Bloomington’s Online Resources for Public Communication Laura Haley GIS Manager Information & Technology Services (ITS) City of Bloomington

Today’s Agenda Bloomington’s GIS Group & ITS Mission Goals for our Online Resources Traditional Online Map and Data Download Site Map Gallery Locations & Directions Tool myBloomington Address Search Application

GIS Group Responsibilities To Support City Government Mission and Functions… Spatial Data & Technology Creating & Maintaining Analyzing & Reporting IntegratingDisplaying Enhancing & Supporting

ITS Mission “To provide -- through the forward-looking application of information technology -- the omnibus IT services, tools and resources necessary to maintain mission-critical City systems, empower City staff to excel in their work, and engage our community electronically in their own governance.” While supporting City staff through information and technology, where possible, make data and services available to the public in a form they can use.

Our Goals for Online Resources Expand accessibility of our data and services. –Online Resources benefit internal users as well as the public. –Online Resources are available beyond office hours. Provide methods for people to help themselves to information if they choose (Self Serve). Provide tools that are “easy to use” and are geared to fill user needs.

Where We Started GIS Data Download Provides a method for outsiders to obtain a copy of our data free of charge, which reduced requests for data. Very Popular – but it has a limited audience.

Interactive Map Expands access to GIS data and provides a tool to visualize our data and perform some queries. Still has some limitations –High Speed Connection Preferred –Can be a learning curve for some users. –Multiple steps to get answers to relatively simple questions. Who is my City Council Member?

Map Gallery Place for people to view, download and print maps. Most of these maps we were already creating, we just need to post them to the City’s website. Creating maps in electronic format and not just sending to the printer is becoming more of a standard process.

Map Gallery Centralized area where visitors can find maps. Maps are maintained by the GIS Staff so departments do not need to contact us to get their maps updated. - Reduces orphan or out of date maps on the site.

Department’s can still have maps in their web pages by linking to the Map Gallery or linking directly to a map in the Map Gallery.

Gallery’s contain: Thumbnail Preview Image (GIF or JPG) for quick viewing. Higher Quality PDF Optional links to related web pages. Use Adobe Illustrator to enhance some maps. (Output PS file from GIS)

Locations & Directions Began as a tool to provide a simple map and directions to locations mentioned on the City website such as Meeting Rooms and City Facilities. The City decided to build a web app that utilized a database of locations and the Google Map API – create a standard look for providing information about a location.

Google Maps… Includes enhanced search capabilities (Directions) not included in our Interactive Map application. Provides a map interface that is familiar to many users. One method to use Locations is to embed a link to the locations app in a web page. Locations

Find a Park

Locate a Parking Facility

Browse Locations Main Page is php. Locations in mySQL database Data entered through Content Management System. –Name, Address or Location, and Description. –Latitude/Longitude (from GIS or Google Earth) –Optional Contact Information and Images Google Map API - Map is Dynamic Can Get Directions using Google Maps

myBloomington Need - a tool to provide a wide variety of information based on address and to answer questions about city services and programs. Solution – MyBloomington address search application. –Takes address input and queries various databases. –Maps the location of that address. –Provides a list of information profiling that address with links to find even more information.

myBloomington - Starts with HTML Form to Enter Address Has its own webpage, but the form can be embedded in any page. The myBloomington home page contains information about app, search tips, and contact information to report problems.

myBloomington Application written in java. Uses some php to integrate with data entered in the website’s content management system. [Form Code] out.println("<form id='myForm' method='post' "+ " action='"+url+"ProfBrowse' "+ " onsubmit='return validateForm()'>"); // out.println(" Enter Address "); out.println(" "); out.println(" Example: 401 N Morton St ");

myBloomington The first part of the applications parses the address string entered. Probably the most challenging part of the application. 101 E 1 ST ST E. 1 ST ST East 1 ST STREET ST ST – 101 1st Once the address string is parsed, the address is queried against our Master Address Database (MAD).

myBloomington The MAD resides in an Oracle database and contains location related information, much of it populated and maintained through our GIS. The main address table contains –Street Number, Direction, Street Name, Suffix, Post Direction. –City, State, Zip Code, ZipPlus4 –Government Jurisdiction, Township –Census Block ID –State Plane X/Y Coordinate, Latitude, and Longitude

myBloomington We have related data tables that integrate addresses to information about: –Council Districts –Trash and Recycle Services –Neighborhood Associations –Neighborhood Parking Permit Zones –Historic Districts –Voting Precincts –Economic Development Districts As a result, we can answer specific questions related to these topics. Most of these data elements are also maintained through our GIS.

myBloomington Once the address is found, javascript is used to pass the address latitude and longitude coordinates and create a map using the Google Maps API. out.println(" "); out.println(" //<![CDATA[ "); out.println(" "); out.println(" var map = null; "); out.println(" var geocoder = null; "); out.println(" var baseIcon = new GIcon(); "); out.println(" baseIcon.shadow = "+ "' "); out.println("baseIcon.iconSize = new GSize(20, 34); "); out.println("baseIcon.shadowSize = new GSize(37, 34); "); out.println("baseIcon.iconAnchor = new GPoint(9, 34); "); out.println("baseIcon.infoWindowAnchor = new GPoint(9, 2); "); out.println("baseIcon.infoShadowAnchor = new GPoint(18, 25); "); out.println(" function load() { "); out.println(" if (GBrowserIsCompatible()) { "); out.println(" map = new GMap2(document.getElementById(\"map\")); "); out.println(" map.addControl(new GLargeMapControl()); "); out.println(" map.addControl(new GMapTypeControl()); "); out.println(" var point = new GLatLng("+lat+","+lng+"); "); out.println(" map.setCenter(point, 17); "); out.println(" var icon = new GIcon(baseIcon); "); out.println(" icon.image = '"+url3+"google/marker0.png'; "); out.println(" markerOptions = { icon:icon }; "); out.println(" var marker = new GMarker(point, markerOptions); "); out.println(" var geoXml = new GGeoXml(' out.println(" map.addOverlay(geoXml); "); out.println(" map.addOverlay(marker); "); out.println(" GEvent.addListener(marker, 'click', function(){ "); out.println(" var myHtml = ' "+street+" "+subunit+" '; "); out.println(" map.openInfoWindowHtml(point, myHtml); ");

myBloomington Results Page – Formatted HTML Full address with coordinates Dynamic Google Map that can be opened in another window for a larger view.

myBloomington Address Profile information contained in grouped tables. –Government Info, Elected Officials, City Services, and Community Info. Links Provided for more information. Also lists other “Nearby” features of interest. –Road Closings, Parks, and Historic Districts/Sites and more.

myBloomington Nearby Features are obtained by calculating the distance from the address coordinates to the coordinates of the features and listing the top results. –Road Closings and Historic Districts/Sites: Locations Database –Parks: Addresses in MAD These lists also contain links for more information.

Summary Including GIS and Mapping related services online bolsters public communication efforts. Online Resources can expand access to GIS and Mapping information. Online Resources provide an opportunity for users to self serve and can reduce requests for information. Leverage the data and products that you already have and ask yourself is there a way to get these online. Using Google Maps or other API is a relatively easy way to enhance location related information with a dynamic map.

Questions? Laura Haley –