S.F. Mayor Willie Brown Jr.: Technology Improves City Services

The San Francisco Bay Area is known throughout the world for being home to some of the most innovative and fastest-growing technology companies. Our community continually pushes the limits of technology to provide ground-breaking services around the globe. However, what many people don't realize is that private industries are not the only force behind these developments.

The city and county of San Francisco's use of technology, particularly our advanced Geographic Information Systems (GIS), is a key example of our commitment to innovation. San Francisco first developed its original GIS map after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake; GIS is essentially a computer system that maintains sophisticated interactive maps of the city's geographic information.

Many functions of city government, including water utility management, tax assessment, construction projects and building inspection, are heavily reliant on electronic mapping. In San Francisco, our GIS capabilities surpass every other municipality in the country.
Each supervisorial district, road, school, public utility and even parking meter, has an identifiable location that can be displayed in the form of a dynamic map. The city's GIS, managed by the SF Department of Telecommunications and Information Services, allows city employees to conveniently access sophisticated GIS maps online through a web browser.

GIS is also invaluable in times of disaster, especially as homeland security continues to be one of our nation's top concerns. GIS proved to be absolutely critical in New York City during the events of Sept. 11, in all aspects of crisis management from evacuation to recovery. With today's GIS technology, San Francisco's Emergency Command Center can easily facilitate emergency services, share information with the federal government and keep watch over infrastructure vulnerabilities.

In addition to essential government applications, San Francisco's GIS has several applications that are extremely useful to the public. In November, to celebrate International GIS Day, my Office of Economic and Business Development introduced a new online GIS-based service called SFProspector. This powerful Internet-based mapping tool revolutionizes business recruitment and retention in San Francisco.

SFProspector allows business owners and interested citizens to find data on available commercial space, surrounding businesses, area demographics, consumer spending habits and much more, from anywhere in the world. The service makes the process of finding a business location in San Francisco simple and efficient.

Go to www.sfprospector.org to see this amazing new technology for yourself. Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide use GIS in government, education and business. Whether it's facilities management, disaster response or business development, San Francisco is recognized as a worldwide leader in the use of GIS in city government, and we will continue to provide cutting-edge technology to serve our citizens.

Willie Brown Jr. is the mayor of San Francisco.