Web sites make business, development siting easier

Selecting a site for a new business or development in Idaho has gone high-tech with the launch of two interactive Web sites that compile and detail commercial, industrial and raw land properties.

The first, which went live in late June, is called GEMStateProspector.com, and currently lists 136 properties around the state. The second, BoiseValleyProspector.com, went online just this month and already has about 50 properties listed in Ada and Canyon counties, with more to come.
GEMStateProspector is a joint effort by the Idaho State Department of Commerce, the Idaho Economic Development Association and the Idaho National Laboratory.
The Boise Valley Economic Partnership (BVEP) runs BoiseValleyProspector.
The sites are free and developers and realtors upload their own information by registering and filling out a set of data fields. Presenting data that ranges from the basics (like price, size and type) to the highly specific (like high-tech infrastructure, rail access, distance to airports and parcel ID numbers), planners and economic developers say the sites are powerful tools for assessing where and why to buy property.
“It’s a very rich data source and very few areas have anything that can compare to it in terms of the amount of information and kinds of information a company can obtain about a site anywhere in the Treasure Valley,” said BVEP Executive Director Paul Hiller.
Designed and sold by San Francisco-based GIS Planning Inc., Idaho’s Prospector sites are among the more than 130 already customized and in use by cities, counties and organizations across the country, including the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the City of New York and 36 other states.
Both sites utilize Geographic Information Systems (GIS) – a modeling technology that, unlike traditional mapping software, allows users to input new data (like searching for an address or town) that is geo-referenced with pre-existing data, analyzed and presented as a whole.
In other words, it’s an interactive way to build an accurate and searchable view of a specific area using raw geographic information. The key though is including as much data as possible, and that means developers and realtors uploading their properties.
“We just really encourage people that have property and land that can be used for commercial development to get on, request access and start using this,” said Department of Commerce spokeswoman Bibiana Nertney. “It’s great for our rural areas.”