At the low end, personal computer-based GIS products are available off the shelf. Local governments face a great challenge in providing services to an ever- growing population in the areas of planning, transportation, public safety, urban renewal, economic development, and sewer and water utilities, as well as health, welfare, and social services.
Local governments operate in a complex legal and administrative environment.
They must comply with and enforce federal and state mandates and regulations while maintaining the services required by their community. Because of this challenge, a geographic information system has become very important for many local government agencies and utility districts since most of the decisions they make are related to geography. Geographic information is one of the most important and valuable facets of the basic services and facilities that local governments build and support. GIS software has the capacity to use geographic location to relate different data, such as socio-demographics, addresses, potential forest fire areas, location of sewer lines, areas of heavy utility use, etc. GIS Specialists create or retrieve and view stored maps, create plots, write reports, and update attribute data.