Project Goal
.o Over the last few years, the City of Somerville has had ambitious goals for GIS. The City’s goals were to streamline GIS workflows, deploy ArcGIS Enterprise for administration of its authoritative data, prepare its datasets for implementation of Enterprise Asset Management Systems, and provide our employees and residents better access to applications and tools for working with the City’s GIS data. By working closely with Esri and Hazen & Sawyer, and making use of our internal expertise, we were able to accomplish these goals and greatly improve our GIS program.Business Problem Solved
.Standardizing our asset data schemas and preparing for implementation of Enterprise Asset Management Software
Collaborating with Esri on our use of ArcGIS Solutions and offering feedback with the development team. Somerville has used these to rapidly prepare GIS solutions for a wide array of governmental departments and subject matters.
Providing streamlined applications and interfaces for basic GIS tasks, to help new users more easily overcome the learning curve of started with GIS.
Transitioning users from ad-hoc solutions (google maps, marked-up printout maps, etc) to our unified, more capable GIS platform.
Technology Implemented
.ArcGIS Enterprise/Portal
ArcGIS Solutions
Hub Sites
Experience Builder
Instant Apps
Survey123
Field Maps
Dashboards
Development Team Biography
.Keith Johnson - GIS Manager, City of Somerville
Michael Hanley - Infrastructure GIS Coordinator, City of Somerville
Debbie Cheng - Senior Project Manager, Asset Management, City of Somerville
Jamie MacDonald - James MacDonald, Corporate Technology Applications Leader, Hazen and Sawyer
Devon Jones - Devon A. Jones, EIT, Principal GIS Analyst, Hazen and Sawyer
Cindy Chu - GISP, Principal GIS Analyst, Hazen and Sawyer
Company Overview
.o Somerville is one of the most ethnically-diverse cities in the U.S., and is home to over 80,000 residents. With its thriving arts and entertainment scene, proximity to Boston, and new mixed-use development, Somerville has seen its appeal grow in recent years. The City of Somerville assists residents with a wide range of services and amenities. Somerville was the first Massachusetts community to use 311, a customer-service helpline, and the first city in the U.S. to use both 311 and Connect-CTY, the reverse 911 program for important messages. The city also uses SomerStat, a data-driven government management platform. In 2006, the Boston Globe named Somerville the "best-run city in Massachusetts," thanks to its innovative use of new technology to improve constituent service and government efficiency. The National Civic League gave Somerville All-America City awards in 1972, 2009, and 2015.
Return on Investment
.o Our investment in GIS to accomplish our program’s goals has resulted in significantly streamlined workflows across city-wide departments, prepared us for our Enterprise Asset Management implementation (which will better enable the city to get ahead on maintenance and improvements to its infrastructure), and enabled us to provide improved public communication interfaces for projects as well as better public access to the City’s GIS data.