"CONTRACTING FOR GIS SERVICES: What You Ask For/What You Get"

The following sections provide brief summaries, in outline form, of the main points presented by the listed speakers at the May 4, 1999 meeting of the Massachusetts Geographic Information Council (MGIC).

Moderator - Michael Terner, Applied Geographics, Inc.

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Overview

The May meeting was a combined session based on the two-part series presented at the January and February MGIC meetings. This provided a good opportunity for those unable to attend those two meetings (in Boston) to listen to some interseting insights on contracting for GIS services from both the vendor's and client's perspective.

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Presentation by Michael Terner, Vice President, Applied Geographics, Inc., and Niels la Cour, Town of Amherst Planning Department
"Performing an RFP for GIS Photogrammetry and The Importance of Quality Control and Quality Assurance To Successful GIS Implementations"

Objectives of This Presentation

• Overview of GIS Implementation project flow
• General discussion of RFP for Photogrammetry projects
• General principles
• Amherst case study: Neils La Cour
• General discussion of QA/QC
• What is it?
• Why is it important?
• Who does it?
• Hint at QA/QC tasks/issues at major junctures of GIS project
• Other speakers will cover specifics
• Provide some advice

Overview of GIS Development Process - QA/QC is not just for data
 - View Image of GIS Development Process (11 kb) 

GIS Photogrammetry RFP General Principles

• Use Chapter 30B procurement
• Qualifications based selection
• This is not “low-bid” type of work
• Use a “Functional Specification”
• Describe products you want (in great detail)
• Let vendors describe the “how”
• Allows vendors to propose innovations
• When in doubt, ask for an “option”
• Use ala carte pricing
• Allows you to maximize use of your budget
• Maybe we can afford color orthos?
• See pricing options
• Allows you to “lock-in” prices for future fiscal year spending
• For example, plan/topo in FY1999 with orthos in FY2000
• Typical problems in GIS Photogrammetry projects
• The project will have schedule pressure
• The vendor does not have suitable GIS formatting expertise
• Capture rates for infrastructure
• Use selection criteria to guard against these problems
• Specific experience criteria for: planimetry, townwide, topography, orthophotos, GIS formatting
• Score based on vendors agreement with a city/town schedule
• Provides rationale for liquidated damages and/or other penalty clauses

What is QA/QC?

• QA/QC = Quality Assurance & Quality Control
• Functional Definition
• Process of ensuring you get what you pay for
• High quality products
• Products that match your specification/expectation
• Errors are identified and addressed before acceptance
• Procedural Definition
• A series of specifics checks and procedures to evaluate the quality of products
• Other speakers will address these specifics

Why is QA/QC important?

• You deserve good products
• Good planning, good data, and good applications
• Bad products can undermine credibility
• Many GIS products - especially data - form a foundation for subsequent products
• Your vendors are “on the hook” to fix problems that you identify during a contract
• Examining data helps you understand the data better
• Identify problems while you still have leverage

Who does the QA/QC?

• City/Town must be involved
• You know your terrain
• Best group for “data content” issues during checkplot review
• More cost effective for field work
• Role for consultants?
• Technical field
• You may have never tackled a project like this
• Flyover project can precede internal GIS staffing
• Checks for digital data
• Conformance to database design
• Topological integrity (labeling, pseudo-nodes, etc.)
• Topological review of checkplots
• Feature overlap issues
• Attribute coding issues
• Support at meetings: articulate issues, barter compromises
• Potential scenarios for QA/QC
• Scenarios 1a and 1b
• Community does everything
• Consultant does everything
• Scenario 2
• Community reviews checkplots for data content
• Consultant reviews digital data for database design issues and checkplots for topological issues
• Scenario 3
• Consultant works with community to develop QA/QC plan
• Consultant provides some training in QA/QC and/or electronic tools
• Community executes the plan

Some QA/QC advice

• A Good Specification is Critical
• Specification should be made clear in the procurement (RFP)
• Specification is basis for QA/QC
• For data products, specification = Database Design
• Tough to make someone do something that is not in the specification
• Specify that vendor should provide/explain internal QA/QC that they perform prior to product delivery
• Perform good QA/QC on your Needs Assessment
• Read the document thoroughly
• Don’t skip to the spreadsheet
• There are plenty of mediocre/bad Needs Assessments out there
• Are recommendations feasible and realistic?
• Are recommendations in tune with fiscal climate?
• Is plan balanced covering hardware, software, data and staff?
• Does plan address needs/issues of all stake-holders?
• Does plan have enough detail to answer questions you’ll get during funding battles?
• Make us earn our money

Conclusions

• QA/QC is a critical component for GIS project success
• QA/QC will cost you money in either time and/or contracting
• QA/QC will save you money
• Future costs of fixing problems
• Maximizing value of existing dollars spent
• Recognize that QA/QC must be pursued during all phases of GIS development
• It’s not just for data

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Contact Information:

Michael Terner  Senior Vice President of Municipal Services  Applied Geographics, Inc.  100 Franklin St.  Boston, MA 02110  Phone: (617) 292-7642  Email: mgt@appgeo.com Website: http://www.appgeo.com
Niels la Cour  Town of Amherst  Planning Department  Phone: (413) 256-4040 Website: http://www.town.amherst.ma.us/

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Presentation by Ted Covill, Chas. H. Sells
"What You Get: GIS Land Base and Parcel Mapping Services"

OVERVIEW

• The Request for Qualifcations/Request for Proposals 
• Mapping Services and Deliverables (Landbase/Parcels)
• Western Massachusetts Issues
• Questions

THE RFP: OFF THE SHELF vs. CUSTOM

• Does Someone Else’s Scope Fit Your Needs?
• Beware of the Cut & Paste
• Custom RFP:  Internal or Outside Help?
• RFP ? First Step to Success

THE RFP:  CONTENT

• What Do You Need ?
• Guidelines for Submissions
• Qualifications
• Selection Process:  Chapter 30B or Low Bid?
• Project Fees

WHAT YOU GET: AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

• Deliverables
• 2 Sets of 9” x 9” Contact Prints
• Photo Index
• Camera Calibration Report
• What is This Stuff?
• Color / B&W Format
• Proper Photo Scale
• Flown During the Right Time of Day/Season

WHAT YOU GET:  PHOTO CONTROL

• Deliverables
• Control Report
• Schematic of Control Locations
• Permanent Monumentation   (sometimes)
• Am I Getting What I Paid For?
• Proper Reference Systems
• Control Accuracies to Support Mapping

WHAT YOU GET:  FULLY ANALYTICAL AERIAL TRIANGULATION

• Deliverables
• Report that Contains Narrative/Point Listing
• What is FAAT?
• Densifies Photo Control
• Verifies Accuracy of Photo Control
• Provides Set Up for Data Acquisition

WHAT YOU GET: BASE MAPPING

• Deliverables
• Pilot Project
• Planimetric Data with Specified Features
• Topo Data, Spot Elevations and   Contours (DTM)
• Check/Final Plots - The Hard Copies
• Data on CD-ROM in Proper Format
• Boy, this is a lot of Data!
• Seamless Files
• 100% Compatible to Database Design
• Accurate and Complete

WHAT YOU GET:  PARCEL MAPPING

• Deliverables
• Parcel Data Integrated with
• Planimetrics
• Check/Final Plots - The Hard Copies
• Data on CD-ROM in Proper Format
• We Found 24 Untaxed Parcels!
• Parcels are Properly Codes, Referenced
• Seamless Files
• Scan vs. Digitize vs. Full Deed Research

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Contact Information:

Scott W. Duncan, C.P. Phone: (508) 248-1970 Email: sduncan@chashsells.com

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Presentation by Michael Olkin, West Springfield, Mass., Patrick Conway, Westfield, Mass., and David Green, Northeast Utilities
"Contracting for GIS Services: The Client's Perspective - How to Get the Data and Services That You Deserve"

QA/QC & Municipal GIS Parcel Mapping
- Michael Olkin, GIS Coordinator, Town of West Springfield

Pondering QA/QC...

• Nobody is perfect, not at any price...
• …but, there is no such thing as a perfect map.
• However, inaccurate or incomplete maps are rarely trusted.
• Once you have given final approval, it is your mess to clean up!
• …or it can be your new foundation to maintain.

West Springfield Background

• Town of West Springfield - Population 27,000 (approximate)
• Size - 17.5 square miles
• Number of Land Parcels - 10,000 (approximately)
• Commercial & Residential Growth Pressure throughout 1980’s & 1990’s
• Home of the Eastern States Exposition - More that 1 million visitors / year

GIS Project Background

• Assessors Office hired the Boshe Institute to perform a needs analysis
• Initial project budget of $816,600 funded in 1997
• Aerial Survey, Spring, 1998
• 100 Scale Data using National Map Accuracy Standards for 1” to 100’
• Includes Planimetric, Topographic, Tax, Sewer and Water Data Layers
• GIS Coordinator Hired in December, 1998
• Project is a Multi-Department Collaborative
• GIS is under development with initial deployment scheduled 1999-2001

Consultants & Vendors

• Boshe Institute, 1993-Present: Needs Analysis, System Design, Tech Assistance, QA/QC Collaborator
• James W. Sewall Co. 1997-Present: Planimetric, Topographic & Cadastral Data Production
• Applied Geographics, Inc. 1999: Metadata System Development
• ESRI, 1999: Software (Arc/Info & ArcView) and Hardware
• Oracle, 1998: DBMS Software

West Springfield Parcel Mapping

• Where we’ve been: 1920’s Linen
• Where we are going: Compiled from Deed Research
• Cost / Parcel = approx. $20.50

Parcel Mapping Automation Techniques
 

Method	Source	Pro	Con
Digitizing from Parcel Maps	Assessors Property Maps	Simplest & Least Expensive	Perpetuates Errors & Inaccuracies
Digitizing from Deed Plans	Deed Plans	Improvement upon precision of assessor maps	Distortion on archived maps
Digitizing Deed Plans w/ Planimetric Rectification	Deed Plans and Planimetric Maps or Aerial Photography	Highly Accurate & Rectified to ground features	"Only possible if planimetric data is also being developed, or already exists"
Coordinate Geometry from Deed Plans	Deed Plans	Highest Precision: Conveyance is possible	Prohibitively expensive because of labor costs; Problems Closing Polygons

Parcel Mapping - Some Questions to Ask Before you begin

• What are you expectations? Deed Quality or Schematic Tax Maps?
• Is data being compiled using the data format that you are (or will be) using?
• Which other types of data are being developed or are available? DOQs? Planimetric? Topographic?
• Is a monumentation system in place in order to ensure accurate surveying?
• How will the parcel base be updated in the future?
• Will assessments be based upon lot dimensions of GIS parcel data?
• How can this process be used positively to resolve boundary issues?

Quality Assurance: A Team Approach

• The QA Team
• Consultant(s), Coordinator & Stakeholders in the final product
• A MAJOR TIME COMMITMENT!
• Establish what is “Mission Critical” vs. “Wish List”
• Determine acceptable tolerances & capture rates
• Develop QC Process

Quality Control

• Full Review or Sampling?
• Paper, Electronic or Both at Once?
• What are (& what are not) the Critical Deadlines?

Parcel Mapping Quality Control

• Database Review
• Completeness
• Uniqueness of Parcel IDs & Connectivity with your Assessor’s Database
• Topological Review
• Dangles, Overshoots, Unclosed Polygons, Edge-Matching
• Map Composition Review
• Linework
• Symbology
• Text Annotation: Property Line Dimensions, Parcel Numbers, Features

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Westfield, MA Planimetric Data Acquisition
- Patrick Conway, GIS Coordinator, City of Westfield

GIS Project Background

• City of Westfield - Population 40,000
• Project is housed in the Engineering Department
• GIS budget to date has been $932,000
• Several Consultants Used in the Process:
• Needs Analysis (1997) - Camp Dresser & McKee
• Database Design - Applied Geographic
• Data Production - Chas. H. Sells and Camp Dresser & McKee
• GIS Coordinator Hired in November, 1998
• Westfield aerial photography completed in April 1997
• Features were painted/marked for photo interpretation
• Planimetric Pilot study is currently complete
• Three Drafts were necessary to work out the ‘bugs’

On Screen Checking of data is very important!

• Check for unpopulated or null fields in the database
• Check for completeness of coverage
• Check for spatial errors

Visual inspection of data

• Working in the field is the best way to ensure accurate data
• Water Department to field-review infrastructure points
• Time Intensive - several hours per week
• As departments use this data it is constantly being reviewed
• GPS field checking of points done by outside consultant
• Cooperative Efforts Help:
• Students at Westfield State College are adding missed Fire Hydrants with GPS

Conclusions

• Very important to stay involved with Consultants
• Communication very important to assure quality, especially when several consultants are involved.

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Contact Information:

Michael Olkin Phone: (413) 263-3070 Email: molkin@map.com

Patrick Conway Phone: (413) 572-6205 Email: p.conway@mail.ci.westfield.ma.us

Last Updated 4/19/2000
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