History
Aerial Photography
In the mid-1990s a need arose for new aerial photography for the entire county. Residential growth in Davidson County was beginning to boom and the current photography at the time was dated 1985. About the same time newer, more advanced technology was beginning to become more mainstream in local governments in North Carolina. Seeing this trend as it was developing, Davidson County decided that it wanted to move more toward the digital world with its new photography.
This in 1996, the County acquired new aerial photography in the form of digital ortho-photos. This new digital realm that the county was embarking on began to snowball and soon the concept of creating a countywide GIS took root.
Developing Data
In 1997, the County contracted work with an independent company to develop many layers of data that could be used in conjunction with the new ortho-photography. This project started with cadastral (tax parcels) data as its base and then proceeded on to include other layers such as zoning, planimetric, topography, hydrography, and land use.
In 1999, the County began receiving this data in house to store and maintain. Shortly thereafter, Davidson County contracted with the North Carolina Center for Geographic Information and Analysis to create a countywide soils layer. This data was delivered to the County in the year 2000.
Where We Are Today
Today, Davidson County operates an enterprise GIS. We have many end users in various county offices and departments. We also have 7 full time staff in various departments devoted to the maintenance of our existing data. Our GIS staff (2 full time) also works to create additional data layers and maintain them, do special projects and custom maps and applications for other county departments, as well as assist the public.
We also have data share agreements with the City of Lexington, Thomasville and High Point. As a result of public interest, the County provides citizens free access to our data via the GIS Internet web site.