City of Cleveland GIS Project: Lessons Learned

Before beginning this project, the Cleveland Division of Water (CWD) managed approximately 470,000 connections and 5,000 miles of pipes through the use of 32,000 paper drawings and 10,000 roll maps. CWD recognized that this volume of data is better managed through the use of geographic information system (GIS) technology and selected MWH to design and implement a citywide GIS. This is one of the largest GIS implementations in the United States and has provided multiple lessons learned that can be applied to GIS and other technology projects around the world. These lessons are categorized within their respective project life cycle phase - Pursuit, Planning, Execution and Closeout. This paper documents the Citywide Cleveland GIS Program experience and gives specific insights into the problems and challenges associated with a large and complex effort.