State of Hawaii 2013 Excellence in Technology Awards. Hawaii Electioneering Desktop and Mobile App (2012 General Election)

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1 State of Hawaii 2013 Excellence in Technology Awards Title: Category: Contact: Hawaii Electioneering Desktop and Mobile App (2012 General Election) Fast Track Solutions David J. Rosenbrock Office of Elections Project start: July 17, 2012 Project complete: Nov. 7, 2012 page 1

2 Executive Summary In Hawaii, it is illegal to sign-wave or to conduct other campaign activities within 200 feet of a polling place on Election Day. Electioneering maps depict the boundary area allowable for campaigning at each polling place. People who want to campaign near a polling place can use an electioneering map provided by the Office of Elections for that polling place to determine when they re outside the 200 foot buffer. In past elections, the Office of Elections has posted individual electioneering maps on their website, one map for each polling place (precinct). These maps were basically sketch maps which showed the electioneering boundary along with streets and building outlines. July 17, 2012: Is there a way to make the maps more modern, say with a satellite basemap, and make them more accessible via a mobile device, say a smartphone? Is there a way to make them available to the person who needs them, when they need them, wherever they need them? Nov 6, 2012: The General Election was held and the Electioneering Map Apps were available throughout the day. The apps were accessed more than 1,000 times. 67% were for Oahu maps, 14% for Maui maps, 12% for Big Island maps and 7% for Kauai maps. As far as smartphone use, 29% overall used the smartphone apps. This ranged from a high of 46% smartphone users on the Big Island and 42% on Kauai, to 31% on Maui and 24% on Oahu. This project demonstrated the value of loosely coupled, cloud and web-based components to create a fast track solution to a discrete, focused, time-sensitive problem. Many projects commonly needed on a day-to-day basis in State government can be accomplished using this agile methodology that supports collaboration and adaptability. Although this project was of limited duration, it will need to be repeated for future elections primary, general and special. A benefit of this project, and the way it was accomplished, is that the loosely coupled nature of the components will make it easy to update and reuse these applications for future elections. A priority of NASCIO State CIOs is the use of cloud services. This project used cloud services to assist government officials in executing their duties and to provide costeffective service to citizens, thereby demonstrating the value of cloud services and agile application development. State of Hawaii 2013 Excellence in Technology Awards page 2

3 Business Problem and Solution Description In Hawaii, it is illegal to sign-wave or to conduct other campaign activities within 200 feet of a polling place on Election Day. Electioneering maps depict the boundary area allowable for campaigning at each polling place. People who want to campaign near a polling place can use an electioneering map provided by the Office of Elections for that polling place to determine when they re outside the 200 foot buffer. In past elections, the Office of Elections has posted individual electioneering maps on their website, one map for each polling place (precinct). These maps were basically sketch maps which showed the electioneering boundary along with streets and building outlines. Issues: 1) People had to know the precinct number in order to find the correct map. 2) People had to know how to interpret the sketch map. 3) It was difficult access to the maps from mobile devices. 4) After 2011 reapportionment and redistricting (which was complete in March 2012), many candidates and campaigners had to become familiar with new polling places since there were many changes due to redistricting. If there is disagreement between a campaign worker and a polling place worker as to the location of the electioneering boundary, the polling place worker is instructed to call the police who will bring out a tape measure to measure off the 200 feet. Clearly it is important for all interested parties to have easy access to the most easily understandable maps of the electioneering boundaries. Idea: July 17, 2012: Is there a way to make the maps more modern, say with a satellite basemap, and make them more accessible via a mobile device, say a smartphone? Is there a way to make them available to the person who needs them, when they need them, wherever they need them? State of Hawaii 2013 Excellence in Technology Awards page 3

4 Solution Component (Maps): The first component required was a map of the polling places, appurtenances and the electioneering buffer. All of the old, individual sketch maps had to be digitized and rendered into a single statewide map. ArcGIS for Desktop was used to do heads-up digitizing using online satellite imagery basemaps for the outline of the polling places and the appurtenances. Once these were outlined, the Buffer geoprocessing tool was used to create the 200 foot electioneering buffer. The resultant map was compared with the original sketch maps for similarity. In addition, field tests were performed at several polling places (Central Intermediate, McKinley High, Kaiser High, Kamiloiki Elementary and Hahaione Elementary) using a tape measure and a GPS (global positioning system) unit to compare the computed electioneering buffer with the actual distances. In all cases there was no difference within the error tolerance of the GPS. An innovation helped this project get completed in a short time a custom Python script for modeling. There were multiple steps involved in using the Buffer geoprocessing tool to create the electioneering buffers. Since this process had to be repeated many times, the ModelBuilder scripting interface was used to create a multi-step geoprocessing model that could be run automatically whenever needed, thus saving many mouse clicks and user time. Solution Component (Map Services): Once the electioneering buffer maps were complete, the next component required was a way to make the map data available for use with online applications. ArcGIS for Server was used to create a dynamic map service that could publish the map data along with proper symbology and data fields (attributes) in a Geoservices REST format. This is an open REST service specification for publishing map data that can be consumed in a variety of applications. The Office of Planning/Statewide GIS Program (OP/GIS) was already publishing similar map services to support other online applications and they agreed to publish the electioneering map service. Complete map data with symbology and attributes was provided to them as a map package which was then used to create the dynamic map service. The same method was used for providing updates. State of Hawaii 2013 Excellence in Technology Awards page 4

5 Solution Component (Web Map): Once the map service was published, we needed a way to combine that map data with online basemaps (the same ones used in the Maps Component) and to configure popup windows and hyperlinks. ArcGIS Online was used to create a web map to do this. This is the same method, using web maps, that was used by the Hawaii Reapportionment Commission to make maps of the new political district boundaries widely available to the public in 2011/2012. The popup windows in the web map were customized to present basic polling place information the name of the polling place, address, building, and the precinct number. Hyperlinks were added that linked to the ballot for that polling place as well as the old sketch style electioneering map. Solution Component (Desktop and Mobile Applications): With all the other components in place, the final component needed was an application to deploy to the public. Due to the smaller screen size available for maps on smartphones, it was decided early on to deploy two applications, one for desktops (larger screens) and one for smartphones (smaller screens). Both applications would be kept simple, focusing on the polling places and the electioneering buffers. While a basic geographic search window was provided, it was expected that most users would find their polling place either through regional maps (desktop) or through built in GPS (smartphones). For the desktop, Esri publishes several templates that can be used for free. We choose to use a gallery template that would present the users with a gallery style list of regional electioneering maps. Fifteen regional maps were presented in the gallery two for the Big Island, three for Maui County, one for Kauai and nine for Oahu. For mobile, it was decided that most tablets had sufficient screen size that the desktop gallery application would work. For smartphones, two alternatives were considered device OS specific apps and browser-based apps. Device specific apps are tightly integrated with the phone s operating system and require users to download an app. Esri has free smartphone SDKs (software development kits) for ios, Android and Windows Mobile to develop these apps. However, given the simple requirements of the application and the need for rapid development, device specific apps were not pursued. State of Hawaii 2013 Excellence in Technology Awards page 5

6 Browser-based mobile apps that are not device dependent can be developed using HTML5 and Javascript. Esri has a Javascript API that can be used to develop this type of application. A prototype custom app was built and tested that allowed for multiple types of searches, but midway through testing, it was discovered that Esri had their own free generic brower-based mobile app that would be sufficient for the simple, focused design of this application, so the custom app was not pursued. Deployment: The Web Map and Desktop and Mobile Application components were both cloudbased so they didn t have to be installed on any specific server. They were deployed using ArcGIS Online, an Esri SaaS cloud GIS solution. In fact, all the components were loosely coupled in a way that allowed for rapid deployment, testing and revision. Sep 21, 2012: The initial online desktop application was in beta for review by the Office of Elections and the County Clerks. Most of the feedback was on specific polling places and edits were made to the map data and electioneering buffers over several more weeks. Given the loosely coupled nature of the components, it was simple to update the data, pass a map package to OP/GIS, and they would update the map service. The actual web map and applications did not have to be changed. Oct 18, 2012: The completed applications were submitted to OIMT. Oct 31, 2012: OIMT completed review and decided to post on their website as an OIMT Featured App. A short article describing the apps and links to the desktop/tablet and smartphone apps were posted on the OIMT website. , Facebook and Twitter were used to spread the word. Nov 1, 2012: Office of Elections decided to change the symbology of one of the layers in the web map. Once again, the loosely coupled nature of these components helped to make this change possible in a short time with minimal impact to the other components. The change was made to the web maps at night. No changes were required to any of the other components. The applications didn t have to be changed, the links on the OIMT website didn t have to be changed, no one had to download a revised app. When a user went to one of the apps the next morning, they automatically saw the new revisions without having to do anything different. State of Hawaii 2013 Excellence in Technology Awards page 6

7 Significance Nov 6, 2012: The General Election was held and the Electioneering Map Apps were available throughout the day. The apps were accessed more than 1,000 times. 67% were for Oahu maps, 14% for Maui maps, 12% for Big Island maps and 7% for Kauai maps. As far as smartphone use, 29% overall used the smartphone apps. This ranged from a high of 46% smartphone users on the Big Island and 42% on Kauai, to 31% on Maui and 24% on Oahu. The significance of this project from an IT perspective is the demonstration of the value of loosely coupled, cloud and web-based components to create a fast track solution to a discrete, focused, time-sensitive problem. Some larger IT projects may require tight coupling and a more classic waterfall methodology, but many smaller projects, the type commonly needed on a day-to-day basis in State government, can be accomplished using a more agile methodology that supports collaboration and adaptability. Benefit of the Project There is a direct benefit to the public in having simple access to critical information on any device. In this case, there was a small, but very visible, segment of the public (campaigners, poll watchers and law enforcement officials) who needed this information for a short period of time. Campaign workers and precinct officials, and law enforcement officials could look at the electioneering app s map satellite imagery basemaps to determine if an electioneering violation occurred. Classic, big project software development would not be cost-effective for such a limited, albeit important, application. Rapid, agile development using web and cloud resources allowed this project to be completed in a short time at low cost. Although this project was of limited duration, it will need to be repeated for future elections primary, general and special. Another benefit of this project, and the way it was done, is that the loosely coupled nature of the components will make it easy to update and reuse these applications for future elections. A priority of NASCIO State CIOs is the use of cloud services. This project used cloud services to assist government officials in executing their duties and to provide costeffective service to citizens, thereby demonstrating the value of cloud services and agile application development. State of Hawaii 2013 Excellence in Technology Awards page 7