Laois County Council, Ireland

Laois County Council gives citizens a more powerful voice on land development issues

The Challenge

Every five years, Ireland’s local authorities develop county development plans that specify planning regulations, including which parts of the county are zoned for residential and industrial development. In recognition of the impact zoning and land development issues have on the lives of citizens, Ireland’s Laois County Council identified the need for an interactive Internet tool to improve the process in which citizens obtained zoning information.

Previously the public had to extract information from online PDF documents. These maps were time-consuming to download and did not allow citizens to pinpoint very specific land areas. If a person wanted to submit a comment or idea, they had to physically send a written submission, specify the exact area they were referencing, and then provide a detailed description of the problem before submitting comments or ideas.

The Objectives

Publish development zoning map on the Internet for public viewing via an interactive geographic information system (GIS) Web site
Enable citizens and stakeholders to make comments and share ideas about the zoning through the interactive Web site

The Solution

Laois County Council turned to Intergraph’s local distributor, Irish Mapping & GIS Solutions Ltd. to help develop an interactive mapping Web site using GeoMedia WebMap Publisher and Microsoft.NET. The first of its kind in Ireland, the site enables citizens to view the county’s development plan and make comments or submit ideas online.

Council officials chose Irish Mapping & GIS Solutions Ltd. to implement the Web site’s spatial component while choosing to build and implement the SQL database and Web form submissions page themselves. In addition, the council is hosting the Web site – ensuring the most accurate, up-to-date information is available.

A zoned map for every village and town is published on the site. Users can select an area of interest, view the map for that specific area, and complete a Web-based form to submit comments or suggestions relating to a particular area.

The Future Plans

The council plans to add extra functionality to the current site as well as develop an intranet version so that the development plan team can review the submissions along with the maps users were viewing when the submission was made.

Right Hand Column