An interesting piece in the NYTimes on Sunday,
"Finding Tax Revenue Through Aerial Imaging"
highlights yet another industry and example of how
public administrators are using GIS, in this case to
increase the revenue stream. We think that if
journalists are not hip to these tools, then they
cannot ask the right questions of the public's
administrators.

"...Until recently, assessors had to accept
homeowners’ claims or visit the properties themselves.
But in 2003, the city hired the Pictometry
International Corporation, a company in Rochester,
N.Y., to provide images of every building in the city.

Once a year, Pictometry flies a Cessna 172 over
Philadelphia, taking thousands of black-and-white
photographs. The low-altitude shots, unlike satellite
images, show buildings at about a 40-degree angle.
Pictometry’s computers organize the photos so they can
be searched by address. Nearly 200 employees in Mr.
Mescolotto’s office have the software on their
computers.

Pictometry isn’t the only company offering aerial
photos to assessors, but it has won adherents in more
than 200 cities and counties, according to Dante
Pennacchia, Pictometry’s chief marketing officer. Its
competitors include an Israeli company, Ofek
International, working with Aerial Cartographics of
America, based in Orlando, Fla...."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/realestate/20nati.html