Community Viz

The complexity of problems facing our coastal communities and the volumes of information available to the public mean that new approaches and tools must keep pace with these needs. Communities across the nation are seeking ways to allow more of the public to have a say in how their communities grow and develop. Community Viz and the weTable provide a powerful platform that helps to engage public participants in scenario planning. Together, this duo creates collaborative environments that foster problem solving and consensus building.

Community Viz has numerous features which make it a valuable tool to aid in land use discussions. These include:

Providing an iterative visualization tool to be used in working meetings between community stakeholders performing growth planning
Utilizing a set of “crayons” to visually “paint” a picture of the community vision for growth (i.e. a “what if” analysis)
Creating a land use capacity model that represented the character of a community, with a geographical feature and an associated set of land use designations that do not represent zoning, political boundaries, or ownership
Providing build-out land capacity and demographic impacts analysis based on the resulting “paint” of alternative land uses. Community Viz adds interactive analysis tools and a decision-making framework to ArcGIS. It works as an extension to ArcMap. Scenario 360 helps you view, project, analyze, and understand potential alternatives and impacts via visual exploration and alternative scenario construction and analysis.

Community Viz offers many ways to present the analysis including real time demonstrations, Internet reports, and WebShots (a dynamic presentation tool). Google Earth and SiteBuilder3D provide 3D visualization tools.

Community Viz is underwritten by the Orton Family Foundation (Middlebury, Vt.). The Foundation emphasizes “heart and soul planning” – or planning that accounts for the unique characteristics that make communities special.

The weTable is a powerful and simple public workshop tool that turns any table-top into a functioning computer interface. It allows participants to gather around a table in a workshop setting to explore and interact with digital data, maps, and online resources. The tool allows for a whole new level of collaboration and public interaction that is impossible to do with laptops, desktops, and screen presentations. Its use is highly applicable for public engagement and could inspire new ways of sharing data and conducting planning efforts. To date, the weTable has been used in a handful of geographic settings, such as Texas, Colorado, and Delaware, just to name a few. However, use of this innovative technology is expanding rapidly and practitioners are continuing to develop new strategies for public participation.