Utah Launches New Online Map App for Transportation Projects
Interstate 70 passes through Spotted Wolf Canyon in Utah. Malgorzata Litkowska / Shutterstock.com
“It's an easy way into information,” says Utah DOT’s statewide geographic information systems manager.
Details about Utah Department of Transportation projects can now be explored using an online app the agency debuted late last month, which features an interactive map.
The application allows users to pan and zoom around a map of the Beehive State, and to display layers showing where the department is studying, planning, designing and building projects. By clicking on markers that appear as points and highlighted segments of roadway, a person can find out information about a project’s status, cost and duration.
Dubbed the UDOT Projects Application, the new interface is intended to update and streamline how the state’s transportation department provides online information about the work it’s doing.
“The interface is pretty easy to use,” Becky Hjelm, Utah DOT’s statewide geographic information system manager, told Route Fifty in an interview. “It’s an easy way into information.”
For instance, a user of the app might click on a highlighted stretch of State Route 36, near the city of Tooele. This reveals a popup window. In the window, there’s text that explains pavement reconstruction and drainage improvements are taking place in this location.
There are other details as well, such as the project’s May 31, 2015, start date, and funding figures that show $25,453,002 of federal money, and a state contribution of $14,765 are available to pay for the work. Expenditures on Tuesday totaled $18,095,288. A link to a webpage with a fuller description of the project is also included.
Data about the projects shown on the map can also be displayed in table format using the app.
And specific map layers can be selected that only show projects at specific stages in their lifespans. For example, those that are planned or those under construction.
The information that appears in the app is automatically updated from the agency’s internal project management system, and is refreshed nightly. With previous online offerings, information about projects was not always in sync with what was in the project management system.
Rather than develop the application from scratch, Utah DOT chose to use an online ArcGIS platform from the mapping and data technology firm Esri.
“It's completely our content, and we manage it, but we don't handle any of the development," Hjelm said.
“The benefit of that is that they have a much bigger customer base than just us, so things get updated all the time,” she added, referring to the Esri platform. “It's very easy to work with.”
The department, she said, did develop one custom “widget” for the application—the tool that is used to zoom into and out from the map. Building the widget involved a bit of a steep learning curve for a developer with the transportation department, who had to get comfortable with the Esri system.
But Hjelm pointed out: “Now that piece is kind of plug-and-play, so if we want to use it in another application it's all ready to go.”
Work to get the application up and running began last summer. Cleaning up data, and sorting out what information should get funneled from the agency’s project management system, to the public app, were some of the more challenging aspects of the process, Hjelm said.
As for who might use the application, she explained that possibilities include local governments and utility companies that commonly seek out information about UDOT projects.
Possible benefits exist for other types of users as well.
“If there are projects that are going to potentially impact your business, you can find out,” Hjelm said. “What’s going to impact my commute in the next six months? You can find that out.”
“For public involvement,” she added, “it seems pretty big.”
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Bill Lucia is a Reporter for Government Executive's Route Fifty.
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