs, this project establishes a database which

comprehensively displays data on all the vacant parcels within the City.  It will eventually be

expanded to include land parcels outside the City limits which may be annexed in the future. 

The database will be supplemented by Anderson's growing geographic information system. 

The data stored in the dBase IV format will be linked with Esri GIS software.  The vacant

parcels will be spatially input through ArcCad using the City's recently purchased Numonics

Accugrid digitizer.  Displaying, printing, and plotting the various maps developed will be

accomplished by using ArcView.  By integrating the information contained in the database

with  existing capabilities of the City's GIS, the means of analysis was simpler.  The process

of formulating land use plans and other studies is significantly enhanced by linking such

databases to computerized mapping systems.  Automating basic planning tasks will enable the

current staff in Anderson to more precisely and efficiently handle their work.  The planners,

policy makers, private sector entities, and the public will all benefit from this project.

     

     Vacant land studies are becoming much more valuable in today's urban areas.  

Suburban sprawl has not only left many downtown areas neglected and weak, but have also

caused other places inside city limits to be overlooked and thus left vacant.  Many of these

unoccupied parcels have a potential to  prove that developing within a city will benefit all

parties involved.



Goals of the Project

     

     This project will focus on vacant tracts to assess what build-out potential for

commercial, industrial, residential, recreational, and any other classification of land use exists. 

Several factors will have to be considered such as topography, transportation access, available

utilities, and others.  At the beginning of this project it was evident that several steps would

have to be fulfilled in order for it to be successful.  It was of utmost importance that this

vacant land study became a valuable and practical tool for marketing available sites to potential

development ventures.  Several points where made clear during conversations among the

planning staff:



     1)   Vacant land parcels are generally small and scattered within the

          boundaries of Anderson.

     2)   The need for infill development is evident.

     3)   A mechanism needs to be developed that could effectively

          market existing vacant parcels for potential development.

     4)   Any vacant land study for Anderson should keep the sizes and

          locations of the vacant parcels in mind during the analysis

          because:

          a.   the City does not currently have a high concentration of industrial

               development and does not expect to have an increase, without

               annexation, due to the size of the known vacant parcels.

          b.   industrial recruitment is not a primary focus because of the lack

               of developable land for industrial location.

          c.   the City is aggressively looking for new commercial

               development.



Several factors make infill development quite desirable:



     1)   Infill makes use of existing infrastructure, thus saving public and private

          capital costs and avoiding the problems and delays of a fringe-area

          infrastructure.

     2)   Because infill reduces the need for development in the urban fringe, it

          conserves agriculture and environmentally sensitive areas.

     3)   Nonresidential infill, giving rise to new jobs and to an improved tax

          base, is highly valued by most communities, so that permitting is often

          prompt.



     To ascertain just what capability a lot possesses, one must personally either visit the

site to collect the data or use various maps (topographic, soils, etc.) and/or aerial photographs. 

Once this is done, the parcels can be categorized according to a predetermined scheme.  For

example, rating the lots from one to five or from excellent to undevelopable (criteria decided

upon by the specific locality) would be sufficient.  Of course different areas are going to

calibrate their scales according to their own unique situation.  In South Carolina, for instance,

the Lowcountry(coastal plain) might consider certain slopes unfavorable that the Upstate may

consider acceptable.  This is due to the fact that the Lowcountry has much less severe terrain

than the Upstate and would therefore be much more critical of areas that possessed notable

slopes.  It would also be imperative to include the total size of vacant parcels into the rating

scheme.  Also, it is known that industrial development requires a 'smoother' piece of land than

a low density residential project for example.   Many types of developments require a certain

amount of space as well as slope prerequisites.



     The planners in Anderson currently possess ArcView, ArcCad, and AutoCad software

packages.  With the acquisition of the latest version of ArcView, their GIS is now able to

overlay site attributes to better identify parcels that would best suit a user's needs.  Specific

requirements can be met by simply querying the system.  Esri has labeled their new ArcView

2 as 'The Geographic Information System for Everyone.'  With just a brief overview, even the

most illiterate computer users will be able to gain access to the vacant land data and extract

their needed information.  All components of this study will be contained on the computer

system through the system's new project feature.  A project is the file that the latest ArcView

creates to organize work.

     

     To plan for the future development of the vacant properties once they are all located,

the past will be considered.  With a GIS at our disposal, the staff will save both time and

money.  It will be possible to more precisely, efficiently, and neatly handle any land use

project.  Furthermore, with a user-friendly interface, entities outside of the planning staff 

will be able to utilize the system.  It is hoped that through this vacant land inventory, 

analysis, and computerized locator system, the rewards of using a geographic information system 

will be easily recognized.



     It is obvious that the first step must be to compile a list of the vacant parcels that 

exist within City limits.  The Anderson County Computer Services Department  furnished a list

containing all vacant parcels within City limits, their tax map number, property owner,

assessed value, acreage, street location and street type (county, state, etc.), and the zoning 

of each parcel on the list.  A list containing 2,306 vacant parcels and was compiled which

included:      

                    1- owners' name (alphabetized)

                    2- the location of the property

                    3- the assessed value

                    4- the acreage

                    5- contained lots' identification number(s)

                    6- the tax map number



     The printout that the County was able to supply was very beneficial for this study.  The

list of the six items above is only lacking in the assessed value, acreage, and lot's ID#

categories.  The assessed value and lot's ID# columns are approximately 90% complete and

the acreage is given for only about 10% of the parcels.  It will be easy to determine property

sizes once the vacant lands are digitized through the ArcCad software.  Although the County

Computer Staff agreed that they could develop a program to convert the data into a readable

format for the GIS (such as dBase IV), budgetary and time constraints would not allow for the

capture of any digital data that might have been transformed.  However, it is fairly simple to

manually tie attribute data into ArcView coverages.



Sorting the Data

     The vacant parcel list supplied by the Computer Services Department did contain

several flaws pertaining to the scope of this project.  Many of the vacant parcels included on

the list contain an empty building on the property.  While these parcels should be considered

vacant, the analysis will focus on vacant lands.  (There are approximately seven hundred of

these vacant lands.)  In the future the project may expand to include those parcels which are

vacant and possess an abandoned building(s).



     The computer printout of vacant parcels was also inaccurate because it contained

church properties.  Parcels which are just parking lots was another error found on the list. 

Because a parking lot is a legitimate land use, those parcels should not be considered vacant. 

The list also contained parcels which are traffic intersection islands, ponds, and even little

portions of land which buffer a neighborhood from a major street.  All of these errors were

due to the fact that none of these properties were assessed a property tax.  All of these

problems will have to be sorted out as the true vacant lands are inventoried.



Checking for Accuracy

     To confirm the accuracy of the data, several windshield surveys will be conducted. 

The GIS and its current layers will help in determining accuracy to an extent, but several areas

will be visually checked.  Data updates from the past two years are currently being

incorporated into the GIS.  The Planning Staff is in the process of checking their present data

to confirm its accuracy and make any corrections.  For example, a few streets are labeled

incorrectly, some buildings are coded wrong (i.e., residential versus commercial), previously

demolished structures are still in the system, and so on.  The biggest problem with this two-year 

gap is that newer subdivisions may not exist in the GIS.  Many new roads, cul-de-sacs,

and new buildings are simply not a part of the system.  The staff does have aerial photographs

which will be used for this project; but they, too, are somewhat outdated.  Because the

orthophotos were flown in February 1992, the windshield surveys will be the ultimate source

of accuracy.  Finally, once all of the needed data is obtained and verified, it will be time to

create the actual system.





Getting the System Functioning


     With all of the data logically inserted into the GIS, the computerized locator system

will be functional.  Several tests will have to be performed to both check for accuracy and

insure that all the functions operate as expected.  A few scenarios will be run (and documented

in the project results) which will demonstrate how the system can be used by just about any

entity.  For example, a retail developer may be looking for some vacant land with specific

characteristics. Different types of analysis will be performed with the system to make sense of

the vacant land data once it is put into the GIS.  Maps will be produced and placed into the

results which will clearly show where the vacant properties are in Anderson.  Tables will be

made regarding the number of empty lands and acreage within each zoning district.  Graphs

and charts will help to visualize this data.  This type of analysis may aid the City in estimating

how much (if any) residential, commercial, and/or industrial lands are needed in the future. 

With zoning converted to an actual attribute for each of the vacant lands, maps can be plotted

which display the vacant lands based on how they are zoned.  The newly acquired color plotter

in the Planning Department will drastically improve output in this phase of the project.  This

analysis will hopefully produce some critical information concerning the vacant lands in

Anderson.  ArcView 2 will allow the staff to manipulate the data obtained through this project

in many meaningful ways for a variety of future studies.



     The GIS in Anderson, as stated earlier, is fairly new.  The layers which it does contain

were all put into the system by the contractor, Westinghouse Landmark GIS, Inc. of Cary,

North Carolina, in 1992-93.  Those layers include:

          - manhole covers

          - utility poles

          - building footprints

          - parking lots

          - map tile sheet (a grid network)*

          - water bodies

          - streams

          - fire hydrants

          - roads

          - play areas (athletic fields, golf courses, tennis courts, etc.)

*Note:  The original maps were compiled by stereophotogrammetric methods in accordance

with National Map Accuracy Standards.  The grid is based on the South Carolina State Plane

Coordinate System, 1983 North American Datum.



Adding Crucial Data Features

     After reviewing the criteria for this project, it was determined that there existed a need

to add two more layers to go forward with the study.  Anderson's city limits had to be

digitized to have a true study area defined for the system.  This was a large, time-consuming

task.  The most current map of the city limits dated back to the late 1960's.  Therefore, it was

necessary to sort through County tax map books to determine precisely which parcels were in

and out of the city limits around the borders.  The city limits line was then drawn to scale on a

map plotted from the ArcView software.  A polygon was able to be digitized from this via the

ArcCad software.  After performing the necessary editing, topology was built using the

appropriate commands (CLEAN, BUILD, etc.).  The city limits were thus incorporated into

the system and is a usable layer in the GIS.



     As for the City's zoning, several polygons were drawn onto another map of the City

plotted by the GIS.  These features were then digitized and edited to be saved into the GIS as

yet another layer.  They were then coded and given their appropriate zoning attributes.  While

the process seems quite simple, it was actually very time consuming.  Because zoning borders

sometimes weaves through city blocks between various structures, follow streams, roads, the

city limits, and so on, drawing the numerous polygons alone took several hours.  Then, to

accurately digitize all of the arcs spatially correct, edit them, and build polygon topology was

very time consuming.  But in the end, once the two new layers were coded correctly, the GIS

became that much more useful.  The city limits layer has already aided planners in Anderson

during several projects (such as proposed annexations like the Wal-Mart/Sam's Wholesale

Club area annexation just to the north), and the zoning layer has been presented to the City

Council for preliminary approval (final approval will most likely occur in June 1995 after

citizen input hearings, minor changes, and Council's definitive consent.)  Furthermore, any

changes that will have to be made, i.e., annexations or zoning border changes, can easily be

made with the GIS.



Selecting the Input Guidelines



     With all the necessary background layers digitally installed into the GIS, the vacant

lands can be further studied.  Once all of the true vacant parcels are sorted out from the list

supplied from the County, located and drawn to scale on work maps plotted from ArcView, it

will then be time to digitize them as polygons.  Vacant parcels that are contiguous will be

considered as one vacant land.  However, if different property owners possess parcels in such

vacant lands, each separate owner's name and address will all be listed in the appropriate

attribute table in ArcView.  However, if a zoning boundary separates a vacant land, then that

particular polygon will be split at the lot line in which the zoning boundary follows.  The

resulting polygons will appear as separate features in the GIS.  This will allow for a better

analysis of the vacant lands at the conclusion of the study.



Input of the Spatial Data



     The actual digitization of the vacant lands should again be fairly elementary, but quite

time consuming.  After dividing the City into sections, ten maps will be plotted from the GIS. 

Control points will then be located on the system and noted on each of the four maps.  Each

map will contain at least four control points at its grid line intersections.  For example, one

control point at a grid line intersection might be x=1,495,000.000, y=995,000.000.  These

coordinates are based on the geographic reference system which was used by Westinghouse

Landmark GIS, Inc. during the initial development of Anderson's geographic information

system (refer to the earlier comment describing the grid network for more detail).  The control

points will help insure that all of the input data will be spatially accurate.  Once four control

points, also known as 'tics,' are digitized into the ArcCad program, the system will display an

RMS (the calculated difference between recorded and specified control point locations,

expressed as the residual of the means squared).  This number will enable me to determine if

the map placed on the Numonics Digitizer is actually in spatial coordination with the GIS.  All

the vacant lands that are drawn on the particular map can then be digitized.



     Once all of the vacant properties are digitized off of the ten base maps and edited to

insure accuracy, topology will again be built for the coverage.  This will insure that actual

polygons do exist so that attributes can be linked to each individual vacant piece of land. 

Adding attributes will be done through the ArcView program.  The ArcCad and AutoCad

software packages which are used to input data (through digitization), edit coverages, and save

coverages are finished with at this stage.  However, if any changes to the vacant land coverage

come about in the future (for example, a vacant parcel is developed), the computer aided

drafting (CAD) programs will again be used.



Input of Attribute Data



     All of the information that the County Computer Services Department supplied will be

included in the vacant land attribute tables.  As for those entries which lacked acreage, the

system will help find the answers.  ArcView can automatically display the square footage of

polygons contained in any coverage.  This number can easily be converted to acres.  However,

it may later be decided that square footage is actually the appropriate attribute to keep on 

log due to the numerous small infill types of vacant lands.



     An item which was not included on the County's list was the owners' addresses.  These

will be manually looked up in the County tax books.  Vacant lands which contain more than

one parcel and have different owners will again have multiple entries.  How the various

parcels are zoned was also not included on the list.  Again, the GIS will be able to assist here. 

By overlaying the zoning theme, which was input earlier for this project, onto the vacant land

theme, it will be easy to determine each land's zoning.  And by taking advantage of the

Windowing environment, it will be possible to have the coverage on the screen directly next to

the attribute table for ease of querying and logging of the data.



Sorting the Data for Analysis



     Once all of the attributes have been added to each of the hundreds of vacant properties,

a true and comprehensive inventory will then be checked for accuracy and saved into the GIS. 

Because there will be such a large number of vacant lands, the data will be grouped into

several categories such as zoning and size.  With this foundation, tabular reports and graphical

products may be generated for analysis.  Various scenarios of maps can be produced to better

interpret Anderson's vacant properties.  For example, maps and reports can be developed

which represent vacant lands by their zoning categories.  Sorting of the vacant land inventory

by zoning categories will be a helpful tool in analyzing the supply of available lands for future

development.  Large individual parcels can be examined for their potential development as a

whole complex, or Planned Development District (PDD).  The reports of vacant land data may

even be dumped into spreadsheets and data bases for the Planning Staff to incorporate into

other analyses.



     In addition to having many applications for land analysis, sorting of the vacant land

inventory in this way will also help in the study's employment as a powerful marketing tool. 

The Planning Staff will be able to quickly guide potential developers to the vacant areas of the

City that meet their requirements.  All of the important information about the various sites will

be easily accessed off of the GIS.  This will drastically cut back the amount of time which

would be taken up if all of the data had to be retrieved independently.  A few mock scenarios

will be undertaken to demonstrate just how the computerized locator system will actually aid

the City as a marketing tool.  For example, a hypothetical firm will be described which wishes

to open a branch in Anderson.  The firm will have several specific criteria for their site

location.  It will be shown that by using the vacant land study, installed into the GIS, the

developer's needs can be quickly and efficiently met.  Various maps can be produced of the

site(s) that meet the set requirements, as well as tables with all of the attribute information.



Findings



     Utilizing the information system integrated into ArcView 2, the findings of the project

were easily found.  By tieing attribute data to the vacant land theme enabled the staff to query

the system on various elements.  For example, the system reported the total acreage of the

City to be just more than 8077.  Of that land, it was found that approximately 1350 acres were

vacant.  Categorizing the vacant lands by zoning was simple and gave a more in-depth

analysis.  The lands zoned R-20 (Single-Family with 20K sq.ft. min. lot size) make up the

majority of the vacant lands in respect to total size.  The R-20 zones makes up more than 22%

(just less than 300 acres) of the land found to be vacant in Anderson.  The zoning district R-15

follows with just less than 16% of the vacant land found.  The residentially zoned vacant lands

make up more than 77% of the vacant land found in this project.  In total numbers of vacant

lands, the ones zoned R-5 makes up the most with 184.  However, the number is somewhat

insignificant due to the fact the lands may be made up of more than one parcel.  A parcel

database to be prepared and installed into Anderson's GIS in the future will help to correct this

problem and make the numbers of vacant lands mean something.  But by enabling planners to

at least query and visualize the vacant land according to acreage, zoning, and other attributes,

the system is already proving itself to be very powerful and useful on a day to day basis. 

Entities outside of the Planning Department and even outside of the local government have

requested information and hard copy maps of the vacant land's project.  The system is

currently being used to locate a new modern sports complex for the City's Recreational

Department and even assisting private developers in search of areas for multi-family housing.



Summary



     Again, it is crucial that this project upon completion produces something that is truly

practical and useful for the planners in Anderson.  To convince City officials that the GIS is

the information technology of choice, the system needs data to perform desired analyses.  This

vacant land inventory, analysis, and computerized locator system will be a good way to

demonstrate the potential benefits that an expanded GIS Department could offer the City. 

Selling decision makers on GIS can be the greatest adventure as well as the greatest potential

obstacle to implementing the technology on a large scale.  It is anticipated that this project 

will help build the needed organizational support and lead ultimately to a commitment to expand

the current system.  The cursory analysis produced some critical information related to the

land needs for the City of Anderson.  During land use analysis related to the Comprehensive

Plan, this project's findings should be examined.  The vacant land inventory has many

applications, both for land analysis and market development.  However, the inventory does not

attempt to address such complex issues as availability and market preference.  Both of these

factors are critical in terms of what will actually be developed.  The location of infill parcels

in older neighborhoods reduces the likelihood of new development in those areas.  These

factors are extremely difficult to quantify.  This preliminary analysis did not include

"underutilized" land, such as a single family home located on a large parcel or a parcel zoned

for business.  Therefore, the availability of land may be somewhat offset by the potential for

development of land that is not considered "vacant."  These may well be topics of future

studies conducted by the Planning Staff in Anderson.



     If in the future the City decides to designate a new growth boundary based on studies

such as this, the process will not only depend upon GIS analysis, but will also be subject to the

political decision making process.  City and County legislators will consider the effect of the

boundary upon each jurisdiction's ability to operate both efficiently with the new boundary,

and also the needs and desires of the community as a whole.  Individual property owners, as

well as land development interests and special interest groups, will be acutely aware of the

effect the new growth area boundary will have on property values and development potential,

since urban intensity development will not be allowed to occur beyond the new boundary.



     Future tasks related to this issue and GIS should include an analysis of land use,

population densities, and development trends within a proposed growth area.  With GIS as an

analytical tool, staff will be able to conduct analyses for several different growth area

scenarios.  Data obtained for each scenario can be analyzed in order to determine if a new

growth area is sufficient for population and development growth expected within the next

several years.



     Additional considerations may include allowances for locational preferences, projected

population growth rates and employment projections for the area.  Many of these variables are

often difficult if possible to accurately predict, especially during times of uncertain economic

growth trends.  Utilizing GIS as an analytical tool will enable both legislators and staff to

work together toward successfully implementing goals and policies related to both an enhanced

quality of life and a sustainable community into the 21st century.  Development of the local

ArcView 2 application facilitates public and staff access to information related to these and

future issues.



Specific Recommendations
 



     The system may be upgraded in the future in several ways.  Listed below is a ranked

list of additions that would serve to enhance the current system:

1.   Add a parcel database to the existing GIS.  This would allow a more in-depth

     analysis to be conducted on the vacant areas of the City.  Because of the

     extensive man hours needed to research, accurately digitize, and input attribute

     data for the thousands of parcels, hiring a private consultant would be the most

     feasible route to take for Anderson.

2.   Tie the City's GIS to the County Tax Assessor's Office to keep the data up to

     date.  The Assessor's information on the City system would provide the City

     and other users with several advantages:

     a.   Cost savings from eliminating County connect time and development charges,

     b.   Availability of Assessor information to all users instead of one connect point in

          the County Courthouse,

     c.   Transfer of responsibility and management of City requests for custom reports

          and screens to a newly formed Geographic Information System Department,

     d.   Flexible file structure for manageable access and integration with other

          department and agency systems such as Business Licenses, Economic

          Development, Community Development, Permit Tracking, Chamber of

          Commerce, and so forth, and

3.   Add to the existing vacant land project those parcels which contain a vacant

     structure.  Due to a lack of data, those parcels were not included in this study. 

     Their addition would allow a more accurate analysis of vacancy in Anderson.

4.   Purchase and implement Esri's new Avenue programming language into the

     City's GIS to further simplify the use of the system.  This would allow the GIS

     staff to create hot buttons which would serve as shortcut keys on a system

     terminal to perform commonly used functions.  For example, a button could be

     made that automatically plots out whatever maps, tables, and/or charts that are

     on a screen in an organized manner.

5.   Looking at land just outside of Anderson city limits would also aid in the

     usefulness of the current project.  The previously mentioned growth boundary

     could be analyzed much better with these lands considered.

6.   Using a digital camera to capture images of the vacant lands would put the

     system on the cutting edge of technology.  By clicking on a vacant land,

     building, or whatever other features the staff decides to input, users can

     instantly view photographs of the places or things that they are interested in. 

     This would enhance the marketability aspect of the system.



Strategies to Market the Vacant Lands



     It is of utmost importance that city officials understand how the development of the

vacant lands will impact Anderson so that future planning and economic development policies

will have a positive impact on the community.  The inventory itself is a valuable tool for city

officials since many applications are possible.  With the aid of this new vacant land locator

system, encouraging proper development through the implementation of a marketing strategy

will be much easier and effective.



     Various applications of this new system were discussed with the Planning Staff during

the development of this project.  Being able to query the vacant land files to select sites with

specified physical or economic characteristics will be particularly useful in industrial

development and marketing the LI zoned vacant lands.  As stated earlier, those characteristics

desired by a user would be entered into the system and the computer would query the database

and identify any lands which possess the desired site attributes.  Ideally, the system could be

set up in the future with the addition of the Avenue programming language to select sites with

the specified attributes and print out each of them on an 8.5"x11" map which would display

parcel lines and topography (each to be input into the GIS in the near future), location of water

and sewer lines, and a legend which could list all the relevant site attributes.  Additionally, by

combining census data off of a Tiger/LINE CD-Rom and traffic flows from the S.C. Highway

Department, prime sites could be identified for retail/commercial developments.



     More of the large 36"x40" plots showing the vacant parcels with zoning classifications

need to be produced and distributed to various outside agencies, particularly the Planning

Department and the Anderson Chamber of Commerce.  Developers and businesses interested

in vacant lands are frequently visiting these two offices.  The plots of the entire city would

give any interested parties a general idea of the type and quantity of vacant land in Anderson. 

They can be referred to the GIS Department if they decide they would like more information

on a specific site.  It would also be beneficial to get the larger plots in the hands of local 

real estate and development companies.





Updating the System



     Procedures for continuously updating the data collected for this project must be devised

and implemented in order for the system to remain a "system" and not a "point-in-time study." 

The spatial information and the attribute information make up the database in this system.  To

ensure accuracy, both need to be updated on a regular basis.  Site plans showing building

locations can be used to digitize the new structures into the computer as new construction

occurs.  Likewise, demolished structures will have to be deleted from the system.  Assessor's

records should be used to update all ownership and value information.  The vacant land locator

system established for this project can remain effective only if the data is updated on a fairly

regular basis.  Falling behind in maintenance will ultimately lead to the loss of the system as a

planning and analysis tool and will most likely result in the total abandonment of the locator

system.