NATCHEZ — A new system for gathering map-based information in Adams County will officially launch today.

The Adams County Soil and Water Conservation District has hosted a Geographical Information System (GIS) database for a years, but has now switched to a new cleaner, more intuitive interface at a new location, GIS Project District Manager Peter Dale said.

The new GIS site can be found atlas.geoportalmaps.com/adams .

“You could think of it in general as a sort of localized Google Earth, with high resolution aerial photography built on a database using land roll information, tax parcels, and the road database,” he said.

“It is a smart-mapping system. It is not static, it is something you can ask questions, make queries and search for specific insight through the system.”

Mapping information the site provides includes detailed parcel size, ownership, address, FEMA flood zones, City of Natchez zoning, elevation, political wards and districts and voting precincts. Customized searches allow finding property information by owner name, property number or address.

The new site is also mobile device-ready, Dale said, adding the old GIS system lacked mobile functionality.

“It gives you a lot more options, being mobile-device-ready,” Dale said. “You can even locate yourself within the program using a mobile device.”

Dale said the site is useful for people in the insurance and real estate businesses — among others — but he’s always been impressed with how many everyday people are interested in looking up the information the GIS databases provide.

And with no cost to the user, no one should have a problem accessing the data, he said.

“In many areas, these are subscription-based or you have to pay a fee, but that has never been our philosophy,” Dale said. “We want to be open, transparent and free because we want more participation from everybody — government, entrepreneurs and Joe Public citizen.”

Geographic Computer Technologies of Metairie developed the new system.