05/26/2026
Lee Klemp walks to work most mornings through downtown Bend, passing familiar faces before settling into a world of maps, data and problem-solving that quietly powers much of Deschutes County behind the scenes.
As an IT Applications Analyst II, Klemp helps support the County’s Geographic Information Systems, better known as GIS. It’s the technology behind interactive maps, emergency dashboards, election drop box locators and tools departments use every day to make decisions and share information with the public.
“It’s like Google Maps on steroids,” Klemp said with a laugh, explaining how he describes GIS to friends.
Klemp has spent more than 20 years working in GIS, but his path into geography wasn’t exactly planned. While attending community college in Illinois, he was unsure what direction to take until one geography professor changed everything.
“Just his energy and passion for it and the storytelling behind it made it really interesting,” Klemp said. “I went and met with him afterward and asked, ‘What can I do with geography?’ He pulled out these old black-and-white pamphlets and told me about this thing called GIS. I looked into it, and I got into it.”
That curiosity eventually brought him to Oregon and, later, Deschutes County in 2019. Since then, he’s helped support tools many residents rely on without ever realizing the amount of work behind them. From the County’s emergency management dashboard during wildfire season to DIAL and road mapping systems, Klemp and the GIS team help connect data to real-world decisions.
“It helps people look at their data, make decisions from that data and answer questions,” he said.
Outside of work, Klemp trades digital maps for real-world exploration. He enjoys biking, hiking, snowboarding and road trips across the Northwest, often using maps to discover new places before heading out in his 1986 Ford Econoline camper van named Penny. (pictured)
“A lot of times I’ll look at a map and try to find places I think might be neat to go, and then I’ll go explore those,” Klemp said.
At home, one large vintage world map hangs on the wall, but there are plenty more tucked away nearby, reminders that even in a world driven by smartphones and navigation apps, maps still tell stories.
And for Klemp, they always will.
