Charlottesville has put their mapping system online for everybody to use, Courtney Beale writes for Charlottesville Tomorrow. The Charlottesville GIS Viewer is functionally much like Albemarle County’s web-based GIS system, providing property data, assessments, transfer histories, photos, and relatively sophisticated map display options. It’s pretty straightforward to create a custom map of floodplains, historic districts, police districts, voting precincts, or any of a few dozen other data layers.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to allow for any thematic mapping or allow for real bulk download for analysis (the export function just permits of downloading addresses, zoning, and parcel numbers, not assessments or property details or histories). I’d be happy to be corrected and told that the site does have these abilities but that they are hard to find (which still wouldn’t be great).
If the City really wants an excellent map application that allows for citizens to get genuine insight into assessments, zoning, etc. (as opposed to being merely able to browse the data parcel by parcel) the only thing they have to do is release the assessment data as data (not in a controlled interface). Open source tools are available to assemble fantastic mapping and analysis tools, there are plenty of bright citizens who would bring them to bear, and I’d even imagine that a place to host an application could be found. I’d sure be happy to work on it.
I wonder why there is a Copyright disclaimer on the entry page (The County’s GIS site doesn’t have any such disclaimer)?