What is a GIS?

A geographic information system (GIS) is a computer-based tool consisting of computer software, hardware, data, and personnel to help manipulate, analyze, and present information that is tied to a spatial location. Simply put, a GIS combines layers of information about a place to give you a better understanding of that place.

GIS technology integrates common database operations such as information query, retrieval, updates, and statistical analysis with the unique visualization and geographic analysis benefits offered by maps.

Learn more about the use of GIS.

How We Use GIS

Wastewater Management is responsible for Fairfax County’s sanitary sewer system comprising nearly 3,300 miles of sewer lines, 88,000 manholes, 64 pump stations, and 53 metering stations. We keep record drawings of the entire sewer system in a hard-copy (mylar) format. These drawings show the sanitary sewer facilities in plan and profile views as “actually built” or “as-built” plans. The sanitary sewer as-built plans contain sanitary sewer pipe length, pipe type, size, material, invert elevations, and other important information pertaining to sanitary sewer. Information on the sanitary sewer facilities can be obtained by viewing and printing sanitary sewer as-built plans. You may obtain copies of as-built plans and profiles from 12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 358 or by calling 703-324-5015, TTY 711.

As-built information that was once stored in a database management system is now accessed visually using GIS. The GIS allows for faster data updating and manipulating over the previous manual methods. The development of the GIS tools has significantly reduced the time and cost of data maintenance and management.

Currently, sanitary sewer maps can be viewed via the county’s digital map viewer.

The Future Direction of GIS

Wastewater Management’s goal is to provide more efficient ways for the public to obtain sanitary sewer information using GIS technology. In the future, we hope to publish GIS data on the web to improve the effectiveness of our customer service.