How do We More Effectively Meet Human Service Needs in our Community in a Dynamic Manner

In May I went to Redlands, CA on behalf of the International City Manager’s Association (ICMA).  The purpose was to be involved in one of an ongoing series of visioning exercises being undertaken by Esri,a company that specializes in mapping systems.  I have been used to Esri as a company that creates the software program that is the basis of our city/county maps that I use to look at property information in Burlington.  Their product is part of what you see when you go to Des Moines County GIS.  But what Esri has become over the years is much more than this.  I encourage you to learn more about their company by looking at their website, a link to which is included at the end of this post.  After my trip, I was asked to provide a summary of my experiences to ICMA.  The text of my summary to ICMA is as follows, in bold italics:

This spring I had the opportunity to visit Esri at its headquarters in Redlands, CA as part of an Esri-ICMA White Boarding Exercise with a focus on Human Services.  We spent a significant amount of time learning about the amount of data that is already available, and the ways it is being manipulated in various communities across the country already.  Yet there is a significant potential to improve on this at the community level.  The focus of the session was to look at how we coordinate the various forms of data we have on our community in relation to human services; what are the characteristics of our community demographics, what are the services that are provided by different social service providers from counseling to food banks, and where are there mismatches based on population distribution/demographics.  We had a small group breakout that allowed us to focus specifically on the potential to create an application that would allow us to map services and needs, with the idea that it would be a tool for our government agencies along with community groups and nonprofits that we interact with.  We looked at the potential to use this application as a device that tracked requests for services over time in a spatial manner.  This would allow us to see where resources were either lacking or in overabundance, as well as to see if their location was not consistent with the locations of who was using the services.

During the course of the day, I realized just how much can already be done.  As we worked on our core exercise, and talked about what it would be nice to be able to measure or display, ESRI staff was able to talk about how they already have the platform built (and often the information available) based on other applications they have already developed for governments, nonprofits, and private sector entities.  Our world has changed dramatically over the past few years; I have been aware of how private sector entities have used community demographics as they make decisions on where and when to invest.  The placement of a retail store, for example, needs to know community demographics to determine if there is sufficient density of their target market to justify locating a store in a given location.  This same process can be used as we think about whether a given location might be a good location for a park.  This same process can assist in running “what if” scenarios on whether a mixed use development in a given neighborhood has the potential to have long-run success. 

I have learned I need to ask more questions through this process; I need to ask my staff what they already know.  I also need to realize that some endeavors that we consider can be run through trial runs with the assistance of ESRI, or other groups as well.  GIS is a tool with so many untapped benefits.  The data is already there, and constantly expanding.  We need to take the time to learn how to apply it.

I was struck, during the course of my trip and in the ensuing couple of weeks, by how much data is collected in our country.  This data can be used in ways that I can’t even imagine.  You can get a small idea of how it is used and by whom by reviewing Esri’s website.  I get the image of infinite possibilities, uses that can be both positive and negative.  We talked about the ability to use a system of cameras to monitor traffic flow through a community or region, to provide information on congestion that could be used to adjust traffic signal timing while also allowing motorists to access the data in an effort to find alternative, non-congested routes.  Applications based off this technology also would allow parking spaces to be monitored, again with the ability for motorists looking for a parking spot in a downtown area to located the nearest vacant parking spot through their smart phone or other device.  These are applications that are already being used.

I want to note, as I close this post, that this kind of ability also raises a lot of concerns for individuals.  There are an increasing number of ways in which are daily activities are monitored, and used to feed predictive analytics tools to predict how we will act (or how we could potentially be influenced to act) in the future.  These are concerns that should be part of the conversation.