Contact Us
Mark DePenning
GIS Administrator
864-467-4544
Carmen Durham
GIS Senior Analyst
864-467-4512
Stephanie Widas
GIS Analyst - Public Works
864-467-4507
Jacob Deuel
GIS Analyst - Development
864-467-4406
Jeff McLeroy
GIS Analyst -
Data Management
864-467-4517
Michael Davis
GIS Specialist -
Work Management
864-467-5703
For more information, contact the GIS division at
864-467-4544 or email gis@greenvillesc.gov
GIS Frequently Asked Questions
What Is GIS?
A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information. GIS allows us to view, understand, question, interpret, and visualize data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts. A GIS helps you answer questions and solve problems by looking at your data in a way that is quickly understood and easily shared. For more information about GIS and industry uses, go to www.gis.com.
How does the City of Greenville Use GIS?
GIS is used in one form or another by nearly all areas of the organization. GIS is a useful tool for supporting operations such as Fire, Police, Public Works, Parks and Grounds, as well as decision support for management. Desktop computer users on the city network routinely access our internal web mapping application, MapIT, to display and query from nearly 140 layers of GIS data as well as current and historic aerial photography. A handful of more sophisticated GIS users utilize the ESRI ArcGIS software to perform more advanced mapping and analysis functions. These pockets of advanced GIS users are presently found in Economic Development, Community Development, Planning, Engineering, Police, and Fire. GIS functionality is also integrated into a number of enterprise and specialty applications including Cityworks (service request and operations work management), Community VIZ (planning and development), Crime Analysis Tools (Police), Business Analyst (Economic Development), Geo Notify (reverse 911), Looking Glass Address and Geo Manager (Building and Codes).
How long has Greenville been using GIS?
Greenville was one of the early pioneers in GIS technology, with roots as far back as 1983 when we became ESRI’s 26th customer and the second municipal government in the world at that time implementing GIS technology. Today we are among a user community of nearly 300,000 ESRI customer sites world-wide. The city is presently licensed with an ESRI enterprise license agreement (ELA) and utilizing ArcGIS version 9.2.
How do I contact the GIS Division?
Physical Address:
GIS Division – 8th floor
206 S. Main St.,
Greenville, SC 29601
Mailing Address:
PO Box 2207,
Greenville, SC 29602
Email: GIS@greenvillesc.gov
Office: 864-467-4544
Fax: 864-467-5754
Does the City have a public web mapping application?
We do not have a separate web mapping application. We work closely with Greenville County GIS to coordinate and integrate much of our base map data into a unified GIS layer comprising data both within and outside the city limits. Since most of our clients needs don’t stop at political boundaries (i.e. city limit), accessing data within one single mapping application is much more customer friendly, rather than separate systems based upon jurisdiction. (insert link to Interactive Mapping web page)
How Can I Access GIS Data?
Most of the City’s base GIS data is available for immediate download from this
web site. More information
Why doesn't my Street Show up in my GPS?
There are two prominent GIS data companies that provide nation-wide coverage of streets typically used by the commercial web mapping applications (i.e. Google, Live Maps, MapQuest, etc.) and personal navigation GPS systems (Garmin, Tomtom, etc.). These two companies are Navteq and TeleAtlas. Although the City automatically notifies both of these companies whenever a new street is added and an annexation takes place, the time to incorporate these changes into their database may take as much as 6 – 8 months. The second factor is how often the user of their product purchases the updated data. So if Google doesn’t purchase a new updated copy of the streets from TeleAtlas, it will not show up on the internet.
How often is GIS Data Updated?
Most of the city’s GIS data is updated as needed and as changes occur. Most of the common base data (streets, buildings, addresses, city limit, etc.) are routinely updated as new permits and plans are routed through the GIS division as part of the maintenance and approval processes. In some cases where data is proprietary to a specific department, this requires that the GIS staff is notified when changes are needed. Tax parcel data is owned and managed by the Greenville County Real Property Services.