Fall NEARC 2024

In 2022 the Connecticut GIS Office, began collecting parcel and CAMA data from Councils of Governments (COGs). In previous years the information was gathered and packed in zip files for public use. In 2023 the GIS office created the first rendition of a statewide parcel layer from the years collection and published this data in the CT Geodata Portal. The state of Connecticut has been making strides to improve the parcel and CAMA data collection process as well as the parcel and CAMA data itself. This talk will dig into the challenges, findings and future of the Connecticut Parcel and CAMA collection.

This past spring, the City of Boston’s Analytics Team collaborated with the Boston Transportation Department (BTD) to determine where 100 new Bluebike stations (Boston’s bikeshare system) should be placed throughout the city, and why they should go in that location. This project is set to grow Boston’s bikeshare network by 40%- a major impact to the city to expand mobility options for residents.

The Analytics team worked together to apply data science methods and geospatial analysis to make station location recommendations, utilizing data such as job and population density, and ridership and station status. The Bluebikes data was translated into informative metrics such as station trip volumes, instances when stations were empty or full, and a pair of metrics- lost trips and lost returns- that highlighted areas of the city that are not able to meet the existing demand for starting a trip or ending a trip. The team used this data to identify locations with strong latent demand for bike share and to maximize the percentage of households in Boston within close proximity to a Bluebikes station.

In order to provide BTD with specific locations, the team utilized a geospatial suitability modeling approach, inputting dock, population, and job density data, and the new lost trip/return metrics into the model. The suitability modeling was done in two groupings- once for ‘expansion’ stations and one for ‘infill’ stations.
The groups had differences in data inputs as well as how the data was weighted and transformed, due to different priorities for the purpose of that station placement. Once the weights and transforms were applied, the team selected the highest scoring locations (with a minimum buffer distance between existing and proposed stations). Currently, BTD is siting the Analytics Team’s proposed station expansion locations, with plans to begin installation within the next year.

In Vermont, development projects that require historic preservation consultation for federal and state undertakings often necessitate detailed field surveys of buildings and structures, accompanied by comprehensive map exhibits. VHB Preservation Planners consult for an array of clients including municipalities and state transportation agencies, tackling projects ranging broadly in scale from individual buildings to statewide surveys.

This presentation will showcase recent advancements in historic preservation GIS deliverables, emphasizing the use of ArcGIS Experience Builder, and exploring how mobile data collection tools such as ArcGIS Field Maps and Survey123 have improved field data collection in historic preservation. Notable projects involving large-scale field surveys, including the BUILD Grant Mitigation - Rail: Historic Bridge Mitigation Survey, the Town of Brandon Preservation Survey, and the Middlebury Village Historic District Survey and National Register Nomination Update, will be highlighted.

The presentation will demonstrate efficiencies achieved during field survey data collected using Field Maps and the benefits of automated reporting capabilities integrated with the Vermont Architectural Resource Inventory form adapted for Survey123. Additionally, the presentation will highlight the dynamic map deliverables made possible by Experience Builder, underscoring their value in presenting and managing historic preservation data.

As the movement away from “car-only” design continues and more communities integrate Complete Streets planning and design, there is a challenge to collect the detailed data required to scale up from community engagement to actionable, biddable projects. The Town of Barrington, RI recently completed a comprehensive field assessment of its roadways using crowd-sourced data collected via a Survey123 webform. The project provided cost-effective data collection, but also provided public education and coalition building for increased advocacy and implementability. The fieldwork also resulted in Level of User Stress Assessment leading to prioritized capital investment.

The Survey123 form empowers trained volunteers to gather critical data about roadway characteristics, contributing to improved identification of gaps in existing transportation networks and prioritizing projects to improve multimodal transportation infrastructure. Volunteers used the form to record information on:

•Roadway features: Number of lanes, presence and condition of sidewalks and bike lanes
•Traffic conditions: Vehicle speed, traffic volume
•User experience: Perceived stress levels for cyclists and pedestrians

This crowdsourced data, aided by intentional cartographic choices for public engagement, provides valuable insights into the safety and usability of roadways for diverse users. By identifying areas with high stress levels or inadequate facilities, municipal planners and transportation authorities can prioritize improvements, ultimately creating safer and more accessible streets for residents and taxpayers.

In May of 2023, we launched the New Hampshire Zoning Atlas – only the third statewide zoning atlas in a nationwide movement to create a National Zoning Atlas. After wrangling zoning maps and regulations for 269 jurisdictions, the data had to be stitched together into a cohesive statewide zoning layer and analyzed to make some (hopefully) insightful conclusions on zoning’s effect on housing in NH. One of the challenges was how best to tell the story of zoning in NH (spoiler, using a StoryMap), and how to build an interactive viewer for users to explore the data in a meaningful way (spoiler 2 – Experience Builder). Join me for a behind the scenes look at putting the StoryMap and NH atlas together and brief demo of the final product, plus an update on planned improvements moving forward.

Parcel data management can be an efficient and enjoyable process with ArcGIS Pro! This presentation will demonstrate using ArcGIS Pro and esri's Parcel Fabric to work with land record datasets effectively. Workflows and tips & tricks will be discussed for two distinct approaches: (1) use of a simple geodatabase model and (2) use of the parcel fabric. Topology and attribute rules will be covered, as well as using a map series to produce tax maps. The presentation will also cover esri’s latest Parcel Fabric record-driven workflows, its flexible data model, automatic history, and tools unique to the Parcel Fabric dataset. The continued improvements to ArcGIS Pro have made custom tax mapping tools obsolete. Find out why ArcGIS Pro is becoming the standard for land-data management!