A digital mapping tool which can be used by municipalities for everything from zoning and permitting to determining the assessment of a home is currently used in Danbury.  Now, the City is joining other municipalities in the Western Connecticut Council of Governments to secure funding for and implementing a regional GIS data program. 

A Geographic Information System is basically a digital map with various data ranging from transportation to the environment.

The shared services data acquisition program was proposed by WCCOG and the state Office of Policy and Management.  The regional planning group would submit the grant proposal, which puts multiple municipalities on the same update cycle for this data collection and will result in cost savings.

Mayor Mark Boughton says the former Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials didn't have the capability, so a lot of the resources for this that are already in place have come from the former South Western Regional Planning Agency.  The two organizations merged in 2014 when the state mandated that planning agencies be consolidated from 14 to eight.

WCCOG GIS Manger Carl Zimmerman says Danbury joining the other municipalities would mean that there is a complete data set for the entire 18-town region.  The web mapping information will be accessible to the public.