Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Open Data topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City unveils GIS applications and open data portal to support planning and public access
Summary
Flagstaff IT presented the city’s GIS program, public mapping applications and an open data portal, demonstrating how spatial analysis guides planning, emergency response, utilities and public engagement.
Rob Spear, IT manager for GIS, presented an overview of the Flagstaff GIS program and the city’s public open data portal during the April 8 council meeting.
Spear described the evolution of the city’s GIS from desktop mapping to an enterprise platform that supports dozens of data layers and applications for multiple departments. He demonstrated how GIS is used for analysis (examples included bivariate maps showing building age and assessed value), landfill monitoring with quarterly drone flights, and operational dashboards that visualize fire and EMS call density.
Spear showed the public‑facing portal (gis.flagstaffaz.gov), which aggregates interactive web applications for planning, parks snow‑operations, regional planning and public asset maps. He noted internal, password‑protected applications that include close‑call dashboards and detailed municipal asset tools used by staff. The portal also hosts an interactive “closest fire station” tool that returns travel time to a selected property and a vehicle routing and maintenance work‑order integration with the city’s asset management system.
Spear described ongoing work to optimize routes (solid waste, inspectors), integrate real‑time vehicle tracking for snow operations and expand an in‑house drone program used for landfills and other engineering tasks. He said Esri will help the city prepare a GIS strategic plan and that staff will pursue a public‑education and outreach campaign to increase awareness and use of the portal.
Ending: Council thanked the GIS team for the briefing and encouraged further public outreach and video documentation to explain portal features. IT staff said they will share training resources and continue work on street‑level, dispatch and asset visualizations.
