PEORIA — Peoria County Geographic Information Systems is providing real estate professionals, residents and other consumers with a more convenient method of checking the assessed values of properties in Peoria County.

Instead of traveling to the Peoria County Courthouse or accessing a computer, people can now view tax parcels and other public assessment information from an iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and other Apple devices by downloading a free iTunes application.
To download the free application, visit itunes.apple.com/us/app/parcel-value-gis/id482620567 or search “Peoria County GIS” on the App Store of an Apple device.
To search for information on a parcel of property within Peoria County via the application users can enter the parcel address or Parcel Identification Number (PIN).
Users can also use an Apple device’s GPS technology to locate where the user is in the county. The user can then select the property that they are interested in by touching that parcel.
An aerial photo basemap is also available on the application to help users locate parcels of property.
The application displays existing sales data for valid sales in calendar years 2009 and 2010 only.  
Although the application is free to download, some service providers may charge users who use the application data rates because the application is web-based and image heavy.  
Creating the application was one of the Peoria County Board’s “strategic goals to be an efficient public organization,” said Micah Williamson, GIS manager for Peoria County.
“Creating this app lines up with that goal in particular and others in practice,” said Williamson. “We are seen as an area leader of both GIS and information technology. Our staff takes this position seriously and we are always working to lead the county into the next phase of technology. Mobile apps is that next phase. It seemed like a logical step.”
In addition to the Peoria County Board, several county residents also requested the county department create a smart phone GIS application, before Peoria County GIS began developing the application in February of this year.
“We had been asked by members of the public if we would have a smart phone GIS application,” said Williamson.
According to Williamson, the Peoria County GIS application “is really ground breaking.”
“If you search on the iTunes App store, there are not very many county applications — even less are the number of free county mapping sites,” said Williamson. “As far as assessment information, I can only find ours.”
Peoria County GIS will update the application periodically, as technology progresses.
“As bugs pop up we will fix them and update as time proceeds,” said Williamson.
The GIS application is the second iTunes App that Peoria County has created.
“The county uses a streaming service to publish its county board meetings by video online,” said Williamson. “A product offered with this service is subscribing to the video via iPhone App. That was the first Peoria County iTunes App. This GIS app is the second, and the first one we actually developed in-house.”
Peoria County will continue to develop applications for both desktop browsers and mobile devices “as technology continues to advance and change,” said Williamson.