Minneapolis, named after the Dakota word "Minne" meaning "of the waters" and the Greek word "polis" meaning "city," boasts 22 lakes and more than 380,000 people within its boundaries, making it the most populated city in the midwestern state of Minnesota. The Twin Cities metropolitan area, consisting of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and surrounding suburbs, is the eighth fastest-growing area in the United States as its combined populations soar toward three million.

Minneapolis' downtown is also visionary--62 climate-controlled skyways connect 52 blocks, making venturing outside practically unnecessary, particularly welcome during the bitter winter cold and stifling summer heat. In turn, the city's many parks, recreation areas, and three lakes--within walking distance of downtown--complement these modern conveniences.

In the late 1990s, this forward-thinking city realized it faced a crisis and proactively embarked on a mission to improve how it serves its constituents. The city decided to investigate how it could deploy Web-based tools as part of a citywide GIS program, using all forms of communication technology and access methods.

Equally important to the city was reducing the increasing costs of redundant data maintenance activities. Many of the city's data sets that could easily benefit other city functions were used and maintained by only one group and were, consequently, not accessible to others. Since more than 80 percent of the city data that is needed to support Business needs is spatial (geographic) or location related, the city's leaders decided GIS would improve service, delivery, accuracy, and efficiency.

Deciding to implement an enterprisewide GIS solution, the city used St. Paul, Minnesota-based consultant EMA, Inc., an Esri Business Partner, to assist with the planning, design, and implementation of the program. EMA then turned to Esri for software solutions. Using ArcIMS, ArcSDE, and ArcGIS Desktop software, along with Oracle's database management system, the GIS program has benefited Minneapolis in three distinct ways.

First, it allows elected officials and all employees to quickly access city data via the city's Intranet. Second, out of more than 100 work flows and more than 2,000 individual work activities, the city determined there were enough similarities among them that they could benefit from GIS.

"Our city seal includes the saying 'en avant,' which is French for 'ahead,'" says former city coordinator Kathleen O'Brien. "The city's early pioneers picked that saying and it still fits today. One of the things the city stands for is forward thinking. The enterprise GIS helps us uphold that vision."

Business Process Driven Approach

As GIS Business Director Gary Criter stated, "Before GIS, customers had to take responsibility to find the information they needed. We're flipping that responsibility around with this tool."

The approach consisted of defining enterprisewide Business processes and then determining the most appropriate information technology solution. Staff from 14 city departments collectively defined GIS technology solutions based on Business needs and prioritized them. Business analysts worked with staff to document current work flows and then defined the preferred future state. "Individual department needs were set aside in lieu of agreed-upon enterprise priorities," explains Criter.

The planning phase of the program involved 40 groups throughout the city that identified 116 work flows and 2,069 individual work activities. Using the Business process modeling approach and looking at citywide needs, seven common Web-based GIS tools and several department-specific tools were identified as initial priorities to develop. The following tools have been developed:

• The address-based query tool provides the ability to type in one or more addresses and receive information from a variety of data sources about that address.
• The mailing list generation tool provides the ability to create mailing labels for occupant and taxpayer.
• The standard map access tool provides the ability to display and print a standard city map from a list of commonly requested data sets.
• The incident mapping tool provides the ability to generate point symbols representing incidents or events on a map that meet specified selection criteria.
• The incident aggregation tool provides the ability to aggregate incidents or events on a map that meet specified selection criteria.
• The thematic map composition tool provides the ability to add reference map layers to the map display and to thematically shade the property parcels based on an attribute such as zoning or property value.
• The feature query function allows a user to select a feature (parcel, utility main, council ward area, etc.) on the map and retrieve specific details about that feature.

Applications Up and Running

The ArcIMS software-based Web GIS tools and ArcGIS Desktop software-based toolkit applications are currently available to all city employees with Intranet access. The city has experienced many benefits from the GIS applications and new work processes including better decision making from shared data; time savings from less manual data gathering; elimination of redundant data entry and maintenance; and faster, more accurate information for citizens and other agencies. Better information leads to better decision making. Users can reach decisions regarding redistricting boundaries, assess environmental impacts for housing development and zoning designations, look at tax structures, review crime reports, and generate mailing labels.

This initiative allows the city of Minneapolis to more effectively provide MetroGIS--the voluntary coalition of more than 300 local and regional governments in the greater Twin Cities that promotes and facilitates sharing of spatial data--with property-related information for access through MetroGIS' Web site using the same Esri data format.

The Future

Minneapolis plans to extend the reach of its GIS to include neighborhood information systems through the city's external Web site, which will help improve the quality of life in many neighborhoods. These groups will use the Internet to view information such as inspection violations and crime mapping, helping direct resources to where they are most needed. GIS Internet deployment is slated for the 2003-04 time frame.

For more information, contact Gary Criter, city of Minneapolis GIS Business director (tel.: 612-673-2927, e-mail: Gary.Criter@ci.minneapolis.mn.us, Web: www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us) or David DiSera, EMA vice president (tel.: 651-639-5600, e-mail: ddisera@ema-inc.com, Web: www.ema-inc.com).