By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- Massena public works are now mapped in an online geographic information system through the Development Authority of the North Country. Mayor Tim Currier says the maps are only available to village officials and they may become available to the public.

“From my experience in the public safety field, I have concerns about broadly sharing infrastructure with the general public. However no final decision has been made,” Currier said following Tuesday’s Board of Trustees meeting.

The maps show things such as water and sewer lines, fire hydrants, manholes as well as information on every parcel of property.

Star Carter, a DANC GIS analyst, told the board her agency feels it should all be available to any member of the public.

“The development authority encourages all the communities to make it public. It is public information,” Carter said. “The whole point is to make this data available to anyone.”

She said they host the information for more than 20 municipalities, including many in St. Lawrence County. She said governing bodies are going with GIS instead of traditional hardcopy or computer aided design (CAD) maps.

Massena got in the GIS mapping as a shared services project with the City of Ogdensburg, Carter said.

The project is hosted at www.danc.org. Click on the “launch DANC GIS application” button at the top of the page. There are login options for the public and DANC customers. Public login does not require a username and password.