Chapter 5: Better Access To Better Data

Coping with Government Records

Across the nation, city, county and state governments have begun to scan and electronically store the millions of documents they process each year, including birth certificates, licenses, permits of all types, property records and more. Not only is access dramatically improved, but costs and space requirements are greatly reduced. Some typical examples are:

Middlesex County, MA, where land records including mortgages, deeds, titles, liens, property holders, property maps and more - some dating back to 1620 - have been systematically scanned and put in a modern data/image server. The electronic files are not only less expensive to maintain but dramatically reduce storage and handling requirements. The county processes some 200,000 new transactions a year.

Quincy, MA, where both the tax assessor's office and planning board currently retrieve computerized town maps from the public works department three miles away. "We're just beginning," says Dominic Venturelli, the city's principal programmer. "Our goal is to link all city buildings and LANs with ISDN, and make the wealth of the information at each location available to everyone who needs it."

An upstate New York metropolitan police force is using an ISDN-based imaging system to handle the thousands of motor vehicle accident reports processed each year. With an annual load of some 16,000 multipage documents, department heads note that electronic reports are not only easier to prepare, but easier to find, access and read.

Other police departments throughout the nation have installed data imaging systems to handle everything from fingerprints and mug shots to daily assignment schedules and handwritten records. Images can be accessed from virtually any location, at any time of the day or night.

Subsections Of This Chapter:

Beginning Of Chapter 5
Making Images Useful
Coping With Government Records
California's RealityLink
Surfing The Internet
Getting On The Information Highway
Internet Hubs

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