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King County GIS Center Client Services performs a wide variety of GIS-related services, ranging from GIS consulting to spatial data analysis to map and report production. Following is a sample of the projects we have completed for our clients. We hope these examples can be a source of inspiration for projects that would support your own business needs. Parks, Facilities & Trails Guide Map (City of Kirkland)
| The City of Kirkland has published a comprehensive map guide to the more than thirty parks and related features within the city limits. Park system information, such as telephone numbers, a park-by-park matrix of recreational facilities and features, and colorful photographs that illustrate the broad range of parks-related recreational opportunities that are available citywide, is supplemented by a detailed map created by the King County GIS Center's Client Services Group in collaboration with the City of Kirkland. In addition to the park locations, the map illustrates the citywide street network, relative traffic volumes for arterial streets, on-street bicycle lanes, walkways, the locations of public art installations, and the locations of numerous public facilities, such as schools, post offices, fire stations, and Park & Ride lots. All of this is mapped against a subtle shaded relief background. |
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 The GIS Center created the map in consultation with the City of Kirkland's Parks, GIS, Public Works, and MultiMedia Services staff. Using GIS data provided primarily by the City of Kirkland, GIS Center staff designed map symbology to represent a complex set of often spatially coincident features. They imported GIS data directly into desktop graphic illustration files, which preserved spatial accuracy while enabling them to apply a wide range of graphic tools to the task of developing a highly readable and attractive map layout and design. |
The City of Kirkland Parks, Facilities & Trails Guide map is just one of a growing collection of publication-quality, GIS-based maps created by the King County GIS Center's Client Services Group.
 | GIS Assessment and Development Action Plan (City of Tukwila)
Like many small-to-medium size municipalities, the City of Tukwila found itself in the position of wanting to expand its use of GIS but had limited resources with which to carry out expansion. Careful planning for sensible, efficient GIS expansion, while always important, is critical for organizations such as Tukwila's city government. In a consulting capacity, the King County GIS Center developed a process for analyzing the potential business uses for GIS within the City of Tukwila, and assisted Tukwila in developing a GIS development plan.
GIS Center staff began by reviewing documentation that related to the established business functions and existing IT/GIS resources within Tukwila. For their part, Tukwila's own GIS Committee submitted specific questions to the GIS Center to ensure that key issues would be addressed in the analysis.
Subsequently, during a series of interview sessions, GIS Center staff obtained additional information about Tukwila City operations, business needs, and GIS development. The process also included a survey of the existing data, hardware, and software resources that were available to support GIS design and development in the City.
GIS Center staff analyzed the information and developed alternatives for Tukwila to consider in acquiring and developing GIS components that would build upon their existing capabilities. These included:
- applications
- data
- software
- hardware
- staffing
- training
- coordination.
In the later stages of the project, GIS Center and City of Tukwila staff held workshops in which preliminary findings and recommendations were reviewed and discussed. Finally, the GIS Center and the City collaborated on the preparation of a GIS development action plan and supporting budget estimate.
This partnership with the City of Tukwila is part of the King County GIS Center's growing program of regional outreach to the entire King County community. The GIS Center’s goal is to increase the use of GIS in local cities and agencies, and to help ensure their success by providing specialized GIS resources, skills, and services.
GIS Emergency Response Preparedness
and Staffing (King County Regional Communications and Emergency Coordination Center) King County's Emergency Management Division provides leadership, coordination, and technical support for countywide disaster preparedness, response, and recovery; public safety and general government radio communications services; and E-911 network services. Within the division, the Office of Emergency Management works to reduce risks, strengthen support systems, and help people and their communities prepare for and cope with disasters. From the regional preparedness exercise, Sound Shake '98, to the civil disturbances surrounding the 1999 World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle, to the February 2001 Nisqually Earthquake, KCGIS Center staff, along with other volunteer King County GIS professionals, have provided on-site, real-time mapping support in King County's Regional Communications and Emergency Coordination Center (RCECC).
Following the Nisqually Earthquake, the KCGIS Center initiated a project to develop more structured GIS event and volunteer protocols for the RCECC, and to enhance the availability and viability during emergency situations of GIS data layers and applications. Implementation of GIS protocols, orientation and training of GIS emergency volunteer staff, and GIS emergency response system enhancements will continue on an ongoing basis to ensure the utmost in GIS emergency response service on-site in the RCECC. Earthquake Vulnerability Mapping (Project Impact)  Project Impact: Building a Disaster-Resistant Community was a national initiative designed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Its basic goal was disaster preparation to buffer communities against the impacts of a disaster before one strikes. In 1998 King and Pierce counties were selected to receive a Project Impact grant to help ensure the viability of the Puget Sound region after a major disaster such as an earthquake, a landslide, lahars generated by Mt. Rainier, or a hazardous materials incident.
Working in cooperation with the King County Office of Emergency Management, the United States Geological Survey, Pierce County GIS, and other local groups, the GIS Center produced a series of maps depicting several aspects of the vulnerability of the Puget Sound transportation system to earthquakes. One of the maps (left), which Michael Jenkins of the GIS Center created for Project Impact, appeared in the ESRI Map Book. It can also be found on the Environment page of the Virtual Map Counter. Eastside Transportation Partnership: Mobility Action Priorities, Project 2000 (King County Department of Transportation (KCDOT) Office of Regional Transportation Planning)
  The Eastside Transportation Partnership (ETP) is a partnership of cities, counties, and transportation agencies working together to address transportation issues in east King County. The Mobility Action Priorities (MAP) report was first developed in 1998 by the ETP to document priority transportation needs. The report advocated for the funding and implementation of 117 "Priority" projects and 71 other "Key" projects that are critical improvements to ease congestion and enhance mobility on the east side of Lake Washington. In 2000, ETP initiated a review of MAP in order to identify accomplishments, assess status of projects, and affirm priorities.
As the review and subsequent report were being completed, the KCDOT Office of Regional Transportation Planning called in the KCGIS Center to help create a publication-quality index map of the updated set of MAP projects. Using GIS data supplied by Transportation Planning, the KCGIS Center created a detailed map that illustrates a complex and spatially dense set of projects in a convenient, report-size format.
The ETP Mobility Action Priorities Projects 2000 map can be found on the Transportation page of the Virtual Map Counter.
 Park Map Brochures (King County Parks)  Over the past several years the King County Parks (DNRP) has published a number of high-quality map brochures to facilitate public access to, and enjoyment of, Park System properties and facilities. Integral to each brochure is a map that has been developed by the KCGIS Center in collaboration with King County Parks.
Each map is a result of the data collection and management efforts of the staff of King County Parks, and the cartographic design and production expertise of the KCGIS Center. KCGIS Center staff use data from Parks databases, supplemented with data from the King County GIS public data library, to create highly detailed, full-color, offset-printed maps that combine the spatial accuracy of GIS technology with publication-quality design standards.
In addition to cartographic design and production, the GIS Center has performed pre-press work on the text and photo layouts, and coordinated printing for each of these map brochures. The brochures represent the ability of the GIS Center to design, create, and manage publications from the earliest stage of product conceptualization all the way through to print.
A number of Parks brochure maps are available on the Recreation page of the Virtual Map Counter.
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