The County of Middlesex Planning & Economic Development Department is equipped to handle a wide variety of land use related technical work as well as design and produce various digital and hard copy maps and graphic design products.  We possess strong technical skills and a commitment to increase our knowledge and monitor new technologies within the industry.  This ensures that County staff are adept in the analysis, manipulation and presentation of complicated spatially defined information.

The County's Geographic Information System (GIS) has evolved over the past few years. Data in the system includes:

• Soil types

• Recreation

• Libraries

• Schools

• Parcel Fabric from Teranet Enterprises Inc

• Single Line Road Network (SLRN)

• County Official Plan schedules

• Statistics Canada Enumeration Areas

• Middlesex County Master Address Database

• Lots and Concessions from the Ministry of Natural Resources

• Groundwater Study data from the Ministry of the Environment

• Natural Heritage Features, Physical Geographic features and Vegetation features as part of the Middlesex Natural Heritage Study

• Ortho Imagery obtained from the Ausable Bayfield (Black & White, 1999), Upper Thames River (Black & White, 2001) and St. Clair Region (Black & White, 2003) Conservation Authorities

• Ortho Imagery obtained from the Southwestern Ontario Ortho-photography Project (SWOOP) (Colour 2006)

• Ontario Base Mapping (OBM) from the Ministry of Natural Resources

There is an on-going effort to maintain the quality and accuracy of these mapping layers.

Many of the projects undertaken by staff in the Planning & Economic Development Department use GIS because of the ease in which the data can be maintained  "in-house".  The use of GIS also ensures the data we create and receive from outside sources adheres to common data standards.  Some of the uses GIS provides to our department include:

• 911 dispatch assistance

• spatial monitoring of tree cutting applications

• distribution of County data layers onto MiddlesexMap

• local development application screening maps to determine any potential impact to County features, natural or man-made

With the current data layers, the County has successfully implemented their Middlesex Application Processing System (MAPS) which will allow the County to know before applications are made, the issues which may require further investigation.