RIVER BEND GROWTH ASSOCIATION LAUNCHES INNOVATIVE
NEW ONLINE MAPPING TOOL TO ATTRACT BUSINESS, CREATE JOBS:

First in The St. Louis Region To Invest In The Technology

GODFREY, ILL, April 9, 2008 - The River Bend Growth Association today launched a new innovative online mapping tool designed to accelerate and simplify the process of attracting job growth in the River Bend area of the St. Louis region. To access the online mapping tool, those interested in development opportunities, business incentives, demographics and more about the River Bend area, may visit www.riverbendprospector.com .

The importance of providing quality property and site selection information online is critical because over ninety percent of the initial site selection screening is now done using the Internet. Recognizing this trend, and the importance of a strong presence on the Web, the River Bend Growth Association has made a significant investment in the technology hoping to further the River Bend’s reputation as a positive business environment and ultimately spur additional developments and increase the local job base.

The technology helps simplify the process of working with area government when preparing for relocation and expansion decisions. Now businesses will no longer have to leaf through reams of US Census Bureau reports for demographic information or contact multiple city departments for basic data and documents.

RiverBendProspector.com also speeds up and simplifies the process of business attraction and site selection by efficiently answering the main questions that businesses have when they are involved in the site selection analysis process. These questions include:

• What buildings and land are available in our community?
• What are the market characteristics (demographics, workforce, spending)?
• What are the business synergies and opportunities in unique locations of our community?
• What are the unique geographic characteristics and advantages?


All of this information is provided to website users in minutes using RiverBendProspector.com’s interactive Internet GIS mapping technology. In addition to these tools, ZoomProspector Enterprise v7.0, a component of the RiverBendProspector.com website, provides dynamic mapping capabilities including the ability to zoom in/out, move the map, identify information and view geographic “layers” of information such as aerials, topo lines, traffic counts, hospitals, zip codes, and railroads.

“RiverBendProspector.com goes far beyond a simple database of available sites and buildings. It provides the needed site selection analysis information that businesses require to identify the unique geographic advantages and business opportunities in our community,” said Monica Bristow, president of the River Bend Growth Association. “Buildings and sites are available throughout the nation; what makes the River Bend area of the St. Louis region attractive is highly related to our location-specific advantages. Expanding and relocating businesses are able to access this information by leveraging the site-specific power of GIS through the Internet with RiverBendProspector.com.”

Recognizing that cities are often overlooked for new job investments if they do not provide quality information online, the River Bend Growth Association responded effectively to this need by creating RiverBendProspector.com to attract new businesses and to respond to existing businesses' needs.

“RiverBendProspector.com provides immediate access to critical business and development information needed to facilitate job growth in Southwest Illinois” said John Herzog, Economic Development Coordinator for Madison County, “RiverBendProspector.com sends a clear message to potential business locators: We are open and ready for business, on-line.”

RiverBendProspector.com strengthens the partnership between the River Bend Growth Association and commercial real estate professionals. The River Bend Growth Association is promoting available properties and real estate professionals are assisting in attracting new and better jobs to the St. Louis area.

"The implementation of the RiverBendProspector.com website is tangible evidence of the River Bend Growth Association’s commitment to partnering with the commercial real estate community. This outstanding site will be an invaluable tool to inform and convince corporate real estate executives and businesses around the globe of the economic opportunities found in the River Bend area of the St. Louis metropolitan region,” said Cathy Hamilton, Broker Associate for the BARBERMurphy Group.




How RiverBendProspector Works

At the heart of RiverBendProspector.com is powerful GIS (Geographic Information System) technology called ZoomProspector Enterprise v7.0 developed by GIS Planning, Inc. (www.gisplanning.com) that makes this new Internet service more powerful than typical websites. GIS is an integration of software and geographic data designed to efficiently display and analyze information. In the case of RiverBendProspector.com, GIS allows visitors to rapidly tailor maps and reports to suit their needs and access data that would normally take weeks to collect and thousands of dollars to obtain from specialty data researchers.

For example, available properties can be viewed, along with size, use, cost, development incentives, and contact information. Corresponding demographic reports such as labor force, education levels, consumer spending, and age can be created. In addition, businesses are mapped by industry showing their distribution and concentrations throughout the area.

The free website program is now available to the public on-line at www.RiverBendProspector.com

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