As with most other technologies, GIS has been changing more rapidly in the past decade than ever before. Entities that build and maintain geospatial data often get stuck in a cycle of building and rebuilding web applications for consumers to access these data. Each iteration of web development yeilds products that become obsolete and unusable as the technology surrounding them changes.
Along with other government organizations, Richland County is providing access to GIS data, in the form of a WMS and links to external data sets/geospatial resources, so users can make their own maps using their own software. This do-it-yourself (DIY) approach to GIS empowers the user to build and modify their own solutions.