The Village of Wheeling is in the process of acquiring a remote water meter reading system that will allow village staff to read water meter information through a computer rather than having to check the meter manually. Each water meter wirelessly connects to one of the main towers within the village and then the information is relayed to village staff. The location of the towers within the coverage area affects each individual meters signal and its ability to send information back to the tower.

As stated in Illinois Public Act 093-0687: “No license shall be issued for the sale at retail of any alcoholic liquor within 100 feet of any church, school other than an institution of higher learning, hospital, home for aged or indigent persons or for veterans… ” and “nor to the renewal of a license for the sale at retail of alcoholic liquor on premises within 100 feet of any church or school where the church or school has been established within such 100 feet since the issuance of the original license. In the case of a church, the distance of 100 feet shall be measured to the nearest part of any building used for worship services or educational programs and not to property boundaries.” The Village of Wheeling takes this law a step further and restricts liquor licenses within 100 ft of the property boundary and not the building.

FEMA defines an area of repetitive loss as: "a property for which two or more claims of more than $1,000 have been paid by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) within any 10 – year period since 1978." The properties only represent 1% of all of NFIP’s insurance policies, but have accounted for nearly one-third of the claim payments. FEMA provides all repetitive loss information to every community each year and if a community wishes to participate in the Community Rating System (CRS) program, then they must map out each area and property and submit the maps to FEMA.

With the building of a new village hall and an updated police station, the Village of Wheeling took the opportunity to put in a new sprinkler system for the outdoor areas of both buildings. The sprinkler system consists of roughly 600 sprinkler heads varying in size, flow, and type tied into a computer system. The Village of Wheeling requested that a map be created showing the location of all the features within the system overlaid on aerial imagery.

Starting in 2009, the Village of Wheeling began using a survey grade GPS system to collect utility information in the field. The village started with the sanitary system, moved on to the water system, and is then planning to collect information for the storm system last. Collecting this information using a survey grade system provides a level of accuracy not normally seen in field collection GPS and allows the data to be integrated into GIS and CAD with minimal effort.

For a 7.5 mile stretch of Dundee Rd., from Milwaukee Ave. to Green Bay Rd., the only section without a bikeable sidewalk or path is a small section within Wheeling village limits from the Des Plaines River to the Interstate 294 overpass. Without a path or sidewalk, this section of Dundee Rd. can be dangerous for any biker who attempts to ride in the grass or on the street itself. The Village of Wheeling is looking to build a bike path to connect the two sections to help provide a safe passage for bicyclists.

Back in the fall of 2009, a village trustee was trying to inform a resident of the businesses available in the village of Wheeling. The trustee was unable to find anything on the internet or the village website in regards to the business. The trustee asked the economic development department to put together an updated business inventory for the new village website. In turn, economic development asked the GIS department to create a series of maps that would accurately display the inventory information.

The Village of Wheeling is responsible for the landscaping and upkeep for various public areas throughout the village limits. There are roughly 160 different areas ranging from village owned property such as village hall, to areas along streets such as right-of-ways and cul-de-sacs. Each year the village bids out the job and provides a large map for reference. This map contains numbers that represent locations detailed in an accompanying document. The document provides basic location information, a description, and the type of services needed in that area i.e. mowing or landscaping. The village asked the GIS department to simplify the process and provide an updated product to be given to any company bidding on the project.

JULIE (Joint Utility Locating Information for Excavators) is a not-for-profit corporation that provides homeowners and professional excavators with a place to call when planning to dig. Before any ground breaking occurs, the homeowner or excavator has to call JULIE and answer questions about the excavation. JULIE will then notify its members with underground utilities in that area to be marked. Because the Village of Wheeling is a member of JULIE and owns a majority of the sewer and water lines in the village, they are responsible for going out and marking utility locations.

A control point is a location on the ground whose horizontal and vertical location is known. This allows a potential developer to determine the elevation of the area and make sure they are in the correct geographic datum. The village of Wheeling provides this information to developers, through multiple maps and documents. Every time a developer would request control point information, village staff would have to hunt through multiple locations to find the appropriate information. The village decided to organize their control point information to better serve potential developers and to ease the burden on office staff. They asked the GIS department to come up with a solution.

In 2003, the village of Wheeling created a bike map plan highlighting the areas of the village that would be best suited for bike paths. Although a few of the paths were created, much of the plan was never fully implemented. In 2009, the village planner decided to create a new village bike map that would take the best aspects of the previously created map, but add in more logical and cost effective bike paths.

The village of Wheeling contains numerous restaurants and eating establishments that reflect the diversity of the area. This includes “Restaurant Row”, a string of highly rated restaurants along Milwaukee Ave. The village kept a list of these establishments, but never provided this information to the public. Using the ability of a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) program to create location points, which are then placed within Google Maps. The GIS Department created a map showing the location of each restaurant within the village as well as address information and a link to the restaurant’s website. This interactive map located on the village website allows the user to find restaurants within the village based on location.

In 1916, the United States created the Federal-aid Highway Program with the primary objective being the improvement of rural roads. This changed with the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944, which authorized the first specific funds for urban highways, specifically the creation of a formula for the distribution of federal-aid funds among the primary, secondary, and urban systems. Today, there are three federal-aid systems: The Interstate Highway System, the Federal-aid Primary highway system (FAP), and the Federal-aid Secondary highway system. The Federal-aid Secondary highway system is broken into secondary non-urban (FAS) and secondary urban (FAU). The interstate system consists of routes connecting and running through and around major urban centers. The FAP consists of a system of connected main highways, while the FAS are composed of principal secondary and feeder routes. Both aid systems are chosen by state highway departments and local officials, but are subject to approval by the Bureau of Public Roads. Having roads designated as federal-aid means that the federal and state governments provide funds and take care of repairs instead of the community in which the road is located. This allows the local government to spend money in other areas.

The Village of Wheeling fire department created fire districts for the purpose of sectioning off the village so that village firefighters would have a better idea where an incident was located and what station would be the closest for response. The districts were sectioned off by neighborhood and each one was given a four digit reference code. The fire department then created maps of each district showing the streets that were located within each one. While the maps were effective at first, they eventually became outdated due to changes in the village. The fire department asked the GIS Specialist to create an updated Fire District Map Book that would also include features not available in the previous version.

Every month, the Crime Analyst for the Village of Wheeling, IL Police Department provides a report detailing all criminal incidents within the village for the preceding month. These reports typically include charts displaying each incident as well as the different crime type frequencies from one month to the next. In addition, the reports also include maps showing the location, type and shift of each incident. With no mapping software available, the crime analyst created these reports using a combination of free programs and software. The result of these methods was very labor intensive resulting in increased time consumption as well as limitations on the amount of the other work that could be completed on any given day.

Every year FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) provides communities with updated maps and flood information to be used to help determine insurance rates and resident location flood hazards. Included in this delivery is Geographic Information System (GIS) specific information that can be integrated into existing community maps. This combination of information allows the user to recognize trends that may not be noticeable when looking at separate sources.