LEWISTON – Internet users will now have instant access to information about Lewiston homes and properties – right down to who owns them and what they’re worth.

The city has posted its Geographic Information System, or GIS, online at http://gis.ci.lewiston.me.us. It will become officially linked to the city’s Web site in the next week or two.

The city’s GIS site allows users to search for properties, view maps and look up property information. Such online GIS sites have become popular in recent years since they give developers, residents and others immediate, comprehensive access to public information.

Auburn began developing its GIS in 1996 and put it online in January 2003. More than 1,500 people visited the Auburn site 25,000 times in its first six weeks.

Lewiston began working on its own system in the late 1990s. City staffers began testing an early version a year ago.

“We’ve been getting the kinks worked out,” said Aimee Rioux, Lewiston’s GIS technician.

On the Lewiston site, users are able to view detailed property information – including the value of the land and the building, which city council ward the property is in, what school district it’s in and how the area is zoned – with a few mouse clicks on a map. Aerial photographs from 2001 provide additional real-life details.

Unlike Auburn’s GIS, the Lewiston site also gives users the names of the landowners when looking up specific properties.

“It’s all public information,” Rioux said.

Different sections of the GIS site will be updated as new information becomes available.

“We’re hoping to make it as accurate as possible all the time,” Rioux said.

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