On Wednesday, the county Land Bank Corporation Board of Directors discussed the possibility of hiring Orbitist, which is located at the State University at Fredonia Technology Incubator. Orbitist is a multimedia storytelling and original mapping platform business that works with organizations to promote points of interests with bite-sized video cards, photography, social media posts and digital maps.

Gina Paradis, land bank administrative director, said the GIS technology Orbitist uses could be very useful in marketing the land bank to attract funders and developers. She said they could use the mapping technology to analyze housing demolition and rehabilitation trends. She added Orbitist could provide video testimonials from homeowners who could discuss how the land bank helped them purchase and renovate their property.

”It could track data and show the data in a unique and impactful way,” Paradis said. ”It is a dynamic and useful tool – not only for the land bank, but for municipalities – to see trends and outcomes.”

Mark Geise, land bank executive director, said Orbitist’s technology could help tell the land bank’s story, which was created in 2012. He said it could also help with future decisions based on trends that will easily be identifiable through the GIS mapping. He added that Orbitist quoted the land bank a price of $7,800 to hire on a retainer basis.

Stephen Abdella, land bank legal counsel, said any cost amount to hire any company between $5,000-$20,000 would require at least two other competing bids, based on the land bank’s bylaws. He said that any service provided by a business that costs more than $3,000 would need the board’s approval via a vote, but they wouldn’t have to seek additional bids. It was then suggested and agreed upon through consensus and not an official vote, that the land bank should hire Orbitist to do GIS mapping services that would cost less than $3,000 and to invite business officials to a future land bank meeting to hear more about what they could provide.

For more information, visit orbitist.com. According to Orbitist’s website, business officials believe in helping people understand and explore the world around them. They do this by using multimedia storytelling through their original mapping platform.