County renews aerial imaging project deal
by Peter Bodley
Managing editor
The Anoka County Board has renewed its agreement with Pictometry International to provide countywide aerial imaging software.
The licensing agreement, which includes 2011 aerial imaging photography, is for two years and comes at a cost of $177,525.
The money will come from the recorder’s compliance fund, which was created by a 2005 state law change allowing counties to charge an extra $11 in the document fee for recording deeds and other documents added by the new law.
According to Larry Dalien, division manager, property records and taxation, the county approved its original license agreement for two years with Pictometry in 2008. That included a 2008 flight.
“Pictometry is a digital oblique aerial imaging photography software tool that, when integrated with our GIS system, provides high resolution images of all parts of the county from multiple views,” Dalien said.
Numerous county divisions and departments are using the product including staff from property records and taxation, public safety, parks, highway, GIS and public health, he said.
In addition, the Pictometry tool provides visual information to other public sector professionals in the county, Dalien said.
Included in the 2011 two-year contract renewal is an optional long-term incentive for another four years, he said.
“Pictometry has offered a 10 percent discount as a long-term incentive that had already been applied to the first two years,” Dalien said.
“The remaining years three through six would require additional board action and would only be payable if the funds are appropriated.”
As part of the license agreement with Pictometry, most of the cities as well as some of the school districts in the county are sharing in the use of the software, with partial reimbursements to offset the county’s cost, according to Dalien.
The board’s approval of the license agreement was unanimous, but not without discussion.
County Commissioner Dan Erhart, for one, had a concern, specifically over a problem with Pictometry’s last flight.
In some cases, there was snow on the ground and the photography lost its sharpness, Erhart said.
Erhart asked Dalien if this had been remedied in the new contract.
According to Dalien, most of the snow in the photographs occurred in Erhart’s district (most of Anoka and the portion of Coon Rapids west of Hanson Boulevard).
In the farming areas where county staff principally used the aerial imaging as part of the Green Acres law, there was no snow cover at the time, Dalien said.
In the new contract, there is specific language addressing how much snow on the ground is permissible for the photography to take place, he said.
“There are so many flights because there are so many angles and a short time frame to do them,” Dalien said.
The flight under the original license agreement took place between the end of March and the end of April, he said. “It was our first experience,” Dalien said.
In addition, Dalien said he had received an assurance from Pictometry that it would conduct another flight if the county was not satisfied with results from the first flight.
Erhart, who said that leaf cover as well as snow was a problem, asked Dalien if that assurance was part of the contract.
When Dalien said no, Erhart recommended and the other county board members agreed that Dalien should go back to Pictometry to get that assurance written into the license agreement.
“We will make sure we get a quality project,” Dalien said.
Anoka County Board Chairperson Rhonda Sivarajah was not aware there was a quality issue with the first flight and thanked Erhart for bringing it to the attention of the board.
“It’s easy to make an assurance, but with the price of gas continuing to go up, it might not be so easy to keep,” she said.
That was why she supported the amendment to the license agreement approval ensuring that a second flight take place in the event of issues with the first flight be made part of the contract, Sivarajah said.
Peter Bodley is at peter.bodley@ecm-inc.com.
