Urban GIS Project

Oldman River Region Urban GIS Project

Project Partners

The Oldman River Region Urban GIS Project is the development of a cooperative and centralized regional Geographic Information System for the 32 participating urban municipalities:

  • Village of Arrowwood
  • Village of Barnwell
  • Village of Barons
  • Town of Cardston
  • Village of Carmangay
  • Village of Champion
  • Town of Claresholm
  • Town of Coaldale
  • Town of Coalhurst
  • Village of Coutts
  • Village of Cowley
  • Municipality of
    Crowsnest Pass
  • Town of Fort Macleod
  • Town of Granum
  • Town of High River
  • Village of Hill Spring
  • Village of Lomond
  • Town of Magrath
  • Town of Milk River
  • Village of Milo
  • Town of Nanton
  • Village of Nobleford
  • Town of Picture Butte
  • Town of Pincher Creek
  • Town of Raymond
  • Village of Rosemary
  • Town of Stavely
  • Village of Stirling
  • Town of Taber
  • Town of Vauxhall
  • Town of Vulcan
  • Village of Warner

Oldman River Region Urban GIS Participants

Project Goals

The central goal of the project is to assist small and medium sized municipalities in southwestern Alberta gain the technological tools they need while capitalizing on the efficiencies gained by sharing resources and expertise. This proactive and innovative approach to developing a regional geographic information system will provide numerous benefits to local and regional interests including:

  • immediate access to better information for analysis and decision making
  • effective infrastructure and land use management
  • improved coordination when planning for growth and environmental issues and
  • marketing regional economic development

Project Development

The participating municipalities partnered with the Oldman River Intermunicipal Service Agency (ORISA) – now established as the Oldman River Regional Services Commission (ORRSC) – to provide the necessary technical skills for the research and development needed for this project.

Project Implementation

The process began when the Town of Coalhurst approached the Oldman River Intermunicipal Service Agency (ORISA) to explore whether there would be interest from any of the other urban member municipalities to establish a GIS of some kind. ORRSC contacted the 26 urban member municipalities, as well as other non-member municipalities within the southern region. There was enough initial support to hold an information meeting with the CAOs of interested municipalities. After briefly outlining what a GIS was and how it could benefit each municipality, ORISA was given the mandate to design a program to investigate funding options.

Staff of ORISA designed the implementation schedule and prepared the budget for the project. They inventoried existing digital information, hardware and software requirements and extrapolated both the budget and implement schedule from this initial information. CAOs from Town of Taber, Town of Coaldale, and Town of Pincher, as well as the Town of Coalhurst, collaborated with staff from ORISA to prepare the enhanced grant application.

The following are progress reports of the first 3 years of the project as well as the final report submitted to Alberta Municipal Affairs.