Page updated May 29, 2024

Two allocations comprise enterprise support of Location-Based Services, providing a common point of access to services that promote the use of location-enriched data and services. Both were approved by the Office of Financial Management (OFM), but only the Geospatial Portal Allocation is in the OFM Central Services Model.

Geospatial Portal allocation goal/methodology

The Geospatial Portal allocation goal is the reduction of cost and complexity otherwise borne individually by state agencies for data storage, infrastructure, software and staffing costs needed to support (Geographic Information Systems (GIS) efforts. The Geospatial Portal enables access to 100+ geospatial and data imagery services in one location.

Objectives include:

• Strategic data investments
• Coordinated data acquisitions
• Efficient data storage
• Reduced duplication of state time
• Effective software licensing
• Improved coordination
• Shared geospatial web services
• A common data distribution platform

The Geospatial Portal allocation is spread to agencies in the allocation based on a weighted 4-part index. The four pieces of data that comprise the index come from various sources from WaTech and the Department of Enterprise Services (DES): IP addresses of agencies using the portal; a survey of full-time employees (FTEs) of GIS-using agencies; a WaTech survey of investment in GIS services; and a point-based system based on agency size.

What services are included in this allocation?

The Geospatial Portal provides customers with the infrastructure needed to store, host and serves shared GIS resources important to conducting state business functions like permitting, licensing, taxation and protecting the public’s health and the environment in Washington. This includes access to quality state and local GIS resources like:

• Data: A place to assemble, host and serve commonly used information like statewide parcels, county and city boundaries, address locations, trails, urban growth areas and much more.
• Imagery: Coordinated access to valuable high-resolution county and statewide imagery data that number nearly 100 individual imagery services.
• Other Services and APIs: Many of the services mentioned above are available in multiple formats, making it easy for end users to ingest them into their mainframe, server or desktop applications and the web.

How is this allocation governed?

WaTech recommends the allocation methodology for this allocation, and OFM builds the calculations into the Central Services Model. The Legislature provides final approval through the enacted budget.

How do agencies get billed for this allocation?

The naming convention for this allocation will be Allocation – GeoSpatial Portal (EL L060).

Washington Master Addressing Services (WAMAS) allocation goal/methodology

The goal of the Washington Master Addressing Services (WAMAS) allocation is the reduction of cost and redundant effort (borne by individual agencies purchase of address correction mechanisms) and improves accuracy/reduce errors for verifying and validating address data by using a centralized consistent data source.

The WAMAS allocation was established in the 2014 Supplemental budget. Due to the nature of the service, agencies were expected to fund the cost through savings generated by using WAMAS; the WAMAS allocation is not part of the OFM Central Services Model.

The WAMAS allocation is not part of the Central Service Model. The WAMAS allocation is spread to agencies in the allocation based on actual agency IT FTEs.

What is included in this Allocation?

WAMAS works in conjunction with the GeoSpatial Portal Allocation by providing three application programming interfaces (APIs) that correct and standardize an address, finds its best location on the ground (geocode) and return its associated geography (county, legislative district, etc.).

These services can be consumed from a web page or from within a mainframe, desktop or server application. The suite of services (APIs) have been developed to:

• Correct an address to US Postal Service standard format.
• Add coordinates to an address (geocode) so it can be displayed and verified on a map.
• Locate an address in its correct geographic areas like a county, legislative, voting or taxing districts or other important places or area.

This enterprise approach encourages government efficiencies by reducing the duplication of data storage, decreases infrastructure needs and promotes the shared development and maintenance of services that would otherwise be repeatedly done by multiple state agencies.

This type of information can be used in the following applications:

• Verification of an address and its associated geography
• Correction of address lists to USPS standards
• Correct sales tax determination, collection and distribution
• Permitting and location verification
• Improved public safety and emergency response
• Siting of public health services
• Fraud detection

Cities and counties that elect to enter into a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with WaTech to provide up-to-date address information gain free access to use this service. State agencies who are not part of the existing allocation may opt into this service via an SLA.

WaTech monitors the usage of the WAMAS service every quarter by analyzing log files. We can discern whether an agency is using the service, but each agency would need to perform further analysis to determine whether they are leveraging the service to its full potential.

How is this allocation governed?

OFM provides the IT FTE counts for billing.

Leveraging this allocation

To gain the most value from this allocation, agencies would eliminate the use of agency or division-specific mechanisms for address validation and verification and instead use the WaTech service they are paying for as part of this allocation. Agencies may also wish to expand usage by reviewing their agency data stores for additional potential usage of these services.

Billing information

The WAMAS billing is not part of the Central Service Model, therefore this annual bill will be charged on invoices beginning with 908. Agencies can expect to see these charges in September or October of each calendar year.