The Dakota County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) actively uses a Geographic Information System (GIS) to support our natural resource management efforts.

What is a GIS? A Geographic Information System, better known as a GIS, is a powerful computer-based mapping program that allows for the creation, manipulation, and analysis of a wide variety of information. With a GIS you can overlay soils, topography, and natural resource information to identify and prioritize natural resource protection and management. The GIS also allows you to easily create and update maps to communicate this information to a diverse audience.

What is a GIS used for? A GIS is used for organizing spatial information, mapping, and solving complex research, planning, and management problems. It expands the two-dimensional nature of a map to include information from a database. For example, a map can tell you where a river is located, but a GIS can show you where it is, its average flow, how many people use it, or the location of the nearest boat launch.

Our GIS is used on a daily basis to conduct preliminary assessments for sites throughout the county. By overlaying soils, wetlands, topography, and other data sets, staff learn a lot about a site before conducting a field review. This also saves time because we no longer have to rifle through several separate paper files.