Whether it's environmental or economic, you can be sure that the county's Geographic Infor-mation System (GIS) is part of the process.

GIS Planner Chris Koltyk is the man who produces maps and related computer-generated services to all 26 county departments as well as the public. He is responsible for a component of the Department of Planning and Community Development.

Koltyk was among the department heads and specialists who presented programs during the Jan. 30-31 retreat of the Moore County Board of Commissioners. A computer mapping whiz, he told the commissioners that the county's database management system has endless potential, then proceeded to illustrate it.

Koltyk said the Web site has received calls from as far away as Hong Kong and Italy asking for information about Moore County. That's along with local and North Carolina inquiries.

"These people are interested and want to invest money, but they want information first," Koltyk said.

They can go online and determine the value and zoning of a piece of property and determine its proximity to public schools, parks and major highways.

In addition to these services, he creates, maintains and analyzes data, provides county geographic information through the Internet and custom mapping, and facilitates information exchange between interested parties. The five components are people, data, analysis, hardware and software.

"Everything's connected," he said.

Koltyk says the online service saves money for everyone, including other county employees and the public. They save time and gas money by not having to drive to Carthage to pick up needed information, and if they do need to make a trip, they know in advance what to ask for.

His office manages about 60,000 properties by way of computer siting.

People can go online to determine zoning, utilities, flood plains, watersheds, voting precincts, solid waste routing, criminal activities, roads, census tracts, lakes and rivers.

The system is used to feed addresses into the emergency 911 system and can be used to determine the quickest route for emergency responders to meet those addresses.

It can even determine the location of fire hydrants.

Later in the retreat, the GIS program received a boost from another department. Public Works Director Marcus Jones said he could not over-emphasize the importance of GIS to his department, especially the Public Utilities division.

"It's an integral part of our asset management," Jones said. "It's the only way that Public Works can grow without a disproportionate amount of staff growth."

In closing his presentation, Koltyk said that GIS saves "time, lives and money."

Florence Gilkeson can be reached at 947-4962 or by e-mail at florence@thepilot.com.