Ginkgo demoed as tool to inventory downtowns and surface regional housing sites

Connecticut Main Street Center and Ginkgo representatives presented a downtown inventory and mapping platform at a regional planning meeting, saying the tool helps towns catalog properties, storefronts and business types so they can better target revitalization and housing projects. Michelle, a representative of Connecticut Main Street Center, said, "downtown inventories are a really important first step for any community that is looking to enhance their downtown," explaining inventories let communities "know what you have" and set benchmarks for action.

Star, a presenter with Ginkgo, said the platform combines mapped parcel data, storefront and tenant records and outreach tracking into what he called a "Geo CRM," allowing users to tie contacts and activities directly to parcels on a map. "We want to provide basically a GIS system that doesn't require you to know anything about GIS," he said, adding that the product is intended to be usable by local stakeholders without geospatial expertise.

Presenters walked through the data workflow: import parcel polygons as the foundational layer, add building and storefront records, enrich points of interest (initially derived from sources such as Google Maps), and perform mobile field verification. The group identified examples where the system is already used or tested, including Deep River and New London in Connecticut and Long Beach, California. Kennedy was cited as the staff member who conducted field inventories in some pilot communities.

The platform includes prebuilt dashboards for outreach, vacancy tracking and operations and offers integrations (Gmail automation is live; an Outlook integration is planned). Michelle demonstrated how inventories can be tagged—vacant, blighted or grant‑funded properties—so towns can filter and prioritize clusters for targeted interventions. Star said Connecticut Main Street Center can help perform the inventories and then hand off the operational tool to local staff so the database remains current.

Rista asked whether town-level inventories can be aggregated to produce regional counts for housing planning. Star responded that the system supports a regional view and that COG-level dashboards can compile locality data to compare places and estimate opportunities. He also noted the platform records historical tenancy and development project data, allowing users to view turnover and trends over time.

The presenters cautioned about data sources: parcel-level open data is a reliable baseline, while initial POI business lists often come from paid scraping of Google Maps and then require local verification. Star emphasized that the approach pairs technology with coordination and training so towns can maintain the system themselves.

At the end of the session the recording was stopped and the presentation portion concluded.