1. The Jones Payne GroupNoise Mitigation Consultants Using Dynamic Websites for Improved Public Information John Donoghue GIS Program Manager AAAE Airport Noise Mitigation Symposium October 10, 2007 San Diego, CA

2. RSIP Public Information  Communities have little knowledge of Sound Insulation programs and process  Project coordinators are charged with Informing… Educating… Guiding and… Collaborating… with community members throughout the project lifecycle

3. Information Dissemination  Traditional Methods Letters Postcards Phone calls Community meetings Newsletters Press releases

4. Information Dissemination  Project websites Provides an easy to update medium for disseminating information Less costly than mailing and phone calls Provides room to explore more topics than you can with print materials  Typical home improvements  Product choices  Details on the process  Up-to-date news  Respond to ineligible community members

5. Typical Website Contents  Program Description  Benefits  Maps of affected areas  Eligibility criteria  Selection protocol  Reports  Sample documents  Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)  Program news or announcements  Noise terminology glossary

6. Source: http://www.quieterhome.org/ San Diego Quieter Home

7. Source: http://www.lawa.org/ResSoundproof.cfm Los Angeles World Airports

8. Source: http://www.jonespayne.com/riac/index.html Rhode Island Airport Commission

9. Metropolitan Airports Commission

10. Source: http://www.montereyairport.com/mry_soundproofing.html Monterey Peninsula Airport

11. Source: http://www.ohare.com/cnrc/ohare/ohareresidential.htm Chicago O Hare

12. Making your site more useful to communities and homeowners

13. Have Specific FAQ Pages  Involve your consultant and community in building your FAQ pages Use your consultant’s experience to help you craft answers to the most common RSIP related questions Add specific community-related questions gathered from your initial meetings  Reduces calls from homeowners who could not attend the meeting  Focuses on community concerns  Ensures use of common terminology

14. Describe and Show Eligibility  Avoid using only language to describe eligibility It’s difficult for homeowners to visualize Homeowners will not know what or where a 65 dNL contour is, or how it affects them  Include maps to show which homes are located within each contour Homeowners don’t like filling out application paperwork only to be told they are ineligible Ineligible homeowners are excluded from mailings. If they can’t determine their eligibility on their own, they will call to ask

15. Employ Useful Maps  When publishing maps ensure that they are clearly understandable to a non-map oriented audience Not all people like or know how to use maps Consider combining the maps with a list of addresses  This also helps visually impaired viewers since screen reading software cannot interpret maps Use a simple map interface commonly known (most homeowners don’t know a what a parcel map is or how to read one)

16. Consider All Audiences  Consider impaired site visitors who are Color blind Completely or partially blind Suffering from dyslexia May not be able to read small text  Website content should be easily readable with a text to speech reader  Eligibility maps should compliment descriptive information not replace it

17. Engage the Visitor  Too many websites are static websites offering one-way mediums for dissemination Static websites talk to the community Dynamic websites talk to the homeowner  Leverage technology to engage the homeowner and offer a self-service website that: Is pro-active in addressing specific homeowner concerns Offers two-way information exchange

18. Homeowner Self-Service  RSIP projects are long-term projects  Homeowners get frustrated Need to be reminded of the schedule Need to know what’s happening Need to be prepared for the next step  Frequent questions Am I eligible? Where am I in the process? What’s my status? What’s going to happen next? When?

19. Case Study: Bradley Intl. Airport Airport surveyed many RSIP websites Collected the best of what they saw into their request list that included:  Detailed program information  Mapping and dynamic eligibility lookup Airport is handling homeowner calls and was very concerned about call volume Excited about dynamic abilities but budget was limited  Dynamic programming and mapping can be expensive  FAA was not willing to fund dynamic functions for public use

20. Case Study: Bradley Intl. Airport  Most mapping websites use expensive proprietary GIS interfaces  We explored using low cost open mapping interfaces like Virtual Earth  Airport was able to build a full featured self-service website with a lower budget than a typical GIS mapping application Savings allowed addition of other homeowner self-services Resulting interface is familiar to most users and easy to navigate

21. Case Study: Bradley Intl. Airport  Open mapping interface enables better homeowner response from airport Staff can quickly lookup an address and see its location with respect to noise contours  Provides detailed information for addresses in the airport’s program database  Provides location with respect to the noise contours for addresses not in their database Allows homeowner to request verification if they believe they are eligible Empowers the airport by reducing their need to call consultants for clarification of address locations not in the system

22. Bradley Website Features  Website allows homeowners to Check their eligibility Obtain up-to-date status information for each program milestone View a live map of their property location with respect to noise contours Review and submit updated information on their home Schedule appointments with project staff Ask questions, submit comments and rank the suitability/helpfulness of page content

23. Bradley Website

24. Home Information

26. Scheduling

27. Overview Map for Airport Staff

28. Other Interactive Features  It is important to engage homeowners and help them make the program website more useful  Add mechanisms for homeowners to provide feedback and suggest website improvements

29. Using Open Mapping Services  Criticism Aerial photography in open services is old:  Typical cut-off date for eligibility is 1998  Online services may miss new construction or land use conversions, but they would be ineligible  Lower data costs allows more homes to be treated Custom aerial photography may cost $50K to $120K Proprietary GIS web services may cost $40k and up National average sound insulation cost is $24K Address locations are not very accurate  Geocoding of these services is improving  Use GIS applications to create your own data and use open source mapping services for visualization

30. Interactive Web Sites  Concerns Security  Making homeowners register and log in can turn them away and creates administrative work  Decide what information should be available publicly (i.e. address and eligibility)  More sensitive information can be sent by automated email for immediate answers, e-mail addresses can be requested during the application process My community is not technology friendly  Investigate your community’s ability to take advantage of the Internet and tailor your investment accordingly

31. The Jones Payne GroupNoise Mitigation Consultants Questions? John Donoghue GIS Program Manager The Jones Payne Group - Geospatial Services Office  520.269.6601 x10  jdonoghue@jonespayne.com  www.jonespayne.comwww.jonespayne.com