A real property development plan for the Army National Guard results in a GIS for 54 states and territories. Tremendous amounts of data are converted into tight intuitive ArcView GIS applications using insightful Avenue programming. This paper features lessons learned in creating and maintaining a large, complex GIS. Focus is on scalability, automation, and Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), which are three keys to project manageability. Illustrations include project setup using intuitive dialog boxes, automated project creation and maintenance, and identifying and querying external data using ODBC. Find out how a good plan and a little programming can amplify the precision of your application.