Belmont Launches Public GIS Map

The community of Belmont has rolled out an interactive public GIS map that overlays multiple data layers — property details, ownership, valuations, voting precincts, and Town Meeting representatives — to give residents a comprehensive view of properties and the town. This map is accessible on the town's website.

According to a Belmont Voice report, the map will present diverse data — open spaces, cemeteries, fire hydrants, historic districts, fire response zones, trash and recycling routes, bus stops, state conservation lands, and flood zones — to allow users to view them simultaneously.

To assist with further development of the map, a GIS coordinator will begin working for Belmont on April 1. This person, Jackie Newell, currently works as a GIS analyst in the Boston Emergency Operations Center.

The GIS Map represents a collaborative effort among town leadership, including Department of Public Works Director Jay Marcotte, who has championed the idea of having a dedicated GIS coordinator to boost internal data use and cross-department collaboration.

Officials expect broad benefits from the map for schools, public safety, facilities planning, and emergency planning, through the visualization of spatial relationships and the aging of infrastructure across Belmont.

Long-term goals include linking property cards to the GIS, integrating permitting data, adding a grave-finding feature, and a time-lapse view to show changes across time, essentially evolving the map into a one-stop property information hub.

Chief Innovation Officer Chris McClure frames GIS as a tool for spatially relating information and transforming how residents access property-related data. “The sky is the limit,” McClure said. “It's really just limited by people's imagination. I've always been a big proponent of GIS. There's a power of relating information spatially.”