{"id":511092,"date":"2022-05-23T17:17:58","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T00:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcuser&p=511092"},"modified":"2022-05-23T17:17:58","modified_gmt":"2022-05-24T00:17:58","slug":"geoplpanning","status":"publish","type":"arcuser","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/geoplpanning","title":{"rendered":"A Geographic Approach to Planning"},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","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":[401,25012,473802],"tags":[472461,1451,1271,237901,351],"arcuser_issues":[479252],"class_list":["post-511092","arcuser","type-arcuser","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","category-managers-corner","category-web-gis","tag-arcuser","tag-citizen-engagement","tag-housing","tag-land-use","tag-planning","arcuser_issues-spring-2022"],"acf":{"short_description":"The emergence of web-based GIS has evolved the role of planners.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":511102,"file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"It\u2019s no secret that geography is a key factor in all things related to planning and community development. Sometimes it\u2019s an influencing factor. Sometimes it\u2019s the main driver for a project and the reason why the public embraces or opposes it.\r\n\r\nGIS is the tool that helps us measure, analyze, and visualize geography. For most of its early years, GIS was out of the reach of many planning professionals because it required expensive hardware, client-side software, and usually multiple weeks of training. It was an investment many planners couldn\u2019t make, particularly if they had access to a GIS professional in their organization. But when you have people who aren\u2019t subject matter experts in planning involved in planning-focused analysis, it\u2019s very easy for information to get lost in translation.\r\n\r\nThe emergence of web-based GIS has evolved the role of planners so that they can efficiently access and utilize tools to make better, more sustainable, data-driven decisions. Simultaneously, this frees up GIS staff to work on other crucial projects. A modern geographic approach helps planners understand neighborhood characteristics, derive business intelligence, generate sustainable policies, support civic inclusion, and design sustainable scenarios.\r\n\r\n "},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":511162,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Understanding Neighborhood Characteristics<\/h2>\r\n\u201cA map is a pattern made understandable, and understanding precedes action,\u201d is an often-repeated quote of Richard Saul Wurman, founder of the TED conferences. GIS helps us understand the demographics, socioeconomic characteristics, housing situation, and other aspects of individual neighborhoods. Instead of relying on anecdotal or dated information, GIS provides access to thousands of authoritative variables to generate a clear picture of the aspects, resources, and needs of a community.\r\n\r\nWithin the Esri platform, this is accomplished using ArcGIS Business Analyst Web App. This web-based approach provides an easy way to not only view and analyze data, but also collaborate with colleagues, property developers, elected officials, and the public, so that everyone is working off the same authoritative content.\r\n\r\nTwo of the app\u2019s outputs are infographics (both template based and customized) and reports. These provide valuable complements to maps that help drive decisions such as locating businesses, identifying community needs, understanding the local workforce, and accessing consumer spending behavior.\r\n

Deriving Business Intelligence<\/h2>\r\nThe permitting system is almost always the system of record in a planning department. Although data entry and analysis are usually done by a relatively small group within the organization, planners, administrators, and elected officials need to derive business intelligence from the data gathered by the permitting system. This can be challenging with a legacy system, a not uncommon situation given the cost of permitting systems.\r\n\r\nWithin the Esri platform, this business intelligence can be derived by using ArcGIS Insights, a web-based app. With simple outputs from the permitting system, ArcGIS Insights can be used to answer questions such as:\r\n