DC Office of Zoning Handbook

| Kevin McMaster

The District of Columbia Office of Zoning (DCOZ) is responsible for communicating zoning rules and regulations to District residents. To facilitate this flow of technical information, DCOZ partnered with SymGEO to develop the next-generation DC Zoning Handbook, built using ArcGIS Hub technology.

“The Zoning Handbook is an important resource for District residents to understand and participate in the zoning process. We enjoyed working with SymGEO to migrate existing content, leverage current technology, and develop new solutions to make the process as easy as possible for our audience.”

– Director, DC Office of Zoning

The Zoning Handbook was designed to start at the highest level of information and introduce the concepts and locations of zoning categories.

Selecting a general zoning category (such as Residential) drills down into the types of residential zoning in the District.

Selecting a type of residential zoning delves into the purposes and intentions of the many variants within that particular zoning type.

At this final level of detail, the development standards for the specific zone are offered using a Development Standards Dashboard, developed using ArcGIS Dashboards, which communicates the technical aspects of the zoning type in a mobile-responsive format.

“The ArcGIS Hub cloud platform enabled us to augment the zoning regulations with interactive dashboards and maps to provide an engaging and informative experience while reducing the need for on-premise servers and applications.”

– Data Coordinator, DC Office of Zoning

Back on the main page of the Zoning Handbook, insight can be found into the general procedures, general rules, and measurement regulations as defined in the Zoning Regulations.

Zoning Use Categories are presented using ArcGIS Dashboard technology in a mobile-friendly format.

A long list of definitions helps District residents navigate the language used in the zoning regulations.

Finally, additional zoning resources and information are offered for further reading and zone exploration.

Talk to SymGEO today if your municipality or agency is interested in migrating web content to an ArcGIS Hub solution – we are certified experts and are here to help.

Vision Zero DC

| Kevin McMaster

District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser launched Vision Zero in 2015 to inspire and transform DC’s roadway safety efforts and to set DC’s sights on a goal of zero fatalities or serious injuries on District streets. Since then, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has shifted to designing streets that are safe for everyone, working closely with community members to identify problems and build solutions. As part of a new community outreach effort, SymGEO was honored to help DDOT build the new Vision Zero DC website using ArcGIS Hub technology. Read the official press release from DDOT for this exciting website launch, as well as the comprehensive ArcNews article entitled “Washington, DC, Pursues Equity and Transparency in Vision Zero Campaign” featured on the front page of the Spring 2023 edition.

“The new Vision Zero DC website will help us work closely with community members to identify problems and build solutions. SymGEO iterated quickly and efficiently on design ideas and built a very engaging platform solution for DDOT.”

– DDOT Vision Zero Director

The Vision Zero DC site is organized into easily navigable sections based on audience interest and is designed to be mobile-responsive and broadly accessible.

A poignant look at the human costs of dangerous driving and unsafe behaviors is presented in Vision Zero Stories, developed using ArcGIS StoryMap technology.

The Education page features educational campaigns that help to promote safe driving and pedestrian habits throughout the District.

The safety campaigns target the biggest threats to the most vulnerable travelers on DC’s roadways. These include aggressive driving, impaired driving, occupant protection, pedestrian safety, and bicycle safety.

A link is also featured to Safety Grant information housed on DDOT’s Highway Safety Office page. This page also includes many links to safety programs, grants, procedure manuals, and publications.

This living document provides links to numerous helpful documents and publications.

A look at the Engineering page shows the significant progress made in designing solutions to benefit vehicular and pedestrian traffic, conveniently organized into a Safety Treatment Toolbox.

Expanding a section of the toolbox gives a wealth of information about each treatment “tool.”

A Safety Intervention dashboard gives insight into all the implementations of the safety toolbox tools that have occurred to date.

An Annual Safety Improvement Program dashboard gives insight into all the roadway and intersection improvements made to date.

Exploring the Crash Analysis page gives a deep dive into the data fueling the push for zero fatalities on D.C.’s roadways, including a Fatality and Injury dashboard with authoritative data provided by the Metropolitan Police Department.

Talk to SymGEO today if your municipality or agency is interested in setting your sights on a goal of zero fatalities on your roadways using a Vision Zero hub site – we are certified experts and are here to help.

Special Event Operations at DDOT

| Kevin McMaster

Esri’s Special Event Operations is a configurable solution that helps organize special events, create event site maps, develop health and safety plans, manage event incidents and assignments, monitor public health and safety operations, and create after-action reports. The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) recognized the value of having comprehensive information about an event in one authoritative, collaborative place, and asked SymGEO to help configure and deploy Special Event Operations for their internal use.

“The Special Events solution has sparked a new level of excitement in preparing for special events in the city. With SymGEO’s technical help, DDOT now has improved internal communication and decision-making abilities. The training provided by SymGEO has been super beneficial – they are a treasure!”

– DDOT Program Manager, Traffic Management Center

ArcGIS Hub was used to host the solution as it facilitated the understanding and workflow of how each individual component fits into the comprehensive picture.

The solution is built around a core data set of special events. Individual events are initially “registered” with the solution using an ArcGIS Survey123 intake form.

An ArcGIS Dashboard uses the event information to give managers an overview of upcoming (or past) events that can be filtered by venue type, expected crowd size, approval status, or other event characteristics.

The Special Event Manager is used to dive deep into specific events. From this interface, site maps or operation maps can be created, copied from past events, reviewed, and eventually approved.

The Special Event Site Map interface facilitates the creation of site maps linked to individual events. Site maps include the point, line, or area representation of event physical features. This may include signs, fire lanes, event perimeters, or other stationary event components.

The operations map includes mobile or distributed resources that will be actively deployed during the event. This may include trucks, traffic control officers, resource assignment paths, staging areas, or security perimeters.

During an event, assignments can be created and assigned from the Special Event Command Center. Assignment deployment, tracking, and in-the-field responses are managed using ArcGIS Workforce behind the scenes.

ArcGIS Notebooks are used to copy site plans and operations maps from previous events. This saves time, money, and the duplication of effort for annual or repeating events.

Talk to SymGEO today if your agency or organization is interested in managing special events using the power of Esri’s Special Event Operations solution – we are certified experts and here to help.

Capital Projects Dashboard

| Kevin McMaster

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) manages millions of dollars’ worth of capital projects on an annual basis. To facilitate the communication of budget and schedule status, SymGEO helped configure a Capital Projects Dashboard solution for internal use, powered by ArcGIS Dashboards technology.

“This is so good! I love it and it is a game-changer. I am really impressed and could not be more thankful for this. This is a great tool for the agency to get things straight in the system and then use it as a tool for tracking.”

– DDOT Chief Performance Officer

The configured solution builds on an Esri-provided template (below) and provides insight by budget year, construction status, and project phase. Summary statistics are provided as numerical indicators, and map symbology is used to visually communicate project status. The Arcade expressions, used to determine project status, were configured to fit DDOT’s capital project data schema using data provided by DDOT’s internal project management system.

Talk to SymGEO today if your agency or organization is interested in managing capital projects using the power of Esri’s Capital Project Dashboard solution – we are certified experts and here to help.

SymGEO State and Local Government Specialty

| Kevin McMaster

SymGEO is pleased to announce we have been awarded Esri’s State and Local Government Specialty designation. This award recognizes SymGEO’s expertise in state and local government, implementation, and delivery of services that help customers succeed. This specialty is one of Esri’s newest specialties, and SymGEO is pleased to join four other prestigious partners who have obtained this designation.

SymGEO has been fortunate to work with great government clients on projects that have now appeared at Esri plenary presentations around the country, with the most recent being at the Esri Federal GIS Conference 2021. Our web GIS work with the District Department of Transportation and our 3D flood visualization work both made an appearance on the main stage. We are really thankful for the opportunity and trust that Esri has placed in our skills and services with the State and Local Government Specialty designation, and we look forward to helping our client partners implement Esri technology for years to come.

DDOT Tree Permitting ArcGIS Hub page development

3D Flood Visualization technology for Laurel, MD.

To learn more about these projects or any of our services, contact us to start a conversation – SymGEO is a certified Esri specialist and is here to help.