The Arkansas Centerline File (ACF) program has reached its initial round of statewide completion as of August 17, 2010, with the final counties’ road centerline files being uploaded to GeoStor, the state’s geospatial database.

The ACF program began in 2002 in response to state and local officials seeing the need for a common and accurate road file that would allow Geographic Information Systems (GIS) users to locate people, places and events with an address.  It has been a cooperative effort between participating counties, some with private contractors maintaining their data, and the Arkansas Geographic Information Office (AGIO).

Eight years later, Newton County, the final county needed to complete the statewide file, has been uploaded to GeoStor.  ACF data is used by E-9-1-1, the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), county judges and assessors, school district officials, law enforcement, land surveyors, and many more in both the government and private sectors. There are several applications for the statewide file, especially when it comes to emergency responses, severe weather monitoring, urban development and wildlife preservation. The ACF is also used for base map references, Streamlined Sales and Use Tax collection, and home appraisals, just to name a few.

The initial phase called for updated road centerline data from all of the counties based on a uniform standard developed by the AGIO and the Arkansas Geographic Information Systems Board (AGISB). The next phase will be updating the counties in cycles by dividing the state into four regions to be updated each year.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has been working with the AGIO to study the feasibility of the Office becoming the steward of the state’s GIS data. The AGIO has been providing data to the federal agency to be incorporated into the national map. With the completion of the ACF project, the AGIO and USGS will likely enter a stewardship agreement this year.

“The thing all Arkansans should be proud of is that everyone worked together to build this map, from Chicot County to Benton, Mississippi to Miller, and everywhere in between.  Most of the counties did this without any incentive other than it was the right thing to do,” Johnson said. “Now we’ve got a map that is common across the state and can be shared.  The next time our state needs to respond to a tornado or ice storm… all of our people can operate off the same map.”

The AGIO currently has two full-time employees who work with individuals on the county level to train and assist them on in-house maintenance with the ACF project. While many counties do not have the financial resources to employ extra help for these purposes, some have employed contractors to maintain the data for them.

The maintenance of this data is crucial to the state. In addition to assisting government agencies, public organizations, private businesses and homeowners, it also assists many individuals who use GPS devices. As roads and addresses may frequently change due to construction, redistricting, or urban development, the files become less accurate over time. The road files that are available to the state are uploaded to the commercial databases that feed into GPS systems, and are what the world sees when it accesses tools such as Google Maps.

The AGIO and participating counties are continuing the effort to maintain these files to ensure that accurate statewide geographical data continues to be available at no fee to the user. For more information, one may contact the AGIO’s Geographic Information Officer Shelby Johnson, at (501)-682-2767, or visit the AGIO Web site, www.gis.arkansas.gov