The Jones Payne GroupNoise Mitigation Consultants

Using Dynamic Websites for Improved Public Information

John DonoghueGIS Program Manager

AAAE Airport Noise Mitigation SymposiumOctober 10, 2007San Diego, CA

RSIP Public Information

Communities have little knowledge of Sound Insulation programs and process

Project coordinators are charged with Informing… Educating… Guiding and… Collaborating… with community members

throughout the project lifecycle

Information Dissemination

Traditional Methods Letters Postcards Phone calls Community meetings Newsletters Press releases

Information Dissemination

Project websites Provides an easy to update medium for

disseminating information Less costly than mailing and phone calls Provides room to explore more topics than

you can with print materials Typical home improvements Product choices Details on the process Up-to-date news Respond to ineligible community members

Typical Website Contents

Program Description Benefits Maps of affected areas Eligibility criteria Selection protocol Reports Sample documents Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Program news or announcements Noise terminology glossary

Source: http://www.quieterhome.org/

San Diego Quieter Home

Source: http://www.lawa.org/ResSoundproof.cfm

Los Angeles World Airports

Source: http://www.jonespayne.com/riac/index.html

Rhode Island Airport Commission

Metropolitan Airports Commission

Source: http://www.ohare.com/cnrc/ohare/ohareresidential.htm

Chicago O Hare

Making your site more useful to communities and homeowners

Have Specific FAQ Pages

Involve your consultant and community in building your FAQ pages Use your consultant’s experience to help

you craft answers to the most common RSIP related questions

Add specific community-related questions gathered from your initial meetings Reduces calls from homeowners who could not

attend the meeting Focuses on community concerns Ensures use of common terminology

Describe and Show Eligibility

Avoid using only language to describe eligibility It’s difficult for homeowners to visualize Homeowners will not know what or where a

65 dNL contour is, or how it affects them

Include maps to show which homes are located within each contour Homeowners don’t like filling out application

paperwork only to be told they are ineligible Ineligible homeowners are excluded from

mailings. If they can’t determine their eligibility on their own, they will call to ask

Employ Useful Maps

When publishing maps ensure that they are clearly understandable to a non-map oriented audience Not all people like or know how to use maps Consider combining the maps with a list of

addresses This also helps visually impaired viewers since

screen reading software cannot interpret maps

Use a simple map interface commonly known (most homeowners don’t know a what a parcel map is or how to read one)

Consider All Audiences

Consider impaired site visitors who are Color blind Completely or partially blind Suffering from dyslexia May not be able to read small text

Website content should be easily readable with a text to speech reader

Eligibility maps should compliment descriptive information not replace it

Engage the Visitor

Too many websites are static websites offering one-way mediums for dissemination Static websites talk to the community Dynamic websites talk to the homeowner

Leverage technology to engage the homeowner and offer a self-service website that: Is pro-active in addressing specific

homeowner concerns Offers two-way information exchange

Homeowner Self-Service

RSIP projects are long-term projects Homeowners get frustrated

Need to be reminded of the schedule Need to know what’s happening Need to be prepared for the next step

Frequent questions Am I eligible? Where am I in the process? What’s my status? What’s going to happen next? When?

Case Study: Bradley Intl. Airport

Airport surveyed many RSIP websites Collected the best of what they saw into

their request list that included: Detailed program information Mapping and dynamic eligibility lookup

Airport is handling homeowner calls and was very concerned about call volume

Excited about dynamic abilities but budget was limited Dynamic programming and mapping can be

expensive FAA was not willing to fund dynamic functions for

public use

Case Study: Bradley Intl. Airport

Most mapping websites use expensive proprietary GIS interfaces

We explored using low cost open mapping interfaces like Virtual Earth

Airport was able to build a full featured self-service website with a lower budget than a typical GIS mapping application Savings allowed addition of other

homeowner self-services Resulting interface is familiar to most users

and easy to navigate

Case Study: Bradley Intl. Airport

Open mapping interface enables better homeowner response from airport Staff can quickly lookup an address and see

its location with respect to noise contours Provides detailed information for addresses

in the airport’s program database Provides location with respect to the noise

contours for addresses not in their database Allows homeowner to request verification if they

believe they are eligible Empowers the airport by reducing their need to call

consultants for clarification of address locations not in the system

Bradley Website Features

Website allows homeowners to Check their eligibility Obtain up-to-date status information for

each program milestone View a live map of their property location

with respect to noise contours Review and submit updated information on

their home Schedule appointments with project staff Ask questions, submit comments and rank

the suitability/helpfulness of page content

Bradley Website

Home Information

Home Information

Scheduling

Overview Map for Airport Staff

Other Interactive Features It is important to

engage homeowners and help them make the program website more useful

Add mechanisms for homeowners to provide feedback and suggest website improvements

Using Open Mapping Services

Criticism Aerial photography in open services is old:

Typical cut-off date for eligibility is 1998 Online services may miss new construction or land

use conversions, but they would be ineligible Lower data costs allows more homes to be treated

Custom aerial photography may cost $50K to $120K Proprietary GIS web services may cost $40k and up National average sound insulation cost is $24K

Address locations are not very accurate Geocoding of these services is improving Use GIS applications to create your own data and

use open source mapping services for visualization

Interactive Web Sites

Concerns Security

Making homeowners register and log in can turn them away and creates administrative work

Decide what information should be available publicly (i.e. address and eligibility)

More sensitive information can be sent by automated email for immediate answers, e-mail addresses can be requested during the application process

My community is not technology friendly Investigate your community’s ability to take

advantage of the Internet and tailor your investment accordingly

The Jones Payne GroupNoise Mitigation Consultants

Questions?

John DonoghueGIS Program ManagerThe Jones Payne Group - Geospatial Services Office

520.269.6601 x10 jdonoghue@jonespayne.com www.jonespayne.com