Douglas County residents decorating their homes for the season have a new way to advertise and show off their holiday handiwork.

Amy Roust, senior GIS analyst for the Douglas County Geographic Information Systems Department, said the department introduced an interactive online application that allows county residents to post the location and photographs of their decorated homes. The application takes advantage of crowdsourcing software the department installed earlier this year, she said.

“We’ve been eager to do something with crowdsourcing,” she said. “This seemed like a good fit. We’re hoping people embrace it and have fun with it.”

Viewing or listing homes on the application is easy, Roust said. Residents can access a map of listed decorated homes by clicking on the “Love Outdoor Holiday Decorations?” link on the county’s homepage, douglascountyks.org. The next step for those wanting to list a home is to click on the “participate” link on the holiday display page. Residents can then fill out forms and load photos through social media accounts or as a guest, she said. Those using social media may return later to update their listings, she said.

The listed homes will appear on a map after they have been reviewed, Roust said. No homes were listed on the map Wednesday morning, but Roust is hopeful that will soon change.

“I know a lot of people put up their lights over the Thanksgiving holiday, so I’m hoping when I come to work Monday there will be a lot of submissions,” she said.

The map will allow residents to plan tours of homes, research what they need to do to keep up with neighbors or just browse through decorated homes, Roust said.

The GIS Department sees the holiday home map as a fun way to introduce residents to crowdsourcing software, Roust said. The software can be used in many different ways to solicit feedback from county residents, such as identifying problems on county roads, she said. She is also hopeful the holiday home map will create greater awareness of the maps that the GIS now makes available and the crowdsourcing potential.

“We often joke in this profession we are reluctant at parties to tell people what we do because people say ‘What’s that?'” she said. “We want to get people engaged with our services. There are a lot of ways crowdsourcing can be used. This is a way people can become familiar with it and learn about a whole new county department they didn’t even know about.”