The Lake Forest Parks and Forestry Departments are in negotiations to outsource their cul-de-sac and right-of-way landscaping maintenance. Previously, city staff maintained these areas but a cost-benefit analysis determined that the budget would be more efficiently spent by contracting out the maintenance responsibilities. The city was looking to develop an effective method to display maintenance areas while also providing contractors a way to confidently and accurately bid on the project.
Using GIS, all of the proposed maintenance areas were mapped. While creating the maintenance area boundaries, square footage was automatically being generated. The Parks and Forestry Department now has the ability to visually represent landscaping maintenance areas while also being able to determine the amount of total square feet of an area. This information can then be shared with contractors and in turn be used to budget time and personnel commitments.
Rather than distributing printed maps to contractors, the Parks and Forestry Department is also considering integrating the landscaping maintenance area information onto MapOffice Public.
Contractors will be directed to MapOffice Public where they would have the ability to visualize the maintenance areas as a custom overlay. By selecting a specific area, square footage information would appear in a dialog box. The bidding process for contractors can now be expedited because they no longer have to acquire any materials from city staff. The bidding reference material can now be available online.
The Lake Forest Police Department has recently collaborated with the GIS department to spatially display the city’s crime and incident data within MapOffice. Previously the GIS department would create maps displaying the most current crime locations as well as trends that may have been occurring over time. These maps were typically created on a monthly basis. Although the timeline in which the maps were delivered was effective, there may be a need to analyze data more frequently depending on consistency of the occurrences.
The GIS Department has enabled the police to analyze crime and incident data for a specific day, week, month or year by integrating the data into MapOffice’s Business Intelligence feature. Business Intelligence can access live data from law enforcements crime and incident records. The data that is actively being edited by the Lake Forest Police Department is held within a record management system. GIS can connect to the record management system, read the data and spatially display the data in MapOffice. . By referencing a live data feed, information can be viewed and analyzed on an up to the minute basis in MapOffice.
Police personnel now have the ability to select a desired incident(s), specify a time period, produce a map of the incidents, and export the map and associated data all from their own workstation. The spatial analysis aspect of crime reporting now can be accomplished independently and more efficiently.
The City of Lake Forest’s City Manager’s Office recently requested that GIS construct a map identifying potential locations for medical marijuana distribution facilities. There is currently a bill under consideration in the state legislature that would allow medicinal marijuana organizations in the state of Illinois. The bill states that distribution locations must not be within 2,500ft of a public or private preschool, elementary, secondary school or childcare facility. City administration needs to identify potential business locations that fall outside of this 2,500ft range.
Using GIS, all public and private preschools, elementary schools, secondary schools and childcare facilities were located and symbolized. Schools and childcare facilities were also located from surrounding communities to determine if their location was within 2,500ft of the Lake Forest municipal boundary. If schools and childcare facilities were located within 2,500ft of the Lake Forest city limits, the location of medical marijuana distributor would be impacted. Once all schools and childcare facilities were identified, a 2,500ft buffer was created around each location. All non-residential zoning districts were then added to the map. Now that the 2,500ft buffer was determined and all non-residential zoning districts were identified, locations of potential medical marijuana distribution facilities could be determined. All areas located within non-residential zoning districts and residing outside of the 2,500ft buffer would meet the criteria of a potentially housing a medical marijuana distribution facility.
The results of this project allow the City Manager a reliable method of visualizing where medical marijuana distribution facilities are able to reside. The City Manager can use this location data to manage areas of concern and to effectively plan for the future if the bill were to pass.
Regular hydrant flushing is essential for maintaining and the water system and ensuring the safety of residents. Hydrant flushing can detect pressure issues in the water system; remove sediment build up, and identifying malfunctioning hydrants. The City of Lake Forest recognizes the important of hydrant flushing by ensuring there are flushed every year.
Public Works uses GIS for tracking hydrant flushing as well creating an end of the year report. Every Spring, the GIS Office copies the hydrant features and base map to laptop that is used by Public Works to track which hydrants have been flushed. To update a hydrant, the employee selects a hydrant and records how long it was flushed and the date it was flushed. At the end of the year, the laptop is returned to the GIS Office and they collect the hydrant flushing information The GIS Office uses the hydrant flushing information to create two reports. The first reports list each hydrant and how long it was flushed. It shows notes that employees wrote in the field noting any issues they noticed with specific hydrants. The second report show the amount of time spent flushing each size diameter of pipe. The second report is especially valuable because it allows the City to estimate how much water used during the hydrant flushing process.
By using GIS the Public Works Department has an efficient to track hydrants during the flushing program. It as has a great way to create summary reports of hydrant flushing for the current year.
Having the largest business park in the nation provides Elk Grove Village, IL many benefits as a community and initiating improvements to make it even more desirable to current and future business owners is an ongoing objective of Village staff. In 2011 the Village began planning for a major drainage system improvement program. In many ways they have utilized their geographic information system (GIS) to support those efforts.
With GIS the Engineering and Public Works staff was able to identify the location of existing storm sewer infrastructure and open ditch locations, generate statistics and measurements, trace the flow of runoff from any point along the system, map the connectivity and extent of each drainage basin, and produce maps for the business park as a whole and each basin within that area of town to its exit point. Using the GIS gave staff the tools to thoroughly understand the existing conditions and plan a program budget to prepare future improvements and to maintain the existing system.
The City of Lake Forest’s Fire Department recently requested that GIS construct a map to display Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) and Special Rescue Team (SRT) assets in Lake and McHenry Counties. The MABAS and SRT assets are spread throughout Lake and McHenry Counties. Fire needed a method of knowing where assets were located while simultaneously being able to identify the type of asset.
In GIS, a list of fire station locations was geocoded and displayed over the Lake and McHenry Counties. Each fire station was then labeled according to which assets were stored at that given location. The assets were then color coded to identify the difference between MABAS and SRT assets.
The results of this project allow users an effective method of visualization that enables a more legible method of reviewing MABAS and SRT asset location information. Fire can use this location data to manage emergency response protocols. This project assists MABAS Division 4 personnel and Lake and McHenry Counties Specialized Rescue Team personnel efficiently assess where assets are located and how to spatially use these assets.
The Public Works Department tasks the GIS Office with maintaining several maps related to snow removal. The first set op maps are 8.5” x 11 inch plow zone maps that are kept in the truck as a reference to the assignment area for their truck. There are maps for specific trucks as well, such as one shows showing arterial route plowing, cul-de-sac snow removal, and main salting routes. In addition the GIS office creates large wall sized maps of snow removal zones, arterial plowing routes, and slating routes to assist the foreman with managing the trucks during a snow event.
Based on changes in personnel and equipment as well issues that might have arisen in the previous year, the maps are reviewed and updated every Fall. Updating the maps is easy because the map layout remains consistent from year to year. The dates on the map are dynamic text and are automatically updated every time the project is opened. All the maps reference the same data set, so an update to a snow removal route in one map will automatically display in the other maps as well.
By using GIS, the Public Works Department can quickly have new maps that show updated information. Thus the snow removal drivers will have the most accurate information to complete their task efficiently.
The City of Lake Forest recently decided that they wanted to reevaluate and possibly reorganize their storm drainage upkeep procedures. Currently, the City of Lake Forest is divided into 10 rainfall zones. A streets crew is given responsibility to maintain and oversee all storm drainage features within their assigned rainfall zone. Storm drainage features include manholes, inlets, and catch basins. To ensure that the street crews have similar amounts of features to be responsible for, the water foreman requested that a map and table be created to illustrate the amount of features in each rainfall zone. If the feature are counts substantially unequal then the water foreman may decide to reassign storm maintenance responsibility.
In GIS the storm drainage utility features (manholes, inlets, and catch basins) were displayed over the rainfall zones. All utility features not maintained by the City of Lake Forest were removed. These included all private and IDOT maintained structures. The Identity tool in GIS was then used to calculate a count of each storm utility drainage feature and determine which rainfall zone that feature fell within. The counts were then organized into a table as well as displayed onto a rainfall zone map.
The results of this project revealed many disproportioned feature counts within the rainfall zones. GIS enabled storm drainage features to quickly and reliably be calculated. The water foreman can now take this information and reallocate maintenance responsibilities where necessary.
At the beginning of the 2012 fiscal year, the City of Lake Forest had been delivering new recycling carts to all of their households. To accurately determine the number of recycling carts that were needed; a list of all non-commercial addresses in the city was generated and excluded from the recycling cart delivery list. The remaining residential address list was used as a reference to the Sanitation and Public Works departments to determine who was in need of a bin.
City resident addresses were then mapped to appropriately display the status of their recycling cart, either received or not received. With the cart delivery process still underway, the City of Lake Forest is now offering the option of choosing between a 64-gallon recycling cart or a 35-gallon cart. By completing an online request form, residents had the opportunity to request a smaller cart. The addresses of the residents who requested the 35-gallon recycling cart were then extracted from the master list and composed into a separate list. The recycling cart information was then added into an interactive mapping interface (MapOffice Advanced ™). MapOffice Advanced ™ allows city employees to quickly search an address, view the address spatially, and know the status of that resident’s recycling cart. Without integrating the recycling cart information into MapOffice Advanced™ city employees would have to refer back to an address table. If a resident calls Public Works requesting the status of their recycling cart, the recycling cart layers within MapOffice Advanced™ can be used as an efficient and effective resource.
Every year the City of Lake Forest requests a map to illustrate roads that are being planned for resurfacing. These maps help manage the spatial distribution of where these resurfacing projects are occurring. Poor road conditions are an issue for all communities and by ensuring residents that these conditions are being recognized can assist in exceling the government-public relationship.
The requested map illustrates the proposed 5 year pavement resurfacing program ranging from 2012 to 2016. The engineering department provided a spreadsheet defining all road segments that were planned for surfacing along with their proposal data. Line features were then created based on the spreadsheet specifications. Being able to visualize areas with a high resurfacing occurrence allows engineering staff to determine if their past replacements were effective, as well as to target new resurfacing areas in the coming years. The proposed pavement resurfacing routes were grouped together by fiscal year, each year being symbolized by a different color.
The City of Lake Forest hopes to continue their resurfacing initiative to help ensure the yearly CIP funds are meeting the needs of the residents and city infrastructure.
The City of Lake Forest Park Recreation Department is considering installing a new football field and or new soccer fields at Deerpath Park. The flood way and flood plain for the Skokie River run through Deerpath Park. It was important that any new facilities were not placed in the flood plain. Another concern was how the new facilities would fit into the existing park.
The City asked the GIS Office to assist with the analysis of the best location to place new facilities. The City provided the GIS with a PDF of a plan for an As Built for an existing football field and soccer field. This image was scaled and overlaid on a base map and imagery. Several maps showing the proposed football placed in different locations were also produced.
It was finally decided that running the software live would allow the images to be dragged and rotated to different locations. This allowed the participants to visualize how different configurations would look in the existing park and how close the new facilities would be to the existing flood plain and flood way.
By using GIS software the City has a powerful visual tool for finding the best location for a new football field and soccer field. They could instantly see how the new facilities would look in the existing park. Without GIS the city would have spent a tremendous amount of time doing field surveys and measurements of the existing Park.
The City of Lake Forest recently began a project to help determine the costs and effects of water main construction projects in relation to water main breaks. Water main breaks are an issue for all communities, and ensuring residents that the most needed areas are being repaired is an important part of government-public relations.
The GIS department used existing data for water main breaks over the past ten years, and coupled that with previous Capital Improvement projects for water main replacements. Being able to visualize areas with a high occurrence of main breaks allows engineering staff to determine if their water main replacements were effective, as well as to target new water mains to be repaired in the coming years.
To take the project one step further, main breaks and CIP projects were grouped together by fiscal year and associated to their respective wards. Costs per ward could then be determined to ensure there is a fair distribution of funds and necessary repairs among the City’s four wards.
The City hopes to continue this type of project in the years to come to ensure yearly CIP funds are meeting the needs of the residents and City infrastructure.
During the 2012 fiscal year, the City of Lake Forest has been receiving and delivering new recycling carts to all of its households. To aid in ordering the needed number of bins, a list of all non-commercial addresses in the City was generated. The Sanitation and Public Works departments were responsible for keeping track of who was in need of a bin throughout the year, with the goal of having each household’s bin delivered within the year.
In late February, GIS was asked to take the project one step further by comparing who has had a bin delivery to who is still in need of one. This was accomplished through geocoding the list of deliveries to the master address list, and then selecting those residences that have not had a delivery and creating a new list. In addition to the new list, a map was created to give a spatial reference on locations that did not have a bin. Interestingly, there was no trend found on areas that needed delivery, which made having a spatial reference even more valuable.
While this project was relatively simple to accomplish, the time saved by using GIS to generate the new table proved to be a big help to the Public Works department.
The City of Lake Forest recently began a project to help determine the costs and effects of water main construction projects in relation to water main breaks. Water main breaks are an issue for all communities, and ensuring residents that the most needed areas are being repaired is an important part of government-public relations.
The GIS department used existing data for water main breaks over the past ten years, and coupled that with previous Capital Improvement projects for water main replacements. Being able to visualize areas with a high occurrence of main breaks allows engineering staff to determine if their water main replacements were effective, as well as to target new water mains to be repaired in the coming years.
To take the project one step further, main breaks and CIP projects were grouped together by fiscal year and associated to their respective wards. Costs per ward could then be determined to ensure there is a fair distribution of funds and necessary repairs among the City’s four wards.
The City hopes to continue this type of project in the years to come, ensuring yearly CIP funds are meeting the needs of the residents and City infrastructure.
This fall, the Committee for Representing Our Young Adults, also known as CROYA, has introduced a visual aid to help with their annual poinsettia orders and deliveries. CROYA is a branch of the Rec Center in Lake Forest, and offers programs for young people to become involved in their communities.
The GIS department worked with CROYA staff to discuss the needs and options available to create a better workflow for the upcoming poinsettia deliveries. Due to the number of orders, as well as the number of people available to deliver, having a map to plan out who will deliver in certain areas was a big help to the logistics of the whole process.
The outcome of the project resulted in large scale maps for CROYA staff to reference when planning deliveries, which included addresses and the order information spreadsheet. In addition to this, the plotted out orders were put into MapOffice Advanced for staff to be able to reference on the fly. Having an interactive version of their data will prove useful when zooming into an area or turning on the aerial photography to gain more information.
CROYA hopes to continue utilizing GIS in future events, which are provided not only for the City of Lake Forest, but also neighboring Lake Bluff and Knollwood.
In August, Lake Forest College worked with the City to determine the names and addresses of residents that shared property boundaries with the College and were along the Bloodroot and Withchazel Ravines. Lake Forest College is planning on working to preserve the ravines, and contacting the owners provided two solutions- notification of work being done near their property, and asking if the property owner would be interested in joining the College in their efforts.
Management requested that GIS create a map showing the properties and listing the owner information to aid in this project. In addition to producing a map that showed both ravines with their adjacent properties and owner contacts, more specific maps were map for each ravine. These maps included topographic lines that will help aid in determining if the ravine floor is on College or private property. If there is indication that the bottom of the ravine is mostly on a private parcel, more notification or permissions may be needed to continue with the project in these areas.
Many communities often use GIS in one way or another to help plan out events, whether it is as simple as a basic street map or as detailed as a full site plan for a community’s annual taste event. In June, the City of Lake Forest came upon a unique opportunity and GIS was able to help.
Home to a number of golf courses, the City has begun examining the feasibility of hosting the PGA Tour, specifically at the Conway Farms Golf Course. The GIS Staff created numerous maps for Public Works and City Hall that showed zoning, surrounding communities and buffer zones, all of which were overlaying aerial images. The primary purpose for these was to locate areas of interest around the golf course that could provide parking and transportation for attendees. Further analysis is expected once city staff review their options, but initial review shows that the golf course has good surrounding features to accommodate the event.
Having a visual aid is always helpful when planning an event, especially when you can call out specific features that help with decision making. Though it can look simple at first glance, aerial imagery with GIS overlays always proves to be very beneficial to communities that are working to find the best opportunities solutions and for their events.
Each year, communities flush their fire hydrants and take note of flow rate, time flushed, and condition of hydrants. For 2011, the City of Lake Forest used GIS to aid in visualizing the locations of hydrants that were found to be in need to attention.
Notes from field work were grouped into subcategories to keep repair types to a manageable amount. From here, special symbology was given to each category to make it stand out from the other hydrants that were displayed on the map. The map was then divided into sections so it could be printed out at a readable scale on 8.5 x 11 paper, and when combined, formed a book that could be used in the field.
Having a visual aid to go with normal maintenance should prove to save time in locating the hydrants and planning of what kind of repairs will be needed. In addition to this, both the water and fire departments can see areas of concern where numerous hydrants may not be functioning properly, which can cause delays in the event that a fire needs to be put out in that area.
The City of Lake Forest is planning on planting around 180 trees this year that were purchased with funding that was donated from city residents. Known for its tree lined streets, these donated trees will help fill in areas of the City from newly renovated parks to medians along major roads. The Parks and Forestry department worked with both Engineering and GIS to create a map project that served two purposes; to help plan the locations of the Oak and Elm trees, and create an online interactive map that would allow residents to click on each tree and see its sponsor.
The use of GIS and interactive mapping technology for this project will save the foresters time in planning, allowing them to see project areas and make decisions without going into the field. Likewise, residents will be able to stay involved with the project by using the interactive map that shows the location and information for each tree.
The City of Lake Forest has been preparing for its upcoming 150th Anniversary event, which is scheduled for the fall of this year. While there are small events going on throughout the year, the big focus is on the festival that will take place on Market Square in the downtown area.
The City’s building department contacted GIS with the request of a large scale map that shows the downtown area, along with parking stalls and proposed vendor booths. In addition to these, proposed road closures and barriers were laid out on the map to be discussed among the planning staff.
Though there will be much more to come, the initial map gives the planners an opportunity to lay out the map for group discussions and make proposed changes where necessary. Once finalized, the map can then be used by staff during the event set-up as a blueprint.
The City of Lake Forest has recently been reviewing the types of drainage available on its streets to consider new projects for the upcoming fiscal year. As an old community, many areas of the city do not have curbs or gutters, and solely rely on ditches or small 6’ pipes to help move retention waters away from the road.
Cooperation between the engineering department and GIS resulted in a map that showed streets that did not have any curbs or gutters that could be compared with upcoming capital improvement plans. Roads were classified as collectors, main feeders, and state arterials. Special notes were made of streets that had combinations of ditch drainage and non-storm sewer drainage types, and field checks on the west side of the City insured that current GIS data was as accurate as possible
Combining road work with the installation of better drainage gives the City an opportunity to combine projects and keep costs down. The maps will be used as a visual aid in the upcoming board meetings to discuss 2011 projects.
The City of Lake Forest has begun using GIS to make a map and store data that shows current plans for their 10 year Capital Improvement program. In the past, employees would rely on spreadsheets and individual maps produced for that year to visualize projects and their locations. With the 2011 Capital Improvements plan being mapped this October, the city has also requested to begin keeping long term project data in a database feature class, which in turn will allow for editing and quick visualization.
Currently, the first draft of the 10 year plan has been created, and is currently being used to plan for upcoming conferences. Future plans include analysis on the planning data, as well as linking information regarding street condition and water main break density to help assist in project planning.
The City of Lake Forest has begun to take an inventory and place orders for signs throughout the city. GIS was able to provide accurate tables of sign counts for Public Works. Using these counts employees were able to categorize work zones by ward and know how many signs they would be dealing with from certain categories, such as regulatory and warning signs.
In addition to counting the signs, the tables helped employees by allowing them to know what kind of signs they would need to upgrade to meet the upcoming MUTCD standards for 2012. MUTCD stands for Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, and sets the standard on sign dimensions and visibility. The City met with a client to discuss upgrades and place orders, and having the tables and access to GIS for visual reference proved to be increase the work management of the project.
The city of Lake Forest updates a list of residents who have signed up for Rec Center services on a yearly basis. To aid in seeing the layout of where these residents are located, the City has used GIS to map out point locations for each address recorded. In addition to the point locations, a density analysis is also run to help give a more visual, picture of the results. This year’s map included 2500 addresses, which accounts for nearly 40% of all households in the city.
To further this analysis, city employees can compare the results found on the map with demographic data that is offered through Business Analyst Online, which is prepared by MGP, Inc. Included in this demographic data is up to date information on age groups, income, and household income. By comparing this data to the geographic makeup of residents using the Rec Center, the City can find ways to offer their services to areas that are not utilizing them as much as others.
This month, Lake Forest staff were presented with a new format for accessing GIS data, as well as PDF maps for printing use. The new setup uses a shared, read-only folder that is hosted on the GIS server, and contains layer files for most of the City’s GIS data.
The benefit that layer files offer to employees is they do not need to spend time color coding data or labeling GIS data, nor do they need to worry about being able to find the data’s location. The layers will also be symbolized, in most cases, the same as the layers that are found in MapOffice™ Advanced. By displaying data similarly, users will be able to find what they are looking for faster since they will be accustomed to the map’s layout and color schemes.
In addition to offering individual layer files, the shared folder will also contain a new version of a commonly used ArcMap document, which will use the layer files to display data. This new document will save time and be more efficient than previous methods because the data contained in the map will be linked to active data, thus it will be as up to date as possible, and will reflect any edits that are made by the GIS staff.
Lake Forest will be celebrating its 150th Anniversary next year, and with that celebration is a potential record-sized fireworks display that is in the planning. The idea is to have every resident of the city be able to view fireworks from their home. GIS has been able to help with planning this out by showing the committee the areas that require cover, as well as using the supplied data of minimum safety distances and viewing coverages for different sized fireworks.
The project included land use analysis, creating buffers, and using aerial photography to determine good launch sites and areas that can be excluded from the coverage. While this is only in its initial stages of planning, GIS will nonetheless be available to help further make this event a success.
Lake Forest will have access to the web version of MapOffice™ beginning June 1st. The month of May was spent preparing the base data needed to get MapOffice™ up and running, which involved loading previous GIS data into the GIS Consortium standardized database.
MapOffice™ will provide staff and residents with information for each parcel and address in the city, which ranges from school districts and voting information to garbage pick up days. A link to the Lake County Assessor’s website for each individual address is also provided to gain further information regarding building and property dimensions, assessed value, and sales history. Tools will be available to the user to provide further analysis if needed, such as measuring and links to both Google Street View and Bing Maps Bird’s Eye View.
Information commonly used by staff to assist residents will now all be available in one place, increasing efficiency, as well as providing basic information to residents who may have otherwise had to call in to ask about in the past. Work continues on data creation for MapOffice™ Advanced, which is scheduled to be available on the City intranet by mid-June.
As a new member of the GIS Consortium, the top priority in Lake Forest has been getting data ready for New World. New World used in some of the other Consortium communities, is a CAD software that uses GIS to map out the location of where calls are coming from.
Lake Forest is responsible for dispatching calls for both Police and Fire for the city, as well as the surrounding communities of Highwood for Police and Lake Bluff and Knollwood for Fire. Since there were many detailed paper maps on hand, having this data available at the dispatchers’ fingertips will greatly improve efficiency and response time. There will also be a version of New World running on Toughbook laptops that will be in the emergency vehicles to assist in giving address locations.
Much of the data being used for this implementation was updated and standardized before it was ready to be loaded onto the test server. Once the data is running live, edits will be carried out by Specialists and can be loaded into the active map to keep updates being entered as soon as they come in.
In preparing the data for the New World project, we now have many of the key layers needed for the GISC data conversion out of the way, and this will aid in our progress of delivering MapOffice™ to Lake Forest employees as soon as possible.