GIS Commercial Site Selector Now Available for Lewis and Clark County, Montana

Helena, MT, May 23, 2008 --(PR.com)-- The Montana Business Assistance Connection (MBAC) recently launched MBACProspector.com making access to powerful business information research only a mouse-click away.

The innovative website is an online program to attract and expand businesses and jobs in the MBAC Region. A goal of the program is to simplify the process of working with regional government when preparing for relocation and expansion decisions. Now businesses will no longer have to leaf through reams of Census Bureau reports for demographic information or contact multiple city departments for basic data and documents.

It is the first program of its type in the State of Montana. MBACProspector.com sends a clear message to potential business locators: We are open and ready for business, on-line.

What MBACProspector.com Does

MBACProspector.com speeds up and simplifies the process of business attraction and site selection for expanding and relocating businesses. It does this by efficiently answering the main questions that businesses have when they are involved in the site selection analysis process. These questions include:

• What buildings and land are available in our community?
• What are the market characteristics (demographics, workforce, spending)?
• What are the business synergies and opportunities in unique locations of our community?
• What are the unique geographic characteristics and advantages?

All of this information is provided to website users in minutes using MBACProspector.com interactive Internet GIS mapping technology. “MBACProspector.com goes far beyond a simple database of available sites and buildings. It provides the needed site selection analysis information that businesses require to identify the unique geographic advantages and business opportunities in our community. Buildings and sites are available throughout the nation; what makes the MBAC Region attractive is highly related to our location-specific advantages. Expanding and relocating businesses are able to access this information by leveraging the site-specific power of GIS through the Internet with MBACProspector.com,” said MBAC Executive Director Terry Myhre.

In addition to these tools ZoomProspector provides dynamic mapping capabilities including the ability to zoom in/out, move the map, identify information and view geographic “layers” of information such as business improvement districts, aerials, public lands, traffic counts, airports, and zip codes.

The importance of providing quality property and site selection information is critical because over ninety percent of the initial site selection screening is now done using the Internet.

Recognizing that cities are often overlooked for new job investments if they do not provide quality information online, the MBAC responded effectively to this need by creating MBACProspector.com to attract new businesses and to respond to existing businesses' needs.

MBACProspector.com strengthens the partnership between the MBAC and commercial real estate professionals. “This site provides unique local access to commercial data for businesses and investors and will prove invaluable to anyone seeking information about the Helena business community” said Randall Green of Green & Green Realty Associates, LLC.

How MBACProspector.com Works

At the heart of MBACProspector.com is powerful GIS (Geographic Information System) technology called ZoomProspector developed by GIS Planning, Inc. that makes this new Internet service more powerful than typical websites. GIS is an integration of software and geographic data designed to efficiently display and analyze information. In the case of MBACProspector.com, GIS allows visitors to rapidly tailor maps and reports to suit their needs and access data that would normally take weeks to collect and thousands of dollars to obtain from specialty data researchers.

For example, available properties can be viewed, along with size, use, cost, development incentives, and contact information. Corresponding demographic reports such as labor force, education levels, consumer spending, and age can be created. In addition, businesses are mapped by industry showing their distribution and concentrations throughout the area.

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