Small County, Smart Community

Renville County, Minnesota is a small county by any standard. With a GIS department of one and a population of 15,000, Renville’s ability to adapt to new location technologies is turning traditional expectations of small organizations on their heads. 

In just a couple of months in 2019, Renville County implemented ArcGIS Hub and became one of the first organizations in the country to move parcel data to the ArcGIS Pro “Parcel Fabric in Pro” environment.

“In a word, opportunity. By showing departments what GIS can do for them we give them the opportunity to follow a GIS path. My job is to demonstrate how we can solve a problem or fill a need using location technology. It may take time, but the cost-benefit is tilted in favor of GIS.” - Alex Lange, GIS Specialist, Renville County.

Renville’s goals for 2019 included modernizing land records management, from how parcel data is maintained to how it is used by the public.

 ArcGIS Hub  was a logical choice that supported the County’s enterprise GIS roll-out, also taking place the same year. Renville already had a well-used ArcGIS Online solutions gallery, but Hub capabilities allowed Renville to take its interactive solutions even further.

Hub was deployed featuring updated branding, connecting the public with searchable GIS solutions and allowing users to find the information they need more easily than ever.

“It’s hard to imagine a better solution for Renville County, right now, than ArcGIS Hub. By letting users focus on what they need and making it easy to consume information, they are learning to use GIS. Hub sets a baseline, a one-stop shop that can expand to fit the entire county’s need both internally and externally. Not to mention, everyone loves a map!” - Alex Lange, GIS Specialist, Renville County

The County’s plans for the future of its hub include completing the transition from its ArcGIS Online solutions gallery to provide an efficient, engaging user experience.

Renville County also recognized that the opportunity to transition parcel maintenance to ArcGIS Pro was on the horizon. The County knew the move would eventually become necessary as the ArcMap Parcel Fabric environment is deprecated and would fit into its enterprise GIS deployment and land records modernization strategy.

Renville partnered with  Pro-West & Associates , a participant in Esri’s Parcel Fabric in Pro testing program. The County worked with Pro-West to test the Parcel Fabric in Pro tools – at that time still in beta – with the goal of integrating the new environment into the County’s enterprise GIS roll-out. With its parcel data in Pro, the County can streamline data maintenance with ample time to build expertise in the new editing processes and learn to independently manage its parcel data before the desktop environment is deprecated.

"The ArcGIS Pro platform allows the County to more efficiently manage parcel data with the ability to customize automated tasks, build in attribute rules and editing constraints to minimize errors, and set up robust management checks. Renville County has fully embraced the new technology to ensure staff the public have access to accurate information." - Lisa Schaefer, Geospatial Data Specialist, Pro-West & Associates

With a cohesive enterprise GIS and service-driven resources, the County is fulfilling its vision of being a smart community, engaging and serving its users information that is accurate, accessible and valuable.

For more information, visit the  Renville County website  or connect with the County GIS Specialist,  Alex Lange .

Check out our collaborators,  Esri  and  Pro-West , to learn more about location technology and what you can do at your organization.