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How to convince local government to use web apps?

KristinThorpe1

I work for a civil engineering firm that handles a local municipality's engineering needs. They currently have a web app created to manage their MS4 network, but it is not utilized to the full potential. The municipality is required to map their MS4 network, but they are not using this data to drive other municipal decisions. My firm want to "sell" the municipality on the idea of using web maps for asset management, community planning, emergency services, and other projects - not as a mandated necessity, but as a means of departmental collaboration and decision making. I have looked into many different ArcGIS Solutions for Local Government, and it is exactly what we want to do for this municipality. However, I believe there is a disconnect with municipal leaders between creating the app because they have to and actually using it to make data driven decisions.

I am asking if anyone has advice on how to get the municipality using these web apps? Why local governments are reluctant to use web-based applications? How to get municipalities on-board with the idea of using spatial data in decision making? What platforms are most effective (single app, hubs, dashboards, etc.)? Also, if anyone has some great examples of local governments utilizing ArcGIS Solutions and can share, that would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks everyone!

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Kara_Shindle

I would first ask yourself about your audience. Where we live, municipality supervisors generally don't have much technical background (the municipality I live in doesn't even have a computer, only the secretary has one at her house). They don't care about fancy tech unless you can explain in simple terms how it can make their lives easier, save them money, or help with any reporting requirements they may have to follow.

Either they may not know about the extra benefits, or it would require someone training them on how to do it. Try to figure out their motivations. They may very well know about it and decided they didn't want to use it. Maybe try to figure out what their issues with web apps are before trying to get them to use them. It'll make the "sell" easier if you have solutions to their questions.

JoeBorgione

Sometimes the proactive approach is your only option, but that can be tough when you need to account for billable hours. If possible, can you take it upon yourself to create an app ( or find one online ) to demo as a proof of concept.

For example, I didn't know what a MS4 network is until I googled it and found:

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=b0d32be73e9543c1b7aad0b3955d9aac

KristinThorpe1

Joe,

Thank you for the comment. Creating a demo project is something we've thought of. The app you sent even gives me the idea of creating a storymap that demonstrates all the different types of municipal planning avenues we can go down in terms of web mapping to showcase how all the data can work together.

JoeBorgione

I think what Kara Shindle‌ mentions about knowing your audience is extremely important. Avoid technical overload and emphasize practicality.

Consider these scenarios:

I used to work in 9-1-1 and there isn't a City Council Member on the planet that doesn't want to 'see' law enforcement calls in their districts.
Bus stops in relation to senior citizen centers
Population distribution within a flood plain
etc, etc

Don't have the city specific data? That's okay; search for different datasets on ArcGIS online and put something together with them. Data acquisition can be part of the demo...

Kara_Shindle

Thanks Joe! My comment is filtered through the lens of being a Pennsylvania County GIS Director and my experience interacting with the 22 municipalities in our county. In our area, most are local and down-to-earth; practicality generally ends up being the best approach.

Most of my municipalities want to know how we can save them time and/or money. They are generally frustrated with a lack of resources for meeting their reporting needs to the state. If you spin it that it will make their lives easier, they might listen more closely.

For example, I have several applications and things that the municipalities use, but the most popular is the similiplist one we have - an oblique imagery viewer with overlays of county parcels, road names, address points, and subdivision lots on it, because it is a good deal of information in one place.

As for what is most effective, Hubs, dashboards, and ArcGIS Online require someone to have in-depth knowledge of ESRI's cloud platform. I'd start off simple, say with a single-app or two, and build from there. For my field personnel, I created a hub page with all the apps and dashboards they needed in one place, so they didn't have to access ArcGIS Online. They don't understand it and don't want to spend time figuring it out, so the Hub provides a "one-stop shop," so to speak.

KristinThorpe1

Great insight! I've worked with municipalities where the technology (or lack of) is a huge barrier! I don't think that is our issue right now. The municipality really supports the technology, they purchased an iPad specific for field collection, but the technology just isn't being used to its full potential. The data is there, but I think the attitude is "now what do we do with it?" Maybe the disconnect lays in the municipality not seeing long term benefits of a GIS for asset management. For example, we'd love to be able to use an app to monitor street curbs - the status, when they were inspected, when will they need to be replaced, etc. We have shapefiles to represent curbs and basic attributes, but they are not always being updated when new information comes along.

I like what you said about creating a hub specific for field work. I think there is a lot of field collection happening, but the field data is not necessarily making it to the web map. If there was a hub for field personnel to access the tools they need, it keeps them separate from AGOL, which I would help manage.

Kara_Shindle

I think you need to show them the benefit. Get them excited about it!

For my field personnel, I set up everything under a project for Vector Control. VC goes out in the field and collects data. The Hub provides them with access to two desktop editing apps for when they are at their desks. It also provides multiple dashboards that are updated in near real time with their collection efforts. I also created a public-facing Hub site (FCPC), which also pulls from the their data and a citizen reporting mosquito activity app. This was done to show more transparency to the public, but it makes them happy because they don't have to do anything to populate the dashboards and websites! The hub page with their editing apps is actually all on the same Hub as the public page, but it is hidden through control with group permissions in ArcGIS Online.

I'm about to start on another project for our bridge crew, and they are used to using paper for inspections. Survey123 is going to change that! Just pointing out that they won't have to worry about wind stealing their papers, or spending as much time in the sun has peaked their interest.

It almost sounds like they are overwhelmed with the possibilities and don't know where to go next. I'd guide them with baby steps to an achievable goal that has a high ROI, but is relatively simple to implement. That usually paves the way to more complicated projects.

ScottFraser3

In our resort city with a residential population of 25k and 11k buildings, our new GIS system more than paid for itself within the first month with what I called our "$500k Map."

We're mostly within a regulated FEMA floodplain and were making application to the Community Rating System (CRS) program to obtain a communitywide discount for every flood insurance bill. One of the CRS discount activities was accounting for open space (parks, conservation areas etc.) where development is restricted and calculating the ratio of open vs. developed land.

Some deeded conservation lands and have triple credits. Creating this Open Space map allowed us to:

Calculate the individual acreage
Layer the different credits applicable to relevent parcels
Display the differing and sometimes multiple credits
Attach to each the qualifying documents
Provide the reviewers with real-time digital access

The credits resulting from this one map earned us a $500k community wide annual discount. The entire series of credits earned a $3.5m annual discount. This year, we made and even better Open Space map and along with other accumulated credits our annual CRS discount will increase to $5m. The initial three-year GIS lease was $90k. Hence GIS paying for itself within the first month.

The ancillary benefits from a public services aspect have been an added plus.

Spatially displaying for the public what documents are available for which properties and allowing them to access them 24/7 as attachments.
Identifying approved newspaper rack locations, with photos of each attached.
Erection and removal of temporary barricades.
Fluid inventory of all buildings (resulting in the building shadows now seen on various online mapping platforms such as Google, Apple etc.)
Event mapping (booth assignments, road closures, public safety positions etc.)
Unified street numbering feeds 911, building permits, planning.
Public parking
ADA parking identification
Detailed damage assessments to qualify for federal disaster recovery reimbursements
Cemetery plot data
Flood zone identification information
Old flood maps
New flood map impacts per structure
Historic structures identification
Ground elevations every 10 feet
Bicycle crash location analysis
Bicycle rack locations
Endangered species habitat areas
Political district boundaries
Zoning
Use of the Collector app to map just about anything in the field using cell phones & tablets.

Once you've got GIS capabilities, the list is limited only by your imagination.

KristinThorpe1

This is fantastic! Thank you! I was wondering about the visibility of hub sites. For the most part, the apps will be private, but I'm glad to know there are options to control viewer permissions. I know the municipality wants to protect their data, but I know the value of sharing information with the public and want to push that when I can.

Our principal engineer has been working with this municipality for years and he is overwhelmed with all the options and directions we can take this! I guess it comes down to pinpointing what project is a high priority, but also has a quick turn around and high ROI.

KristinThorpe1

Wow! This is a great example! Thank you for sharing! I will definitely send this along to our engineers and municipality as a way GIS can save time, money, and resources.

WillArellano

As my city's first GIS person and as someone near the bottom of the totem pole, I also struggle greatly with trying to get upper management to see the benefits of a geospatial asset management system....and actually use it and/or enforce its use on their employees. There is a lot of "we are too busy to do something new", "we have always done it this way", and "we hired you to do mapping so we will just come to you if we need something". We had a subscription to a cloud-based asset management/work order system for a year and ended up never getting it off the ground despite many collaborative meetings, and trainings. Everyone is simply too busy doing the same old inefficient processes and putting out fires to do something new or even think proactively. It is a vicious circle that we will never pull out of until management or city council mandates that we have an asset tracking system. I have finally gotten some departments to start using web maps by making guesses at what they need the most (based on casual office conversations and listening to people's frustrations), and just making the web application and showing them how to use it (no more than 10 min trainings to not cut into their busy day). I usually deploy web apps to the younger or more tech savvy employees first, and when the other employees see them using it, sometimes they want access as well. This is a slow process though, and can take years (I have been working on this for over 4 years and only recently has web app usage started to catch on).

Once I have a few apps that I know people are using, I make a hub site for that department as a one-stop-shop. Only users from that department can access the hub to keep sensitive data safe, and certain web apps are also restricted to just people in the department as another layer of safety. Right now I have a hub site for the Public, one for the Planning and Engineering department, one for Public Works, and one for the Fire Department. I add things to the site in the order they would be most useful. First the web apps they would use the most, then other other web apps that they may need, but not every day, and then PDF maps that they can print or download and aren't available as a web app. Finally, I include a section with dashboards that contain summary information and then links to external web mapping applications and sites that they may find useful.

MariyanaKostov1

Greetings Will,

I'm looking into creating something similar to what you are describing in your post. Would you be willing to share the link so I can take a look at the Hub?

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