Canton Begins Project To Upgrade Mapping, IT Systems

CANTON, GA -- A company that provides information technology, security and geographic information system services has been brought on by Canton to overhaul its IT and GIS systems in an effort to give the city the tools needed to effectively carry out its services to citizens. The hiring of InterDev stems from an IT and GIS assessment the company was contracted to perform for the city earlier this year.

“InterDev has been very helpful from the start of the assessment through the upgrades, ensuring that our technology and GIS systems support the municipal activities of our growing, progressive city,” said Canton City Manager Billy Peppers. “We have really enjoyed working with the InterDev team.”

InterDev completed and presented the assessment in June, proposing hardware and software upgrades and GIS enhancements over a three-month period to coincide with the end of city's fiscal year, which was Sept. 30. InterDev is now carrying this momentum into 2018, providing 20 hours of IT assistance and 16 hours of GIS management each week. The InterDev team is achieving a sweeping upgrade of Canton’s IT infrastructure including:

• Upgrading servers from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2016 to provide state-of-the-art server functionality and security.
• Virtualizing hardware with VMware to maximize operating flexibility and control.
• Installing a new Fortinet firewall to secure all municipal data and operations.
• Replacing all network infrastructure with Cisco networking hardware.
• Expanding data storage so the city has significant room for growth.

On the GIS side, InterDev has implemented its cloud based MosaicGIS™ platform, empowering Canton with enterprise-grade software-as-a-service GIS based on Esri and supporting city personnel with 24/7 access to a fully managed, secure ArcGIS server and database. InterDev is helping Canton become much more informative and open with its GIS than ever before.

InterDev is also helping the city perform a “city limit audit” that will give Canton an authoritative understanding of its current city limits. To achieve this goal, InterDev is running GIS analysis on a variety of city and county data and ensuring all taxable parcels are included within its boundaries.

When the current activities are complete, Canton plans to retain InterDev to provide IT and GIS guidance to its internal staff on an ongoing basis.

“Historic cities like Canton, which grew over a long period of time, often benefit from a fresh, professional perspective to determine which systems are no longer suited to their current operating state,” said InterDev CEO Gary Nichols. “It is rewarding for us to help these cities equip and prepare themselves for a very bright future.”

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