imaps Using Collaboration and Technology to Color Outside The Organizational Lines

Transcription

1 imaps Using Collaboration and Technology to Color Outside The Organizational Lines 2011 G. Herbert Stout Award Application City of Raleigh GIS Wake County GIS Colleen Sharpe, GISP, Raleigh GIS Manager Anne Payne, GISP, Wake County GIS Database Administrator Charles Friddle, GISP, Wake County GIS Director City of Raleigh GIS / Wake County GIS

2 PURPOSE The imaps application interface represents the most recent in a long series of cooperative efforts by the City of Raleigh and Wake County GIS organizations. The purpose of the application interface is to provide the citizens of Wake County a wide variety of geospatial and other land-records information in an easy-to-use, intuitive web portal. Although the system is technically elegant, two other factors make it exemplary: 1) the collaboration used during the development process and 2) the true enterprise nature of the system, effectively combining access to data from multiple County, City, and Town databases in a single application. BACKGROUND AND HISTORY The Wake County/City of Raleigh cooperative GIS effort began in 1989 and has continued to the present. By sharing resources and cost, the two organizations have been able to achieve much more than if each worked alone. In addition to joint development of three different versions of imaps, the City and County have collaborated on many other efforts: Data sharing for internal users: Since 1991, users in the City and County have been seamlessly viewing the GIS layers in various applications from both jurisdictions in real time. Data are not duplicated between the GIS databases. Joint database development: The units have worked together to develop several data layers including a County-wide zoning layer, a street centerline layer, and a continuous layer of County-wide topographic information. Orthophotography: In both 1999 and 2005, the City and County split the cost of new County-wide orthophotography. The City hosts the 1999 imagery and the County hosts the 2005 imagery. Joint application development: Wake and Raleigh shared resources (cost and staff) in the development of MAPS, the desktop GIS viewing and analysis application used by approximately 200 City and County users. Technology transfer and training: Individuals frequently collaborate with their counterparts at the other agency on strategic planning, troubleshooting, standards, and user training. In 2010, the entire imaps site was redesigned and rewritten as an ArcGIS Server application using Adobe Flex. The implementation of an online viewer was not the focus of our efforts as we already had this in place; the purpose was to take advantage of new technologies in order to expand the viewer into a true land records web portal. The collaborative development process used to create the newest version of imaps and the enterprise implementation of GIS is the focus of this entry. IMPLEMENTATION Functional / Technology Scoping As the release of ArcGIS Server and the understanding of its capabilities became clearer, the City and County decided it was time to upgrade imaps. As has often been the case for our joint efforts, the development and implementation of imaps was a collaborative and iterative process City of Raleigh GIS / Wake County GIS Page 1

3 grounded in strong project management fundamentals. Joint meetings of the GIS teams were held to discuss desired outcomes and possible options. The group studied the latest available technologies through ESRI sponsored seminars, online training, and soliciting advice from trusted vendors. We met and exchanged notes, brainstormed ideas, conducted user surveys, and held functional needs scoping sessions with subsets of users. In conjunction with all this activity, we reviewed as many existing non-arcims online applications as possible, noting our likes and dislikes. As a group we reviewed each site and gained consensus on the inclusion of features and interface functionality. The result was a hand-drawn conceptual design. Our next big challenge was determining how to proceed. Iterative Development / Rollout Approach At that point in time, existing staff with the City and County had little to no experience with ArcGIS Server and weren t sure if the design could even be executed. With little or no funding available for consulting assistance, staff began exploring options. During this timeframe, the City had an opening for a GIS Programmer Analyst position. The focus of the search turned to someone with ArcGIS Server experience. A selection was made and on the new programmer s first day, he was handed the conceptual design and asked Do you think you can make this happen? Within days the ArcGIS Server infrastructure environment was fully operational and application prototypes began appearing. Over the course of several months, we went through a cycle of prototypes, review, programming, testing, and revisions until we had a robust application which was ready for a gradual rollout. The first rollout was to selected users of imaps in both organizations who would provide constructive feedback. The first set of comments offered suggestions for improvements with little negative feedback. The rave reviews indicated that we were on to something big. The next rollout was to the broad City and County internal user population and to internal users at the other municipalities. Again, positive reviews and more suggestions were received. After a couple of months of internal use and scrutiny, it was time to begin a rollout to citizens. The citizen rollout was gradual as well. We notified selected users, provided the link, and solicited feedback. We strove to accommodate all feasible requests for functionality and respond to all reports of defects. The next step in the implementation was to put a link on the old imaps site to the Beta version. This provided users with the opportunity to give the application a try on their own terms within their own timeframe. We received many comments and realized just flipping the switch from old to new, all at once, was not the appropriate approach. Instead, we kept the Beta link up for several months and then switched the links on the imaps jump page so the new version was the primary application. Users could still access the old version if they chose. Additional training and documentation for some external users was conducted so they could learn how to use the new application to accomplish their business purposes. Once this training was completed, all imaps links from City and County sites were pointed to the new application. The total implementation process from the first meeting until final go live took approximately 15 months, with the largest amount of time devoted to the slow roll out and adoption. The primary private sector users of the application are developers, real estate professionals, surveyors, attorneys, and insurance professionals. The application is also used extensively by internal staff at the City and County and staff in several of Wake County s municipalities. We believe this purposeful, slow rollout has led to the successful adoption by these users. City of Raleigh GIS / Wake County GIS Page 2

4 Data and Technology Integration The diversity of our users speaks to a second reason for the application s success. The application has proven to be easy to use and there is a large and diverse amount of information which can be accessed. Over ten different City and County databases (see table below) and applications are integrated into imaps as well as data from other municipalities and Google Street View. Additional applications and data are in the process of being integrated as the application continues to grow. Integrated Systems and Databases Wake County City of Raleigh Other Municipalities Vector and raster geospatial data Vector and raster geospatial data Zoning Real Estate / CAMA System Land Development Database Solid Waste Register of Deeds Imaged Documents Permits & Inspections System Points of Interest House Photos Database Police Records Scanned Septic Permits Pictometry (In development) Other Link to Data Download Site Google Street View Note: The City and County geospatial databases both include Zoning, Solid Waste and Points of Interest data in addition to a total of over 700 other layers of data The use of web services and API s eased the integration between disparate systems located within different organizations. The use of standardized tools and methodologies to access the backend databases also simplified development. With the plethora of data which could be displayed or presented, the need to determine what layers were to be included in the base map was critical. We also needed to determine what information should be represented graphically and what could be presented non-graphically. These were all important design and usability issues which were resolved jointly and with the desire to make the application as intuitive and easy to use as possible. Partnerships The development of imaps also provided an opportunity to engage other municipalities within Wake County in order to provide a primary application for citizens in all jurisdictions to access similar information. An example includes solid waste collection information. This was initially developed to provide collection schedule information for City of Raleigh citizens. Once other towns saw the feature they asked to be included and provided the data. Citizens can now find out when their garbage will be collected in a number of municipalities in Wake County through one application. The towns also helped develop Points of Interest data for their community, all of which were incorporated into a single countywide dataset. Extensive collaboration was required to design, develop, and deploy new imaps. That collaboration continues through the maintenance of the application and ongoing response to issues. The City of Raleigh supports the application and servers while Wake County has taken the lead in publicity, customer service, and training. The joint development staff continues to meet regularly to evaluate and recommend new features and data that users request through a survey linked to the site. City and County staff have been actively involved in joint outreach to the community through presentations and demonstrations. City of Raleigh GIS / Wake County GIS Page 3

5 ORGANIZATIONAL IMPACT Confidence in Data Integrity - The collaborative environment fostered by Raleigh s and Wake County s GIS staff continues to have major positive impacts on both the public and governmental agencies that rely on the common imaps viewer. One of the characteristics seen as beneficial to County, City, and town staff, is the access to real-time data from multiple agencies and sources while performing a task (permitting, street addressing, subdivision plan review, providing information, etc.). The information is considered reliable and is used confidently because users know the geographic information is being served up by the responsible jurisdiction after being updated by the responsible agency. Organizational Trust and Understanding - The close working relationships which have developed over time between Wake County and Raleigh GIS staff, and which were renewed with new staff through the imaps effort, have also fostered trust and understanding between the jurisdictions. Raleigh GIS is able to explain Wake County s business rules for maintaining property information to City staff, as well as relay problems that those business rules generate for Raleigh agencies back to Wake County GIS. This has opened the door, on numerous occasions, for understanding of, and changes to, operating procedures that benefited both jurisdictions. As another example of cooperation, Raleigh GIS has also included Wake County GIS in plans to develop a master address database for the City. Cost and Resource Sharing - By sharing data through hardware, database, application, and network integration, both jurisdictions have been able to better control costs of data storage and database and application development. The two agencies have worked to minimize, wherever possible, redundant data storage. This has eliminated problems caused when databases are out of synch, increased reliability and confidence, and reduced overall program costs. Joint database and application development, maintenance, and support have resulted in programs City of Raleigh GIS / Wake County GIS Page 4

6 and tools used commonly across both organizations resulting in additional cost savings through cost-sharing, reduced resource needs, and broad acceptance by users. imaps is just one of many joint ventures and is the culmination of a joint vision of greater access to information for staff and citizens alike. Impact on Citizens - The use of imaps by citizens and customers continues to grow as they take advantage of the ready availability of geographic information. The number of customers personally visiting or contacting Raleigh and Wake County GIS offices for information has dramatically decreased over the last few years. Customers are able to get more geographic information using imaps and related internet applications at their convenience, very often after business hours and on the weekends. This has freed up Wake County GIS s Customer Service staff to assume Helpdesk responsibilities for the imaps application as well as help other teams, more effectively, utilizing existing staff and avoiding requests for new positions. Changes in Perceptions - imaps has done much to dispel a perception commonly held by citizens that governments do not talk, much less work together. imaps has given citizens who need to work with both the City and County, the benefit of discussing their issues with the appropriate agencies using information presented consistently through the common imaps interface. This has reassured customers that various governmental agencies can, and do, look at the same geographic data presented in the same way in an effort to make coordinated decisions. imaps has also given governmental agencies the ability to look at information across jurisdictional lines. Seldom do the impacts of a decision stop at the jurisdictional boundary. Therefore using the same interface and data for decision making and visualization has helped with coordination and implementation of policies. SUMMARY Technologically, imaps is sophisticated; taking advantage of the latest advances in network, database, and server capabilities to deliver a robust, reliable system. However, the technology is not what makes the system special. The collaborative relationship between the Wake County and City of Raleigh GIS programs and the common desire to provide easy access to geospatial data for citizens and staff is unique. Through ongoing coordination and collaboration, a culture of cooperation has grown. The results provide real benefits to the citizens and taxpayers. imaps is truly an enterprise land records portal, providing access to data and applications from multiple agencies and jurisdictions to citizens who often do not know or care who actually provides their services. imaps is an excellent example of what can be accomplished when organizations work together. City of Raleigh GIS / Wake County GIS Page 5

7 Attachment 1 imaps: Raleigh Crime Map Tool City of Raleigh GIS / Wake County GIS Page 6

8 Attachment 2 imaps: Link to Wake County Environmental Services Scanned Septic Permit City of Raleigh GIS / Wake County GIS Page 7

9 Attachment 3 imaps: Link to Wake County Register of Deeds Scanned Subdivision Map City of Raleigh GIS / Wake County GIS Page 8