Development of a Prototype World Wide Web Site using the ArcView Internet Map Server to Support the Development Review Process for the City of Gainesville, Florida   

John F. Alexander, J. David Lambert, Bradley J. Scott 
 

Abstract 

This paper discusses the development of a prototype GIS-enabled Web site application which could support of the Development Review Process for the City of Gainesville Florida. Graduate students in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Florida created this prototype as a part of an interdisciplinary graduate-level planning studio which focused on the use of GIS in local government. The prototype GIS-enabled web site application implemented by the students demonstrates that by using ArcView IMS, it is possible to provide the benefits of GIS data access to the public efficiently, affordably, and effectively. 



|| Introduction || Methods || Results || Discussion || Acknowledgements || Contact Info || 

Introduction 

In the fall of 1997 a group of graduate students participated in an interdisciplinary Urban GIS Studio offered by the GeoPlan Center of Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Florida. An examination of the use of GIS and related technologies in the city of Gainesville, Florida (home of the University of Florida) was chosen as the focus for the studio. 

The primary objectives for the studio were: 1) to develop a better understanding of how GIS and related technologies were currently being used by the local government agencies in our hometown; 2) to identify and prioritize the GIS databases and applications which, if developed, might improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the local government agencies; and 3) to select and develop a GIS application which could demonstrate the potential benefits of a coordinated approach to multi-agency GIS implementation . 

After examining how GIS was being used in many diverse local government activities and processes, the students decided to focus their efforts on the City of Gainesville development review process. This decision was based initially on the logic that this very time consuming, and complex government activity must offer many opportunities for improving efficiency and effectiveness. Also, since there are many government agencies, elected officials, special interest groups, and general public involved in any development review, this process offers a unique opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of a GIS in a high priority and high profile government activity. 

Methods 

In order to better understand how GIS might be used to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the development review process, each student conducted surveys and interviews with representatives of the groups involved in process, attended review board meetings, and contributed individual reports on the unique needs and perspectives of each group involved in the process. As a result of these initial investigations, the consensus of the students was that the development review process in the City of Gainesville could be improved by: 1) facilitating more efficient data sharing between agencies; 2) by improving public access to all of the data (including GIS databases) and documents being used in the process; and 3) by improving the potential for timely and efficient public input to city officials about individual projects being reviewed.  

Based on these findings, the students decided that a development review World Wide Web site would be the best way to provide improved access to both general information about the process and specific data and information about projects under review by the city. The students also decided to use a 'beta' version of ArcView Internet Map Server (IMS) software (Esri, Redlands, CA) to add GIS capabilities to their web site, thus making the benefits of GIS available to all of the the participants in the process.   

Results  

The students successfully developed a prototype web site for the development review process in the City of Gainesville. The web site incorporates the ArcView IMS software in order to provide public access to GIS data which is relevant to the development review process. The prototype was developed on a Sun Ultra Sparc Unix workstation with Netscape's Suitespot Web Server Software used to provide the web access to the application.  

The students made a presentation to the local GIS User's Group and representatives from the City and County agencies involved in the development review process in which the use of the web site and GIS application was demonstrated. The general concept (especially the prototype application) was very well received by the group. In fact, it was so well received that two department heads who attended the presentation took our group to lunch afterwards to discuss how we could move towards actual implementation. As a direct consequence of the studio's efforts in developing and demonstrating the prototype application, the GeoPlan Center recently received a grant from the City of Gainesville to develop a GIS-enabled web site (using ArcView IMS) which will provide improved public access to information and data about the City's economic redevelopment efforts in the downtown enterprise zone. 

 

The prototype web site has three main sections which provide the user with: 

1) Comprehensive downloadable information on the Development Review and Permitting Process.  

2) Information and data relevant to currently proposed developments that are under review and opportunities for interaction and feedback. 

3) General information about economic development opportunities in the City. 

5341.JPG

 

The Development Review and Permitting Information button leads to pages containing all of the city's construction, building and development review requirements, and a calendar of City Council and review board meetings containing meeting times, dates and agendas. This page also contains helpful information such as a flowchart of the development review process. P5342.JPG

 

The web application also demonstrates how permit and review application forms could be completed online. Potential developers can also download copies of the most recent forms, requirements, etc. P5343.JPG

 

The Current Projects section contains a location map and a list of the current projects under review in Gainesville. By choosing a project, the viewer can look at site plans of the project, review thematic maps related to the project site (such as environmental or parcel data), and determine the current approval status of the project. The prototype application includes data for an actual project,called Exactech, which was being reviewed during the period that the studio was developing the application. P5344.JPG

 

The Exactech site plan, as submitted by the applicant, is made available for review by the user. Other 'links' allow the user to submit comments to the review board about the project and to view the comments submitted by others (including the general public, and the city staff who have reviewed the project).  

A project status and calendar is also made available to the user. ArcView IMS provided the capability for the user to access online maps such as: 

  • Floodplains
  • Topography
  • Landuse
  • Average Daily Traffic Counts
  • Wetlands
  • Soils
  • Gas and Electric Utility line Locations
  • Hazardous materials locations
  • Fire hydrant locations
  • Property Tax data

   

P5345.JPG
For instance, the ArcView IMS application provides the user with the ability to query the property appraiser's database for valuable information about adjacent land use and value. P5346.JPG

 

Another example of the GIS data made available to the user is the wetland location and type map. P5347.JPG

 

Our ArcView IMS application also allows the user to conduct some simple analysis online. For instance, the user can query the database to see a 400-foot buffer around the proposed development and get information about the parcels which are found within this buffer. P5348.JPG

 

The user also has the opportunity to provide feedback and comments. The review comments made City staff about the proposed development can be viewed by the user.  A citizen user also has the opportunity to submit their comments to City staff on a 'bulletin board' application which allows all submitted comments to be viewed by anyone interested in the project. P5349.JPG

 

Departmental staff can also use the 'chat' option which  enables staff to type comments to each other in real time.  This interface is presented to the user in a separate browser window enabling them to navigate the rest of the site while using the chat forum. P53410.JPG

 

The Enterprise button leads to the economic development pages which  provide useful information for both local and out-of-town potential developers and business professionals.  P53411.JPG

 

We are in the process of upgrading the economic development section of the prototype application to add more useful analytical functions.  An example of this new functionality is the commercial site analysis tool.  This tool will select currently vacant properties or parcels based on a set of criteria such as acreage/square footage, zoning, location from transportation networks, and infrastructure capacity. P53413.JPG

 

Once a set of potential sites are selected from all vacant property, an individual site can be selected and various types of analyses and reports can be generated for the potential development site. 

 

Discussion  

It became apparent to the students in our studio that everyone involved in the development review process (including the public, the developers, and the government employees/elected officials) could benefit from increased access to the GIS data being used now by a only a few of the participants. The advent of widespread use of web browsers on home and office PC's is actually the key element which provides the great potential for applications like our prototype to be realized. 

The prototype GIS-enabled web site application implemented by the students demonstrates that by using ArcView IMS, it is possible to provide the benefits of GIS data access to the public efficiently, affordably, and effectively. The prototype also demonstrated to us that the development of these types of applications could be accomplished rather quickly because it was relatively easy to learn how to use ArcView IMS if one already knows how to use ArcView GIS.  

Not surprisingly, the students found that, in general, many steps of the development review process would benefit from the availability of a more comprehensive GIS database. The studio participants believe that by making existing GIS data more accessible, it may be easier to build support for the development of a more comprehensive GIS database because the potentially many new users will better understand the potential benefits of a GIS. By focusing on the comprehensive GIS data needs of the development review process, the need for, and benefits of coordination between agencies and departments also became more obvious. 

Finally, we learned a few simple, and practical lessons for implementing an IMS application. First, analyze your target audience carefully, and then design your ArcView 'project' so that each view addresses only one, or at most two, of the needs or objectives of your potential users. It is easy to get 'carried away' with too many themes and too much information in any one 'view', in which case you will be more likely to confuse many of your potential users. Second, use the 'Comments Field' in your view properties dialog. Your comment will appear in the Map Cafe dialog box. It is easy to do and can provide the user with special instructions for using the view. Finally, if your tabular data fields have 'cryptic' names and/or values, make an alias for the items that is more descriptive, and/or use self-descriptive attribute values. Also use the 'hide field' feature to prevent fields such as the 'shape' field item(which is meaningless to most users) from showing up when the 'identify' button is used. We found that implementing these very simple steps helped make our more effective and less confusing to users. 

If you have any further questions or comments regarding this prototype, please feel free to contact Brad Scott at brads@geoplan.ufl.edu 

 

Acknowledgements  

Studio Members: Valentine Boycheva, Don Browning, Eric Finnen, Jessica Green, Mark Nelson, Brian Pessaro, Mario Ripol, Brad Scott, Brent Wilson  

Studio Instructors: John Alexander, J. David Lambert 

We would like to thank the following people for their contributions to this project:  

City of Gainesville: Stewart Pearson, Public Works Department; Maki Brown, Graphics Coordinator; Allison Fetner, Gainesville Public Works; Officer Sterling Keys, Gainesville Police Department; Meg Neiderhoffer, Arborist, Department of Parks and Recreation; Chad Reese, Gainesville Regional Utilities; Daniel Starbuck, Fire Protection Technologist; Building Inspection Department; Marcie Stenmark, Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator; Brenda Strickland, Permit and Development Coordinator; Kathy Winburn,Community Development Department;  
Gainesville Regional Utilities: Ellen Underwood, Services Coordination; Rich Watkins, GIS Manager  
Alachua County: Ann Ayers, Planning Department; Bob Bates, Property Appraiser’s Office; Russ Bedell, School Board Student Services Information Database; Brenda Cochrane, Planning Department; Michael Drummond, Environmental Protection Department; Penny Hauck, Environmental Protection Department; 
Development Community: Ralph Eng, Eng, Denman, and Associates


John F. Alexander, Ph.D.
Professor and Director
GeoPlan Center
431 ARCH
Department of Urban and Regional Planning
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida  32611
voice:  352-392-0997
fax:  352-392-3308
email: 
johngeo@ufl.edu

J. David Lambert, M.S.
Research Associate and Project Manager
GeoPlan Center
431 ARCH
Department of Urban and Regional Planning
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida  32611
voice:  352-392-2056
fax:  352-392-3308
email:  dlambert@ufl.edu

Bradley J. Scott
Research Assistant
GeoPlan Center
431 ARCH
Department of Urban and Regional Planning
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida  32611
voice:  352-392-0997 ext 228
fax:  352-392-3308
email:  brads@geoplan.ufl.edu