Elevate Miami

In 2001, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz faced a city ranked as one of the poorest in the nation. His vision for Miami’s future called for a strategic multifaceted plan addressing a holistic approach to improving the quality of life. Eager to elevate a city entrenched in seemingly impossible challenges, the mayor broke typical governmental patterns and reached beyond usual solutions by seeking out partnerships that combined the strengths needed to undertake such a task.

To implement this program, the City of Miami needed to define areas in need where services would be offered. The city’s GIS team was tasked with preparing easy-to-understand maps and materials to support a decision-making process for identifying these areas, to be known as “pilot areas.” By spatially analyzing datasets such as income levels, school performance, and parks, the team identified four pilot areas. This map shows how these areas were graphically depicted. GIS technology has made it easier to compile and present disarticulated data sources into an integrated theme highlighting the issues affecting the community.

Copyright, City of Miami.