Community Information Technology Initiative myciti.

org Redesign
Prepared for the Municipal Art Society

Documentation:
Redesign Concept Needs Summary Sample Interview Results Sitemap Map Interface Search Interface Current CITI Map Site List of Services Provided

Project: MAS/CITI Redesign October 21, 2008 Version 2.0

Prepared by: Noreen Y. Whysel whysel@mindspring.com/917-826-9644

Page 1 Approval _______________________

Redesign Concept
The Municipal Art Societys Community Information Technology Initiative (CITI) seeks to provide communitybased organizations with maps, data and technical assistance to support local planning efforts. The initiative will provide an online, public geographic information system (GIS), including a number of useful and necessary data layers for local development projects and zoning planning, and will also provide a pilot group of New York City community boards with desktop GIS software and training. The ultimate goal of the CITI program is the adoption of a publicly-accessible GIS by the City of New York. The Website. The CITI website is an online community mapping system that gives the public access to the power of GIS technology at minimal cost. Challenge. Well-funded commercial enterprises such as developers, lawyers and environmental engineering firms routinely use GIS systems to plan and advocate for development projects. The cost of these systems and the data analyzed can be prohibitive for small, under-funded community groups and community boards. CITIs challenge is to make the data and the analytical tools used by developers and their consultants, available to these groups via a publicly-accessible GIS system. A related challenge to convince the New York City Department of City Planning to make their data available in such a system and present it on its public website. Solution. CITI has partnered with ESRI (a GIS software provider) and NYPIRGs Community Mapping Assistance Project (CMAP) in creating an online GIS system that will be free and publicly available. Myciti.org will allow users to select data layers, review data, print maps and forward maps via email. My task in this projects is to interview community board members participating in the pilot program to determine data content requirements, measure usability of the current system and outline suggested improvements to be implemented by the development team at CMAP. I am also designing the non-GIS pages for the website.

Project: MAS/CITI Redesign October 21, 2008 Version 2.0

Prepared by: Noreen Y. Whysel whysel@mindspring.com/917-826-9644

Page 2 Approval _______________________

Needs Summary
CITI Project Needs Assessment Summary of Data Layer Needs A survey of community board participating in our pilot program resulted in the following data layer requirements: Zoning vs. Actual Use The most requested feature was a way to break down actual use into further subcategories and then layer them over a zoning subcategory indicating allowable uses. Schools (by type of school, public/private, nursery/elementary/middle/high) Religious Facilities Etc. Luxury Mitchell Lama NYCHA Senior Housing Rent Controlled/Stabilized Etc. Percentage residential Percentage commercial Etc. Recreational (ballparks, playgrounds, jogging) Non-recreational Parks Dept Buildings Parking lots and roadways The second most requested feature was a way to overlay layers with population, housing and income data.
Housing Data Number of housing units Number of households Houshold density Residential vacancy rate

Historic Districts Business Improvement Districts and Economic Development Zones Construction Data Permits proposed construction under construction (major projects) ongoing infrastructure improvements Bus routes subway routes hubs proposed routes traffic density/capacity parking zones & facilities

Institutions

Residential

Transportation

Mixed Use

Aerial Map

Parks

Census Layer

Project: MAS/CITI Redesign October 21, 2008 Version 2.0

Prepared by: Noreen Y. Whysel whysel@mindspring.com/917-826-9644

Page 3 Approval _______________________

Sample Interview Results

MYCITI.ORG Functional Requirements Survey Results Manhattan Community Board 1 Function CB Information Need CB Info should include District Manager name and contact since they would be more available to answer questions on a day to day basis Chair Person should be Chairperson Layer/Label checkboxes should have header for each group instead of just at top of panel, hard to understand what the boxes mean when you scroll down

Manhattan Community Board 7 Function Map View Need Would like to provide an aerial map but are concerned about bandwidth issues. Is there a way to indicate to the user minimum connection requirement before they access large graphical layers? Would like to be able to include photos of a site or historic landmark. A My CITI tab that saves maps you created (or just the parameters for those maps) Would like a link to school board site from identified schools/CB and key links into agency information. They would like to open discussion with other CBs as to what those key links should be. Link to Dept. of Buildings Building Information System (BIS), which rates various types of buildings. Would like an interactive feature that allows you to enter the type of data you are interested and it outputs a URL of resources (e.g., building violations, school districts, restaurant violations.

CB Information Search Box Format

Output Output Resources

Queens Community Board 3 Function Map View Map View Need A "District View" button similar to "City View" would be helpful. Be good to get an aerial view of map selection area. "Click here for aerial view."

Resources

Resources
Search Ability to enter an address and /or a specific block and automatically zoom to a specific area radius, e.g., show area one quarter mile around a specific subway entrance. When navigating a map there are 8 sets of 3 arrows. Not sure how they work. Need clear explanation of what these arrows do and how far it will move the map. If you can create layers with school information and a school is not located on selected area, is there a way to indicate where the closest one is, eg. closest high school, closest elementary school? Same can go for other property time. Is it possible to get more screen space for the map? Need to be able to generate .pdfs and/or other file formats. Possibly through the Print button. I.e, way to create a pdf or jpg file directly from the website. Can we store static map on a central server, or do we need to use our own space? What file format should images be saved in? Can we get standards for output? Need notations as to the currency and source (meta info).

Navigation

Brooklyn Community Board 2 Function Layers/Demographics Need When a building is identified, link to statistics data on census tract or by block/lot, if available, aggregated if necessary to protect privacy. Ability to show number of housing units in commercial/mixed use lots where housing exists. Downloadable data Ability to put their own labels and boundary lines, aggregate census data with callout boxes, and customize data presented when printing the map.

Layers/Resources

Layers

Layout Output

Output Output

Output

Output Metadata

Project: MAS/CITI Redesign October 21, 2008 Version 2.0

Prepared by: Noreen Y. Whysel whysel@mindspring.com/917-826-9644

Page 4 Approval _______________________

Site Map
About Us 2/0
Youth Outreach 2.2 (PDF) Newsletter Archive 2.3

CITI Project 2.1

Contact CITI 3.0

The CITI website contains information about the program and its participants, resources developed by the Municipal Art Societys Planning Center to support the project, including a zoning guide and training handbook, a one-page help document and information about its youth outreach program. The GIS portion of the CITI project is hosted by CMAPs Oasisnyc system, which links to an external site.

Home Page 1.0

Resources 4.0
Training Handbook 4.1 Youth Handbook 4.2

Zoning Guide 4.3

Link to GIS at oasisnyc.net

Help 5.0

Project: MAS/CITI Redesign October 21, 2008 Version 2.0

Prepared by: Noreen Y. Whysel whysel@mindspring.com/917-826-9644

Page 5 Approval _______________________

CITI Map Interface - myciti.org

Map Interface - myciti.org The data architecture of myciti.org is typical of geographic information systems (GIS). A - Identify allows users to select a data feature of the map and display the corresponding data table. B - Zoom In/Zoom Out changes the map view to smaller or larger areas.

A B C F G

C - Recenter allows the user to define a new center point. D - The map frame contains small arrows allowing the user to pan the map within the map window. E - Legend contains layers that can be turned on and off, limiting the amount of data displayed at one time. These layers, which can represent polygons, lines, or points, are grouped according to similar data types. Buttons allow you to select or unselect all layers and to refresh map to display the selected layers. F - Citywide vew returns to the default map coordinates. G - Additional non-GIS functions include Print a Map and Email Map.

Project: MAS/CITI Redesign October 21, 2008 Version 2.0

Prepared by: Noreen Y. Whysel whysel@mindspring.com/917-826-9644

Page 6 Approval _______________________

CITI Search Interface - myciti.org

Search Interface - myciti.org The search page allows you to search for a property or community board within the default layers. A - Street Address search allows user to enter a street address and a borough to search. The result page loads the identified property and relevant data table. B - Block/Lot search allows user to enter a property block and lot and the borough. The result page loads the identified property and relevant data table. C - Community board search allows users to select a community board. The result page shows the boundaries of the selected community board. Some simple changes to the layout and dropdown text improved usability. A similar search page can be used for the redesigned site within OASISNYC.NET.

A B

Project: MAS/CITI Redesign October 21, 2008 Version 2.0

Prepared by: Noreen Y. Whysel whysel@mindspring.com/917-826-9644

Page 7 Approval _______________________

Current CITI Map Site

Current Site at NYC Department of City Planning (DCP) The CITI map program was adopted by the Department of City Planning, fulfilling the mission of the Municipal Art Societys initiative. I did not create this page for DCP, but you will notice that much of the interface and data was incorporated in their design, including building/lot, political and data layer information. The DCP continues to provide access to their data data via the CITI map portal that I designed, which is now at http://www.myciti.org. (below)

Project: MAS/CITI Redesign October 21, 2008 Version 2.0

Prepared by: Noreen Y. Whysel whysel@mindspring.com/917-826-9644

Page 8 Approval _______________________

List of Services Provided

Requirements Gathering Functional Documentation Usability analysis Content development User Interface Design Graphic Design Javascript HTML Community outreach program Newsletter design Training and program facilitation

Project: MAS/CITI Redesign October 21, 2008 Version 2.0

Prepared by: Noreen Y. Whysel whysel@mindspring.com/917-826-9644

Page 9 Approval _______________________