The Kern GEOgraphic Information NETwork (Kern GEONET) was established April 3, 1996 through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Bakersfield, the County of Kern and the Kern Council of Governments. This is an effort to coordinate the development of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in local government.
The MOU establishes an executive and technical committee to develop standards, an implementation work plan, and opportunities to share resources. The executive committee handles policy issues and acts on recommendations from the technical committee. The technical committee has developed and is implementing a Work Plan.
A GIS is a computer application that allows tabular databases (inventory lists, census data tables, mailing address lists, etc.) to be analyzed and mapped, thus providing enhanced decision support capabilities, while streamlining map drafting procedures. Eighty percent (80%) of all government databases could benefit from analysis capabilities provided by GIS. In addition, the efficiency of local government management capabilities would be significantly enhanced. Examples of enhanced uses include more accurate legal notification, more accurate tax assessment, and better decision support for land use and transportation issues.
Because most local government data bases can be tied to parcels or street addresses, the GIS requires a computer parcel map data base and street data base to perform mapping analysis. Early efforts soon resulted in a realization that no one agency has the resources to develop the 350,000 parcel and address base map for the entire county. The parcel base map would take three (3) years to develop. It became clear that only through coordinated development in creation and maintenance of a common base map by local jurisdictions, could the benefits of GIS be realized by local governments in Kern.
The County of Kern, most of the cities, and the special districts are benefiting from automated map drafting. Two high profile "Tier I" GIS projects are currently being maintained. The Assessor's office has completed its digital parcel map layer, and the Kern County Fire Department and City of Bakersfield are jointly maintaining a GIS street centerline layer for use with the E-911 dispatch. These two projects provide the data needed in forty percent (40%) of local government's GIS applications. Concurrently, the City of Bakersfield , Kern COG, and County Engineering and Survey Services are working on the common base map as part of "Tier II" of the Kern GEONET Work Plan. The common base map is necessary to facilitate the sharing of data among agencies.
On March 7, 2002, Kern GEONET was recognized for the advancement of data sharing by the California Geographic Information Association.
On June 30, 2002, Kern GEONET released over 8,000 square miles of color digital imagery of Kern County into the public domain.