Online Portal To Make Government Records Available Online

Indianapolis – (July 20, 2010) – Hendricks County, Ind. and three towns within the county all are users of the Beacon™ online portal from The Schneider Corporation (http://www.schneidercorp.com), an interactive public access tool that allows users to view County information, public records and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) via an online portal.  Hendricks County and the town of Brownsburg joined the towns of Avon and Plainfield, which currently are users of Beacon™.

The Hendricks County Beacon™ portal features a public site that includes important property taxation and assessment information, in-depth search capabilities and robust property reports. The Beacon™ portal also provides users the ability to view an interactive map of the County’s GIS data and aerial photography as well as convenient tools to collect specific parcel informa-tion. The Beacon™ portal for Brownsburg features detailed infrastructure and public works in-formation, including the location of streets, utility and sewer facilities.

“By working together with the towns in Hendricks County, we are able to leverage data sharing in the Beacon™ solution,” said Mike Graham, county administrator, Hendricks Country.  “Now towns can access parcel data through the county application, and the county can access the public works data in the town application. The result is a very robust product at a lower cost than if any governmental entity purchased it separately.”

Prior to Beacon™, the Brownsburg Town Council had difficulty making some land use and in-frastructure investment decisions because information was not assimilated into a common loca-tion.  “It was difficult because the council didn’t have a comprehensive tool for analyzing infor-mation,” said Todd Barker, director of Planning & Building.  “We’ve been able to leverage the investment the county already has made in Beacon™ and now we have the relevant information at our finger-tips.”

“With Plainfield’s Beacon™ site, we are able to display and manage our own layers for TIF dis-tricts, zoning ordinances, annexations, utilities and street projects as they occur," said Rich Car-lucci, Plainfield town manager. "It also has our bicycle path master plan, which is extensive. Co-ordinating with the county’s data allows for a streamlined digital workflow.”

"It’s exceptional for four jurisdictions to work together and share data with Beacon™, although it makes a lot of sense," according to Jeff Corns, vice president at The Schneider Corporation. "Together, the county and towns can share very rich data, at a lower cost. The taxpayers are the winners.”

Schneider is hosting its 2010 GIS Conferences in Indianapolis (August 4, 2010) and Ames, Iowa (August 10-11, 2010).  Attendees will hear real-world examples about how GIS is used for find-ing missing revenue, for infrastructure management, for facilities and program management, for permitting management, and many other case studies on how GIS can be deployed to provide creative solutions to solve problems.  Information about the 2010 GIS Conference can be found at www.schneidercorp.com/uc2010/.

About The Schneider Corporation
The Schneider Corporation provides creative solutions for land, infrastructure and facilities pro-jects that help increase revenue, lower costs and mitigate risk.  Schneider is a leader in provid-ing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) solutions to hundreds of municipal, county, state, federal and private entities. Our additional expertise in engineering, surveying and architecture enables us to offer an integrated approach to complex projects. A woman-owned business for decades, Schneider is recognized nationally for its award-winning work. For more information about Schneider, please visit http://www.schneidercorp.com. For more information about Schneider GIS solutions, please visit http://www.gis.schneidercorp.com.