Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

LOCATION: 800 South Main St, Room 203, Kalispell

Historic Courthouse - 2nd floor

  Mission

It is our mission to work in partnership with county agencies to provide comprehensive, accurate, and accessible GIS data, GIS infrastructure, and GIS services that support the unique business needs of Flathead County and the communities we serve.

  About

The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Department originated in 1993, and currently operates under the Information Technology (I.T.) Department. GIS is housed on the second floor of the old courthouse and employs a staff of four dedicated individuals that provide mapping support for all of the county offices, other organizations at all levels of the government, private organizations and the public.

The GIS department handles new address assignment and road naming for unincorporated Flathead County. In addition to supporting the mapping needs of county offices such as of the E911 dispatch center, the Plat Room and Planning & Zoning offices; the GIS Department also provides mapping services to many other government and private agencies, as well as the general public. The mapping data the department maintains facilitates informed decision-making, long-range planning, development review and permitting functions within the county.

  Data Layers

A layer represents geographic data in ArcMap, such as a particular theme of data. Examples of map layers include streams and lakes, terrain, roads, political boundaries, parcels, building footprints, utility lines, and orthophoto imagery. Each map layer is used to display and work with a specific GIS dataset.

Data "layers" maintained in the GIS library include

•   Land Ownership
•   Zoning Use
•   Transportation
•   Addresses
•   Election
•   Information
•   District Boundaries
•   Hydrology
•   Environmental
•   Geologic
•   Demographic Information
•   Aerial Imagery