A City's Digital Transformation: Revolutionizing Urban Development with ArcGIS

Cities worldwide are grappling with the challenge of managing complex urban development projects. From a small-scale renovation to a massive infrastructure overhaul, the process involves numerous stakeholders, vast amounts of data, and intricate workflows. 

The City of New Haven leadership recognized the need for a modern, efficient solution to better understand their development project pipeline. They sought a tool that could not only provide a comprehensive visualization and analytical capability but also empower both planning and non-planning staff to participate effectively in the planning process.

The Challenge: Bridging the Technical Gap

The primary challenge was to find a tool that could cater to a diverse user base. We needed a flexible platform that would allow non-technical city staff to perform key planning workflows, such as creating new development projects and maintaining project attributes throughout their lifecycle. Simultaneously, the tool had to be robust enough for planning staff to perform sophisticated 3D analysis. The solution had to fully leverage the existing Esri ecosystem while remaining simple and intuitive enough to be adopted by all stakeholders involved in the development review process.

Our Solution: A Seamless Integration of Esri Tools

To address these needs, we designed a streamlined architecture using a powerful combination of Esri's suite of products: ArcGIS Experience Builder, ArcGIS Urban, and ArcGIS Dashboards.

1. ArcGIS Experience Builder

This served as the user-friendly editor for non-planning staff. We built a simple application here that allowed anyone to easily create a new development project, simplifying data entry and democratizing the planning workflow. As soon as a development project was created in Experience Builder, it was displayed in ArcGIS Urban as a contextual layer where the planning staff designed and expanded the new projects, ensuring data consistency.

Plans created in Experience Builder by non-planning staff

2. ArcGIS Urban

This was our core analytical and visualization engine. It provided a powerful 3D environment for planning staff to analyze development proposals and model future scenarios. Planners could understand a project’s impact on the urban landscape, from shadow studies to view corridors, empowering them to make more informed decisions. ArcGIS Urban’s tools also allowed us to provide more contextual information which sprang life into the project.

ArcGIS Urban used to create 3D  Projects

3. ArcGIS Dashboard

This served as a single source of truth for city leadership and editors. It provided a high-level overview by displaying key project metrics and statuses in real-time, giving executives a clear, concise understanding of the entire development pipeline. The presence of the Experience based Editor within the Dashboard created a unified view of the reviewer and planner application reducing the need to view multiple applications.

Projects viewed in ArcGIS Urban

The Results: Empowering a City's Future

This integrated approach successfully solved the city's problem by providing a unified, user-friendly platform. The benefits were immediate:

• Increased User Adoption and Familiarity: Non-technical staff could leverage an intuitive interface within Experience Builder for data entry, eliminating the need to learn a new application like ArcGIS Urban. This focus on simplicity was key to citywide adoption.
• Increased Collaboration: Non-technical staff could now directly contribute to the planning process, fostering better communication across departments.
• Enhanced Visualization & Analysis: Planners gained access to sophisticated 3D tools for in-depth analysis and better decision-making using ArcGIS Urban.
• Improved Efficiency: The automated workflow between Experience Builder and ArcGIS Urban drastically reduced manual work and potential errors.
• Streamlined Access and Centralized Workflow: By embedding the Experience Builder application directly within the Dashboard, we created a single, centralized location for all project-related activities. This eliminated the need for users to maintain and navigate multiple links to different applications.

By leveraging the full potential of the Esri ecosystem, we created a solution that was not only technologically advanced but also highly accessible, ensuring its long-term success.

Key Lessons & Tips for GIS Professionals

• Prioritize Simplicity: When designing solutions, identify user pain points and simplify the workflow. A tool that isn't adopted by its users is useless, regardless of how powerful it is.
• Automate Everything: Use powerful Esri tools like ArcGIS Notebooks and Data Pipelines to automate tasks such as data synchronization. This saves countless hours and prevents errors, eliminating the need for manual workarounds.
• Focus on Engaging Visualization: Create dashboards that not only categorize data but also make it visually appealing and interactive. Allow users to grasp insights at a glance rather than having to search for a specific feature.
  
• Choose the Right Application: Don't try to force a one-size-fits-all solution. Every ArcGIS application is designed for specific use cases. Before building, take the time to identify the core purpose of your project. For example, is it for data collection, analysis, or public outreach? Consulting appropriate resources can help you select the most suitable application and avoid the challenges of integrating mismatched tools. You can always refer to the following blog prior to designing your workflow: App Builders | What App Builder is Right for You?

Watch a short video to understand our process