{"id":627562,"date":"2023-10-31T19:59:06","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T02:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcnews&#038;p=627562"},"modified":"2023-10-25T07:43:34","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T14:43:34","slug":"a-legacy-of-gis-innovation-in-portland-oregon","status":"publish","type":"arcnews","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/a-legacy-of-gis-innovation-in-portland-oregon","title":{"rendered":"A Legacy of GIS Innovation in Portland, Oregon"},"author":5752,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10562,472991,476112],"tags":[339072,1631,301,157412,165542],"arcnews_issues":[486972],"class_list":["post-627562","arcnews","type-arcnews","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arcgis-hub","category-gis","category-urban-planning","tag-city-planning","tag-collaboration","tag-community","tag-data","tag-data-sharing","arcnews_issues-fall-2023","arcnews_sections-your-work"],"acf":{"short_description":"A pioneer in GIS, Metro\u2014the area\u2019s metropolitan planning organization\u2014is using ArcGIS Hub to democratize access to authoritative data.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Metro, the metropolitan planning organization for the Portland, Oregon, area, has been a GIS pioneer since 1990, when it began its GIS journey using Esri\u2019s then-recently released ARC\/INFO. Today, Metro\u2014which manages Oregon\u2019s land-use law in the area\u2014and Portland\u2019s regional government are nationally recognized leaders in government use of GIS.\r\n\r\nMetro serves approximately 1.7 million people in the Portland area. With a jurisdiction that spans 24 cities and three counties, Metro brings together policymakers, planners, and the public to collaborate on projects that impact the entire region. One of Metro\u2019s key goals is to democratize access to authoritative data, which the organization is now doing via ArcGIS Hub."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":627582,"image_position":"right","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h2>Need for Regional Map Data Kick-Starts GIS<\/h2>\r\nIn 1990, Metro was in the process of developing a regional growth strategy that would become known as the 2040 Growth Concept. This 50-year plan would promote a healthy economy, environmental sustainability, improved transportation systems, thriving neighborhoods, and secure housing for all.\r\n\r\nThe staff at Metro realized that mapping data would be a crucial tool for planning and launching the 50-year strategy for growth. But up until then, detailed regional map data coverage didn\u2019t exist. Metro turned to ARC\/INFO, the first commercial GIS product of its kind.\r\n\r\n\u201cMetro saw this as more than just a way to create an internal data product,\u201d said Julie Stringham, senior geospatial developer at Metro. \u201cThis was a way to kick-start GIS in the region.\u201d\r\n\r\nAnd kick-start GIS it did. Metro fully embraced the new tools offered by ARC\/INFO, investing thousands of staff hours over a two-year period to create the initial 10 layers of map data. The result was that Metro boasted one of the first GIS programs in the country: the Regional Land Information System (RLIS)."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h2>Two Unique Ways of Collaborating<\/h2>\r\nRLIS comprised more than just the data produced by Metro itself. The staff at Metro\u2019s Data Resource Center reached out to regional partners and contributors to share data from a variety of local sources, creating a unique interjurisdictional collaboration with regularly updated regional coverage.\r\n\r\nThe agreement was simple. Contributing jurisdictions and organizations would have continuous free access to this collaborative regional data, and in return, they would each maintain their own features, lightening the load for Metro\u2019s team.\r\n\r\nThis arrangement gave numerous partnering organizations access to high-quality data. But Metro didn\u2019t stop there. In the late 1990s, Metro began making RLIS data available for purchase by users everywhere. Before the common availability of high-speed internet, this early arrangement required mailing quarterly data updates on discs to subscribers.\r\n\r\nToday, RLIS is a collection of nearly 200 spatial data layers spanning the entire Portland metropolitan region. It has information ranging from aerial imagery and up-to-date street mapping to data on canopy cover and tax lots.\r\n\r\n\u201cData drives everything we do. We collect, manage, and distribute the data we need,\u201d said Christine Rutan, RLIS enterprise data lead at Metro. \u201cBut we\u2019re not just publishing data; we\u2019re delivering it in a way that lets people gain insight into our region and plan wisely for its future.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h2>One Place to Access Data<\/h2>\r\nBy 2010, Metro was ready to transition from delivering data by mail to distributing it online. Staff at the Data Resource Center developed a custom website, built using Adobe ColdFusion, that allowed RLIS subscribers to download shapefiles from any layer in Metro\u2019s catalog, as well as access documentation and metadata\u2014all in one place.\r\n\r\nSoon, Metro was also using ArcGIS Server to publish data to web services. This enabled staff to provide updates and corrections to data as needed and allowed users to access data anytime, without having to download new data each quarter.\r\n\r\nThese improvements enabled Metro to discontinue producing physical data in the form of CDs or DVDs, saving the organization thousands of dollars in resources. They also made it possible over the following decade for Metro to provide an increasing amount of information as open data.\r\n\r\n\u201cOther jurisdictions started telling people to get their data from us,\u201d said Rutan. \u201cThrough the website and the open data, people were engaging with a local government agency that they might not have known about before. RLIS became another tool for Metro to connect with residents.\u201d\r\n\r\nAfter a decade, Metro discovered that its data had been downloaded 45,000 times during 2021 alone. Everyone\u2014from government agencies and nonprofit organizations to private companies and even students\u2014was using Metro\u2019s RLIS data to apply GIS to everyday problems."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":627592,"image_position":"left","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h2>Reinventing GIS Once Again, Online<\/h2>\r\nBy late 2021, the GIS team at Metro realized that it was time for another upgrade. Users needed the spatial data to be easier to access online, and the server that Metro was using had become outdated, presenting the organization with a security risk.\r\n\r\nAfter researching its options, Metro reinvented its GIS once again, publishing all its mapping data to ArcGIS Online and transitioning RLIS to a new website, known as RLIS Discovery, that was built using ArcGIS Hub.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe chose ArcGIS Hub because we had this new array of demands, but we didn\u2019t necessarily have the staff time to spin up a custom website again,\u201d said Stringham. \u201cWe were looking for something that could do the heavy lifting for us. And out of the box, ArcGIS Hub met most of our needs.\u201d\r\n\r\nDeploying ArcGIS Hub gave Metro a way to easily host RLIS data online and store documentation. It also simplified the process of updating data and metadata, since this doesn\u2019t require expertise in coding. By using ArcGIS API for Python as well, staff at Metro standardized the way RLIS data is displayed without having to retrain staff members or rewrite metadata.\r\n\r\nThe agency has been able to apply its versatile and easy-to-use data in many innovative ways. Recently, in partnership with the Portland area\u2019s Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization, Metro secured funding from the Department of Homeland Security to design a way for emergency planners to identify which communities lack adequate access to emergency services. A GIS analyst at Metro created a regional index for social vulnerability using 25 separate indicators drawn from the RLIS catalog.\r\n\r\n\u201cOur developers got to work building a web application,\u201d said Stringham. \u201cIt uses [ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript] and D3 [an open-source JavaScript library] to create a tool for emergency planners to go online and do exploratory data analysis. It helps us plan for emergencies, and it helps us reframe those efforts in a more equitable way.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h2>A Commitment to Democratizing Data Access<\/h2>\r\nMetro is continuing its efforts to democratize access to information. It recently eliminated the annual RLIS subscription fee so that organizations of every kind can use comprehensive spatial data, regardless of their budget. This decision was made possible by Metro\u2019s automated data processes and online data access.\r\n\r\n\u201cWhen we evolve alongside the rest of the GIS community, our success compounds,\u201d said Stringham. \u201cData is really powerful, but it\u2019s maps and dashboards that show us what the data has to say. By modernizing the way that we present our data, we\u2019re making it easier for developers to give that data a voice.\u201d"}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Legacy of GIS Innovation in Portland, Oregon | Fall 2023 | ArcNews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A pioneer in GIS, Metro\u2014the area\u2019s metropolitan planning organization\u2014is using ArcGIS Hub to democratize access to authoritative data.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/a-legacy-of-gis-innovation-in-portland-oregon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Legacy of GIS Innovation 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