As the year winds down, we wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for the participation and feedback this year. It’s been really exciting to see the user community embrace the maps and apps on the ArcGIS for Local Government resource center and provide feedback that will ultimately make these ArcGIS maps and apps better for everyone using them. The team really enjoys the ongoing dialog with our local government users and looks forward to working with each and every one of you in the near future.
In 2012, we’re excited to incorporate the functionality emerging in ArcGIS 10.1 and ArcGIS Online, along with what we learned in 2011 from you, into the ArcGIS for Local Government solution. And we’ve got some plans we’d like to share with you for 2012 that we hope will make your adoption and use of ArcGIS simpler and more successful.
But before we dive right into 2012, let’s take a minute (or a few sentences) to recap what we’ve accomplished as a community this year. Late this year, we crossed the 50,000 download mark. And as you can see from the chart below, we have some really strong user communities emerging around the water utilities and land records maps and apps. These communities provide us a tremendous amount of feedback and help us evolve the content on the resource center.
Note: The Local Government downloads represent content used in more than one module of the ArcGIS for Local Government solution (i.e., information model, basemaps, service request apps).
In 2011, we added approximately 25 maps and apps to the resource center gallery. Here is a quick overview of just a few:
Maps and Apps Gallery: A web application that provides citizens with a single gallery of maps and apps you’ve published for your organization. It also allows external developers who are leveraging your authoritative data to submit their apps for inclusion in your gallery.
Address Editing Map: An editing map that helps planning, public safety, and land records organizations in local government maintain road centerlines with address ranges, site addresses, and related postal addresses.
Service Request for HTML5: An HTML5 application that allows citizens to submit nonemergency requests for service from a mobile phone, desktop computer, or tablet device.
Community Planning: A web application that allows citizens to propose community master plan design alternatives.
Park Finder: A web application that allows citizens to find a nearby park or a list of parks that offer recreational activities they’re interested in.
Campus Editing Map: An editing map that helps facility managers maintain interior spaces and exterior assets found on building grounds or campuses.
Campus Place Finder: A web application that allows users to find an office, conference room, or other interior space in a building or among many buildings on a campus.
With this growing collection of maps and apps, we needed a support model that could also keep pace with our growing user community and deliver the assistance users needed. So in the fall of 2011, we added Esri Support to the ArcGIS for Local Government team. Esri Support should be the first place ArcGIS for Local Government users in the United States go with questions or technical problems related to the maps and apps provided on the resource center. So don’t hesitate to take advantage of all our available online support resources or to contact Esri Technical Support with your technical questions.
Well, that’s enough about 2011. Let’s look ahead to 2012 and share with you some of our plans for ArcGIS for Local Government in the coming year. Our work will focus on enhancing the ArcGIS for Local Government map and application offerings and making it easier for you to deploy them in your organization.
Let’s start by taking a closer look at a few of the maps and apps we have planned for 2012.
New Maps and Apps
Election Polling Place: A publicly available application that allows citizens to identify their polling places and the elected officeholders in their precincts. Information is available for major elected offices in federal, state, county, and local governments. The new Election Polling Place application will include a series of enhancements to the existing Polling Place application found on the resource center and add accessibility from mobile devices.
Election Results Viewer: A publicly available election results application that allows the general public, elected officials, and the media to review election night results. Results information will be available for any elected office, reported by precinct, and accessible on a desktop PC or mobile device. The new Election Results application will be an enhancement to the existing Election Results application found on the resource center.
Executive Dashboard: An iPad application that allows mayors, executives, and other decision makers in a local government to review key performance indicators/metrics and geographic concentrations (hot spots) of such. It can be used to monitor the performance and pulse of the community and communicate with the management team to resolve any issues uncovered; and it allows constituents to demonstrate responsiveness and transparency. This application was envisioned by staff members at the City of Boston, and we look forward to helping them bring it to life and then sharing it with other local government users.
Those are just a few of the maps and apps we have planned for 2012. In addition to the few we mentioned above, the team will be working with the fire service and public works communities to develop and publish a series of maps and apps for their users. Finally, we’ve attached a complete list of the maps and apps we have planned for 2012 to this blog post. This list represents our plans for the new year, and we’ll continue to evolve our plans as the year goes on.
In 2012, Esri Partner offerings will play a growing role in the ArcGIS for Local Government solution. Several Esri partners (GISi, CyberTech, PenBay, and True North, just to name a few) are already implementing the ArcGIS for Local Government maps and apps in organizations across the country. We want to highlight those experiences and build a network of partners that help local governments implement this ArcGIS solution in their organizations. In addition, partners are evolving their application offerings to take advantage of the ArcGIS for Local Government solution, and we’ll be working with those partners to add their maps and apps to the growing ecosystem. Our goal is to work with those partners to ensure the applications can be deployed with the Local Government Information Model and by users.
Easier to Deploy
In addition to adding new maps and apps to the portfolio, we will be taking several steps to make it easier for you to deploy ArcGIS for Local Government in your organization. We mentioned many of these changes during our sessions at the 2011 Esri User Conference (Esri UC) and have made progress this fall on several. In 2012, you’ll see more direct progress made on many of the efforts below:
Quarterly Releases: A consistent quarterly release schedule that includes new maps and apps, updates to existing maps and apps, and any bug fixes reported by users. We originally had planned to publish our first quarterly release in October 2011 but decided to stick with our incremental release schedule and start the quarterly releases in 2012.
On-Premises Offering: A single ArcGIS for Local Government download that is simple to install and configure. This single download will replace the individual downloads on the resource center today. It will also allow you to identify one or more ArcGIS for Local Government modules you’d like to deploy in your organization and install the individual applications contained within each module.
Online Help: An ArcGIS for Local Government online help system for users and partners deploying the system.
ArcGIS Online Model Local Government Implementation: As the ArcGIS Online platform evolves and local governments catalog and manage their content in this system, we want to help you set up your ArcGIS Online account for your city, county, or local authority and leverage this cloud-based ArcGIS platform. The model local government implementation will demonstrate how you can take advantage of organizational accounts, groups, hosted map services, and cloud application offerings in your community.
Thanks again for your support in 2011. We were delighted that many of you took the time to download the maps and apps on the resource center, attend the sessions we had at the Esri UC, and give us feedback. As always, feel free to contact us with any specific feedback, suggestions, or questions you may have.
We look forward to hearing from you soon and seeing you all in the new year.
2012 ArcGIS for Local Government Maps And Apps Current Development Plans
