GDM was hired by the Town of Front Royal to update and improve the Town GIS basemap layer data. The water/wastewater utilities collection project created a new GIS layer and database of Front Royal’s manhole, waterlines and sewer lines. GDM replaced two large paper wall maps and 12 manhole logbooks with computer versions to keep track of service projects and maintenance for day-to-day operations. The on-going project was separated into manageable projects, including water/wastewater utilities collection, manhole cover attribution, and power line and pole collection, to work within local budget and staffing constraints.

GDM also successfully revised Front Royal’s parcel GIS data layer using high resolution digital aerial photos. The pre-revised parcel data was spatially inaccurate compared to real world location and other Town GIS basemaps. Most parcel boundaries were adjusted using fences, roads, buildings, bushes and sidewalks on high resolution aerial photographs. Additional accurate Town GIS data layers were used in deciding parcel boundary locations. The Town and GDM agree that the 8.300 revised parcels will not serve the same purpose as surveyed legal plats; instead, the revised parcel layer will provide a more realistic positional representation for GIS analysis.

GDM is in the process of converting 98 hand drawn analog power utility Vellum maps to digital GIS format. The analog Vellum power line and pole maps currently offer very limited access and use. Converting these maps to digital format will allow users to view a seamless utility map on the computer and compare to other town digital maps. Additionally, attribute information from the source utility maps is being input into a comprehensive database of pole top units, transformer units, miscellaneous units and power line types. The conversion involves scanning, vectorization, attribution, georeferencing, edgematching and final quality assurance for each power utility strip map. The final products will be three seamless GIS files for power lines, poles and substations featuring electrical attribute information.