Mapping a 10,000 square mile county and then combining all of the data and arranging it in a user-friendly and applicable way to the public is no easy feat, but Humboldt County Geographic Information System (GIS) Technician Jessica Smith has been working on doing just that for the past two years in the Humboldt County Assessor’s Office.
The Humboldt County Hub “is a new central location where the county can showcase all of our interactive maps and data as well as a portal for Public Works requests and an address point application,” explained Smith in an email.
Users can go to humboldtcountynv.gov, scroll down to the County Spotlights and click on the Humboldt County Hub and access applications like the Humboldt County Parcels App, which allows users to look up relevant ownership data for parcels. It also includes: the County Maintained Roads Dashboard; the Un-Official Road Map with photos of different trails around the county; the Paradise Valley Cemetery map that provides information about the graves; the Humboldt County Flood App that can be used to see if a parcel is in a flood zone; the Humboldt County Precinct App that outlines voting precincts, and the Polling Place Map that shows electioneering distances from polling locations.
Smith explained that the fire hydrant icon at the bottom of the page even links directly to the Humboldt County Public Works page.
"If a member of the public wanted to get help with say, light repair, road maintenance, potholes, Right Of Way issues, they could submit a request to our public works department. This gets e-mailed directly to Public Works and is one of the best ways to get problems addressed quickly," she said.
Other maps from the Assessor’s Office are also available to download at the site like the land use maps, zoning maps, fire district maps, and more.
All of the maps have separate and combined applications that can be used not just for landowners or those interested in buying land in Humboldt County, but for recreation purposes as well.
“Hunters can use it to check if land is private or public, as well as to see road conditions with the Un-Official Road Map," she said. "Anyone that ventures outside can see if a road is maintained, or what kind of terrain a place is based off all the photos that were taken from 2019-2021 by Jerry Elkins. You can see what land is BLM/ Forest Service/ Bureau of Indian Affairs or wildlife refuge."
Smith said users can also see coordinates as well as change the basemap to show old US topographic terrain if users want to view old maps.
"You can also see bodies of water and parcel information," she said. "If you were new to Humboldt County you could type in your parcel in the search bar and see what the surrounding area is like and view the photos to see if you are buying a good piece of land or a sand dune. You can also get an idea if the place you want to go is accessible or not."
Public Works Requests can also have a wide range of use, according to Smith, like abandoned vehicles, animal complaints, brush, questions and comments, concrete, brick, paver work, curb and gutter repair, debris and trash, drainage, driveway concerns, fence concerns, irrigation concerns, landscaping concerns, potholes and street repair, resurfacing, and more. The link allows users to drop a pinpoint on the location of the problem so that Public Works has the exact location.
“Ten years ago, [people] would have to do lots of leg work to get questions answered by going to the courthouse or figuring things out themselves. This is a tool that lets people answer questions like, What zoning am I in, How many acres do I have? Where is BLM land? Who owns this land? Who are my neighbors? And more. The questions you can ask are endless,” explained Smith.
All of these applications can be of great benefit to anyone with questions about land in Humboldt County, she said, and said emergency responders will also find the tools useful.
Other surrounding counties have similar GIS systems, either managed in-house or contracted out, that give all sorts of resources to public officials and the public at large.
“I am always refining things and trying to make things better," Smith said. "If I see something that I think might be useful I would consider adding to our data set. Right now, I just want to see something like this get used because I feel like a lot of people could benefit. When people can visualize the data they can really start to understand the big picture and can make better decisions."
Having access to such a vast amount of information for free is a great asset and serves to help people connect to information that they need and gives people the means to educate themselves about many different aspects of their county, she added.
“When you have a good GIS, managers and leaders can have tools to make decisions that matter to the people and people can get involved with how their county is managed and make their voice heard,” said Smith.