Somers' New Database Allows Greater Searchability of Town Properties

Searching information on home values, acreage and lot sizes in Somers just got a whole lot easier.

The Town of Somers recently rolled out its new Geographic Information System (GIS) allowing any user to explore the layout of the town and search for public information like recent home sales, farmland soil and flood zones.

The town contracted with Guilford-based New England Geo Systems to set up the GIS, spending $39,000 on the project following a Board of Selectmen approval earlier this year, said Mike D'Amato, the Somers Zoning Enforcement Officer. D'Amato said this initial cost payed for the database, digitizing of the town's maps and the website, as well as the first year of site maintenance.

D'Amato notes that the system is beneficial to town officials, but it also can be considerably helpful to real estate appraisers, real estate agents, contractors and basically anyone who is studying a property issues. 

"A surveyor wanting to build a house are going to need to know the property lines are," he said, pointing to how the map details lot sizes.

Right now, the information on the site is slightly dated, based on title cards and maps from a few months ago, D'Amato said. But he said officials are currently updating its servers in which the old information will be updated on a nightly basis. 

So, every time the Somers assessor's office updates a deed on a home, it will be updated in the GIS database, he said. 

The database is available on the Town of Somers' website. Here is the URL if you want to go directly to it: http://somers.mapxpress.net.