GIS: A Comprehensive History

From the Victorian Era to Present

Matthew West
DVRPC
Slide 1 of 237
 GIS in the Victorian Age

• Little known fact: GIS actually began in the

early stages of the Victorian Era
• Through the Industrial Revolution
APRIL FOOLS!
Interactive Detour Route Mapping
Linking GIS, Cartographic Design & Web Development

ESRI Transportation Special Interest Group (SIG)

Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
Philadelphia, PA
April 1, 2009

Presenter:
Matthew West
Sr. Transportation Planner
DVRPC
 Personal Introduction

¸ Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission

á Philadelphia Region’s Metropolitan Planning Organization

¸ Office Transportation Operations Management

á Focus: Operational improvements & regional coordination

¸ Current Efforts in Transportation Operations

á Regional Integrated Multi-modal Information Sharing (RIMIS)
á Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Architecture
á Incident Management Task Forces

www.dvrpc.org/transportation/operations

Matthew West
 Project Introduction

¸ Origination
á DVRPC’s involvement in regional ITS efforts
á Coordination with PennDOT 6-0 TMC
¸ Goal
á Transform hardcopy detour route maps into an interactive
internet browser-based format
¸ Process
á Identify & digitize pertinent data
á Transfer data into re-designed map format
á Transfer maps into web application
¸ Result
á Simplified method for traffic operations staff & first
responders to obtain and utilize detour information

Matthew West
 Philosophical Considerations

¸ Practice Good GIS

á Foundation of the project
á Setting up the data to “talk”
¸ Practice Good Cartography
á Time is quality
á The three “C”s
™ Communication
™ Communication
™ Communication

¸ Practice Good Web Development

á Know the strengths & limitations of software
á Know your audience

Matthew West
 Philosophical Considerations

Simplicity

Matthew West
 Design Overview

¸ Phase I: GIS
á Software used: ESRI ArcGIS
á Determine which data are useful
™ Incident Location
™ Primary & Secondary Detour Routes
™ Traffic Control Points
á Create the dataset
™ Develop unique ID system that links data
™ Points & Linear Features
á Export data
™ Detour data & base layers
™ Scale bar

Matthew West
 Design Overview

¸ Phase II: Cartographic Design & Production

á Software used: Adobe Illustrator
á Two Products
™ Detour maps
• Static .pdf documents
• Ultimate end product
• New map template
• Geography, Turn-by-turn directions, Contact information
™ Animation maps
• “Interactive” base maps
• Intermediate steps to reach .pdfs
• Website template
• Regions, Routes, Incident locations

Matthew West
 Design Overview
Multi-page Map & Single Page .pdf
Directions

Matthew West
 Design Overview
Animation Maps

Matthew West
 Design Overview

¸ Phase III: Web Development

á Software used: Adobe Flash
á Import vector data from Illustrator
™ Organization of data is key
á Animate the intermediate data
™ Multiple layers
™ “to” & “from” animation
á Link the detour map
™ Each incident location tied to a .pdf

Matthew West
 Design Overview
Adobe Flash

Matthew West
 Design Overview

¸ Summary
á Maximize the strengths of each software platform
™ GIS for GIS
™ Illustrator for Graphic Design
™ Flash for Web Animation
á Vector data is vector data
™ Translates well at each stage
™ Keeps getting better
á Simplicity
™ Keep “bells & whistles” syndrome in check

Matthew West
 Application Overview

Step 1: Select Region Step 2: Select County Step 5: View/Download/Print/Email Map

Step 3: Select Highway Step 4: Select Incident Location

Matthew West
 Design Issues

¸ Expansion into Multi-State Effort

á Two unique map formats
™ PennDOT: Re-designed one-page maps
™ NJDOT: Multi-page maps
¸ Data Sensitivity
á Two online versions
™ General public
™ Password protected
• Online registration form

¸ Online vs. Offline

á Maximize application use
á Downloadable stand-alone version
™ For use on mobile data terminals where internet access is
limited or non-existent

Matthew West
 Application Use

¸ Registered Users
á 89 Registered Users
á Mostly PA & NJ
¸ Promotion
á Regional & local presentations / demonstrations
á Word of mouth
á Information card
™ Detachable business card
¸ Expanded use
á Beyond the DVRPC region

Matthew West
Interactive Detour Route Mapping
Linking GIS, Cartographic Design & Web Development

Questions?

Matthew West
215.238.2818
mwest@dvrpc.org