BROWNSTOWN

The county’s geographic information system map will receive an update early next year after county officials recently approved a contract for that work.

Members of the Jackson County Council OK’d the $62,000 agreement with Henrietta, New York-based Pictometry International during its meeting Wednesday morning at the courthouse annex.

Employees with the company’s Indianapolis location will fly over the county and take high-resolution images to update the GIS map, Building Commissioner Conner Barnette said.

The work is set to begin in early November and be completed with updates showing up on the county’s website in early 2020, he said.

The county’s current map was last updated in 2016. Since that time, Barnette said the county has approved at least 30 to 40 construction permits for new homes.

“We’ve also had approval for other structures, too, which helps the assessor do their work properly,” he said.

The county auditor, assessor and surveyor offices, along with the 911 board, are funding the contract through accounts that generate revenue from user fees, Barnette said.

“It’s great we could fund it through user fees and not impact the general budget,” he said. “It was a great collaboration from those involved. All of the county offices benefit from it.”

It also completes the county’s goal of updating the map every three years, Barnette said.

The aerial photographs were part of a statewide project in 2016, but the state is no longer doing such work, so the county had to subcontract it, Barnette said. At that time, 9,900 images were taken to update the map.

Pictometry will fly its planes lower than the state project and also take photos in higher resolutions, he said.

“The quality is going to be much better,” he said. “I think the public will be able to see a big difference.”