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Norristown to launch interactive 'Map at Norristown' portal; staff demos show trash, snow, zoning and transit layers
Summary
The council saw a demonstration of the new Map at Norristown GIS portal, a public web hub that consolidates maps for trash pickup, snow routes, zoning, transit and other community services, with staff saying the site would go live after final checks.
Municipal staff presented a walkthrough of a new public mapping portal called Map at Norristown at the Aug. 6 meeting and indicated the portal could go live shortly after the presentation.
Matt Quackenbush, the project manager and GIS manager for the vendor (Pinone), said the hub centralizes public and internal maps and links with norristown.org. ‘‘Map at Norristown…is gonna be a central site that hosts a variety of public and internal maps,’’ he said, describing interactive layers for community services, snow maintenance, street sweeping, trash pickup, parking regulations, community facilities and public transit. He added the team has digitized paper maps and disparate datasets to create a single public resource.
Quackenbush demonstrated examples showing a user clicking a location and receiving details such as waste collection day, voting district and polling location. He also showed zoning and “properties under review” maps tied to planning processes and said staff planned a live rollout after a short verification period.
Council questions focused on data currency, mobile access and feedback mechanisms. Councilmember Dera Robinson asked how complete the data set was and whether the portal would require a staged rollout; Quackenbush replied the team felt the material was “pretty up to date” and could be updated as needed. When asked about mobile access, Quackenbush said the maps are mobile-friendly and embedded in norristown.org.
The portal also includes internal dashboards for capital improvement projects and public works that staff said will not be publicly visible because they contain sensitive data. Staff said feedback tools will link to the municipality’s existing SeeClickFix system so residents can report errors.
Ending
Staff said they planned to finalize a few items and post the portal publicly; council members asked staff to circulate the slide deck and training materials for council and the public.
