Development of "Return on Investment" Documentation for the Proposed Maine Orthoimagery Program

A study was undertaken to quantify the benefits of the statewide orthoimagery program. The study identified thirteen statewide examples of how orthoimagery can be beneficial, but narrowed its scope to an in-depth treatment of only three use cases of statewide importance: Forestry; Stormwater; and Transportation.

The results, based only on these three use cases, make an economically compelling case for investment with net benefits totaling $10 million on the low-end, to $30 million on the high-end. This range compares very favorably to the expected costs for the corresponding five-year time period of $2.4 million. The resulting return on investment (ROI) is projected to be 421% to 1264% based on this range, which would exceed the returns on many other alternative financial investments. If all thirteen use cases were similarly analyzed,it is safe to say that the total ROI would be substantially higher.

This analysis presents a strong case for the public sector investing in the statewide orthoimagery program proposed by the Maine GeoLibrary Board.

Orthoimagery ROI Study -- ROI Handout

Final Report -- Interim Report

Maine Office of Geographic Information Systems (MEGIS)

Maine Library of Geographic Information (GeoLibrary)

Contacts:

Michael Smith, State GIS Manager
207-215-5530
michael.smith@maine.gov

Joseph Young, Chair, GeoSpatial Data Workgroup
207-624-6234
joseph.young@maine.gov