City of Santa Cruz Embraces AGS/Flex Rich Westfall, GIS Coordinator

GIS Web Implementation Specific City Business Need Identified Goals Developed Map Choice Made Zoning Viewer Team Development – Proxy Server in DMZ GIS Map Choice CIP Utilities/Pavement Management Zoning by Property

Our Goals Create mapping website that’s: Simple to use/Intuitive Meaningful Targeted audience don’t compete with Google Maps Attractive ROI – Com Dev front desk phone support - $15-$25 a hour depends on who is on call. Average - $18. 30-35 phone calls a day, average 20 of them are related to property info. Average 15mins per call. Current cost per call - $4.50. $23,400 per year spent in staff time on the phone. ORIGIN’s goal is a 30% reduction in calls. Savings of $7020 per year. Will show a return in the beginning of the 2nd year just from the reduction in calls in Community Development.

Staff Strategy GIS Coordinator – Planning Staff – Handle graphics, Flex (web application) development, coordination of all technical aspects, cartography (map authoring), ArcGIS Server (services/caching/tweaking) Planning Staff – Identify data to serve, oversight of cartography and tools. IT Network Administrator – Handle proxy architecture in DMZ

Development Process 6 months from Idea to Live Flex Builder Development system architecture set up ArcGIS Server set up MXD’s developed Lots of Feed back Testing Systems Performance Aesthetics Versions Alpha – Internal to IT Beta 1 – Internal to select city staff Beta 2 – External to select group in user community Release 1 – General Public Release Maintain Project Goals FLEX Builder – Demo downloaded FLEX builder purchased Cartography – lots of meetings Proxy – Reverse proxy using Varnish (open source on a linux server) Testing environment vs live ArcGIS Server – Caching, on the fly caching, live data, etc. Reviews – Front End look and feel Other sites buttons movement

Architectural Schematic Santa Cruz City GIS SCUSI System Architecture

Bringing the Pieces Together SCUSI Santa Cruz Urban Services Information

SCUSI Map Original Scope To Reach a Bigger Audience Request: Public to view city zoning by property Business Need: Reduce public phone calls to Planning staff requesting the zoning by property GIS Needed parcels, zoning, addresses find & property ID To Reach a Bigger Audience Added More City GIS Data & County Assessor Data Tie to Santa Cruz County Assessor Data Sensitive Habitat/Sensitive Species General Plan Designations and Planning Areas Flood zones Historic/Archeological data Aerial Imagery 2007 3in Color Development of and/or use of: Transparency slider bar for aerials X/Y coordinate display Measurement tools Google Street View Bing Birds Eye Census Tools Zillow.com

What is CCJDC GIS Up To? Who currently owns ArcGIS Server (AGS)? Actively using ArcGIS services? Have you used Adobe Flash? Of course you have! How many ArcIMS users? How many .NET Web ADF users? Are you looking to get an ArcGIS server based web map up and running soon?

ArcGIS Server and Flex: Here’s the Scoop

What is Flex Adobe development platform based on Adobe Flash Player client End users require web browser and Adobe Flash Player (most computers have Flash installed) Flex Builder IDE IDE based on Eclipse Java IDE Actionscript - JavaScript based scripting language MXML – Proprietary XML based user interface markup language Similar technologies Microsoft Silverlight

Why Flex Web 2.0 – “software-applications entirely through a browser” Relatively straight forward development process Easy to deploy applications Well integrated with ArcGIS Server Other alternatives (ArcIMS, Web ADF, MS Silverlight)

Flex and ArcGIS Server Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) Must have ArcGIS Server Running and exposing services All transactions between the Flash Player Client and AGS (ArcGIS Server) happen via REST based service endpoints exposed by the server Example REST service endpoint (map service) http://gis.cityofsantacruz.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Planning/MapServer Flash is a client platform. Only requests to AGS leave the client. There is no server component to Flash/Flex Platform REST is the actual service architecture used between the the Flash Client and the AGS server

Steps to get Going Install ArcGIS Server, create map services Download Adobe Flex Builder http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?e=flex3email Free for 60 days ($250+/- to buy) Download AGS API for Flex library http://resources.esri.com/arcgisserver/apis/flex/index.cfm?fa=downloadDisclaimer Free Add AGS Flex API library (.swc file) to project Create application

Tips and Tricks Read the ArcGIS API for Flex Overview http://help.arcgis.com/en/webapi/flex/index.html Utilize ESRI Samples http://help.arcgis.com/en/webapi/flex/samples/index.html http://help.arcgis.com/en/webapi/flex/gallery.html Learn “Flex in a Week” http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/videotraining/ Build components instead of building single file monster

SCUSI Demo

Did We Accomplish Our Goals? Goals Checklist Provide requested property information to Santa Cruz resident Show map and aerial views Provide selected 3rd party services Google Street View Bing’s Birds Eye Zillow Fast Attractive Intuitive

Things to Consider Setup a well oiled deployment mechanism. Application: Meet your business need Don’t try to be everything for everyone in one application Flex can be simple or complex depending on: How big your application gets How many customized controls you need to create (moveable, closable panels) Maps and map services Put in the time and attention into the details Symbology, labeling, caching, etc… Setup a well oiled deployment mechanism. Local development PC testing Internal testing server Public production server needed to create nice maps that symbolize and label correctly at the scale levels you decide for your map caches. If you want a high quality product, this will take as much time as the application development.

Impressions Recommendations Favorable Customer Feedback - yes High productivity – yes (Water Infrastructure Map in a week) Rich toolset to work with - yes Recommendations If you have ArcGIS Server, some programming skills and a web presence, then Flex may be for you.

Questions