New interactive software scheduled to go online this week will make it easier for anyone who wants to research Marshall's zoning and land use ordinances.

The new software, called the Visual Interactive Code, or VIC, will be available on the township's Web site or on a computer disc and offers a host of features that haven't been available before, said Nicole Zimsky, the township's planning director.

"We are trying to make the complex language of the ordinances more understandable to the nonplanning person," Ms. Zimsky said. "For the regular person to look at it and grasp it makes all the difference."

Previously, the township's zoning, subdivision and land use ordinances, which were updated in January, had been available online but only in a PDF format.

Navigating through that online document was limited and a bit clunky.

The new software allows readers to search key words, click on highlighted words and terms for immediate definitions, open new windows to see another part of the ordinance, and click on visual illustrations of specific examples of types of allowed uses.

"It's really a cool and unique tool," Ms. Zimsky said.

The idea of using the interactive code online system first came up in 2006, when the township hired Pashek and Associates of Pittsburgh as consultants to update the zoning and land use ordinances.

The township paid Pashek $46,330 for all its work on the ordinances, and creating the interactive system accounted for about half of that amount, Ms. Zimsky said.

Implementing most interactive systems costs between $10,000 and $30,000, according to the software manufacturer's Web site, www.vicgroup.com.

Ms. Zimsky said creating a user-friendly online experience was appealing right from the start.

"We were excited about what it would mean and how it could benefit the township, residents and developers because of its use of interaction and formats," she said.

Jeff Ulma, planning director for Cary, N.C., said his community of about 132,000 residents has been successfully using the software for about four years.

"We did it because of its capabilities [that] allow people to do searches and find information quickly," he said. "It's ready information at your fingertips. It's as good for citizens as it is for the developer, the engineer and the landscape architect."

Cary spent about $20,000 on its interactive system, Mr. Ulma said. Staffers maintain and update the system as zoning amendments or changes arise.

Marshall officials still have to decide how they want to maintain their system, Ms. Zimsky said.

The software's creator, Visual Information Communications Group in State College, can train someone to maintain the system in-house or Marshall can pay VIC Group an hourly rate to make changes, said Kelleann Foster, an associate professor of landscape architecture at Penn State and managing partner of VIC Group.

Ms. Foster will be at the Marshall supervisors meeting tomorrow to give a presentation on the township's system and answer any questions the public might have about the software.

The VIC group has created about 20 visual interactive code systems for municipalities across the country, she said. Marshall is one of only a few in Pennsylvania to consider adding the feature to its Web site.

"A lot of the powers that be aren't comfortable with the technology," Ms. Foster said. "They want to pick up the book."

She said Marshall is the first municipality to get the system's recently updated software package that should make it even easier for users to navigate the complexities of municipal zoning.

"The whole idea is to make the information easier to access and hopefully easier to understand," she said.

The supervisors meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. at Marshall's municipal building on Pleasant Hill Road.