PhillyHistory.org did it again! People are going nuts over it. It even received at Best of Philly! 2007 Award for best local website.

On top of that, Azavea, the City of Philadelphia Department of Records, and The Art Institute of Philadelphia partnered to organize an exhibit of more than 80 photos from the site. From images of trade, commerce, education, municipal services, arts and entertainment to photos of men and women actually building the city, the exhibit reflects the vitality, vibrancy and development of Philadelphia over the past 150 years. Images dating from the late 1800s, some never before seen by the public, are on display. “Philadelphia Stories: The Building of a Great American City” is free and located at the Art Institute’s 1622 Chestnut Street gallery until August 31.

Local press and TV covered the event heavily, which attracted droves of people to the gallery. Visitors were mesmerized, amused and moved by photos as varied as that of the “Rat Patrol”, the site of City Hall without the iconic building on it, men building the sewer system in mud up to their eye brows, and a worker seated next to William Penn’s head before the statue was lifted on top of City Hall.

Commissioner Joan Decker

Rachel Cheetham-Richard and Governor Rendell

In her address, Commissioner Joan Decker said: “Voices and stories  of the Philadelphians who helped shape our city can be heard through these images. It is our hope that it will inspire more Philadelphians to explore this historical treasure-trove and offers glimpses of both the heroic, tragic and everyday facets of the city’s long and rich history.”

Governor Rendell stopped by the exhibit opening reception on August 2 and picked two photos of the construction of City Hall as his favorites. Between a few hand shakes and camera flashes, he even took the time to chat about the project with us!

PhillyHistory.org is powered by Sajara. Stay tuned for next issue’s news about a mobile version of the software!

We usually think of a ‘model’ as a way of representing the world. But the term model can be a bit confusing in the GIS world. There are data models – a way of representing the world in a database. We have many ways of representing the world in a GIS database – points, lines, polygons, images, surfaces and 3D volumes are the most common but there are many variations on these basic building blocks. In recent years standard data models have been developed to encompass common concerns in particular domains. ESRI and other organizations have published data models for transportation, land records, hydrology, telecom, water/wastewater, to name just a few. Contemporary software is usually structured in terms of objects. Object models help us to represent the world in a software program.

A third type of model represents our world in terms of processes. In this sense, a GIS model is a sequence of processes that generate a measurement, create a map, transform existing data sets into new ones or run repeatedly to create a simulation. The objectives of a process model can vary broadly. Very commonly, a model is simply a way to automate a sequence of actions that we would otherwise have to perform manually. In other cases, the model may be generating a measurement or other output for a particular set of inputs.

Azavea has worked on a few projects that were composed almost entirely of this type of model. The Natural Lands Trust developed the SmartConservation model, a methodology for scoring any location in SE Pennsylvania by calculating more than 40 different conservation and landscape ecology metrics. These scores were combined into a single SmartConservation score for a property that indicated its conservation value. Azavea wrote software using ArcIMS and ArcObjects to automatically calculate these metrics with only a web browser.

These types of models have existed on paper for as long as people have been using GIS software, but it become much easier to chain together a series of operations with the advent of flowchart-style tools now present in several GIS software packages. In the ArcGIS environment, models are created by either writing a script or using ModelBuilder. ModelBuilder is a visual programming language that enables an ArcGIS user to drag data sets and GIS processes onto a drawing surface where they can be connected together and turned into sequences of operations. The models (which are also known as ‘tools’) can be strung together into larger models, can be shared amongst users with common data sets and can even be published on the web using ArcGIS Server.

When I founded Azavea seven years ago, one of my dreams was to make the process of building and executing GIS models easier. Are there processes you would like to automate or geographic models you would like to build? Give us a call.

Have you ever wondered about the buying patterns, lifestyles, demographic profiles of your customers or target audience? Azavea has recently released a new business reporting system called Azavea Business Metrics (ABM). The ABM website was created in partnership with GIS software industry leader (and Azavea business partner), ESRI to bring you access to their vast collection of demographic, business and location-specific data. Users can log in to the site, enter location information on the target market of their choice and order a wide variety of customized reports and maps (via annual subscription or purchase of individual reports) specific to their designated area.

Sample Demographic Market and Graphic Profiles

Azavea Business Metrics can assist companies, organizations or individuals in finding the optimal property or site for their business, display spending trends on targeted demographical groups, plan a targeted marketing campaign using demographic information, understand consumer expenditures and lifestyles for a specific location, or reveal untapped markets. Whether you are an aspiring restauranteur, retailer, gallery or theater, ABM offers a cost effective way to get access to market data, demographics and business activity reporting.

Our experience working with non-profit organizations has shown us that a lot of organizations have savvy marketing people on their staff. Unfortunately because of budget restraints, they cannot afford to conduct market analyses. An inexpensive alternative to conducting extensive market research (individual reports start at just $35 dollars), ABM enables non-profit organizations, small and growing businesses, or anyone with a limited research budget to access accurate, up-to-date information on the target markets most valuable to them.

Azavea Business Metrics can also be used by real estate developers, neighborhood associations, economic development planners, retail professionals and investors. Check out several sample reports here.

The images above each show the same property outline with a different historic map in the background. In order from left to right: 1942 Land Use Map, 1859 Hexamer Locher Map, and the linen DOR Parcel Records Maps

If you have ever been involved in any activity pertaining to land parcel research or assessment, you know that flipping through linen registry maps –Philadelphia has 5,500 plus of these– can be a tedious endeavor. ParcelExplorer enables users to view the City of Philadelphia Department of Records’ current land parcel map layers and ato see scans of the original linen maps on which the records are based. Not only can these scanned maps be shown but potentially any scanned map could be included as possible background layers.

We recently added the ability to include several types of historical maps in the application. Specifically, we received three sets of digitized historic maps from the Philadelphia Free Library (scanned by The Athenaeum of Philadelphia). One of these sets of maps was the Hexamer-Locher atlas created in 1857-60, which was used as a fire insurance atlas. The other two sets of maps are Philadelphia land-use maps, from 1942 and 1962. (for more information go to http://www.philageohistory.org/rdic-images/). These historic maps add valuable data to the results generated from a search for the history of a particular parcel.

Along with the addition of historic maps, there are some other changes coming up that we hope will make the site even easier to use. Currently, payment for registration to the application is accepted by check only, and registration can only be paid for in six-month intervals. Plans are in the works to accept payment by credit card, which will make the subscription process instantaneous. Additionally, for users who access the application less frequently, the Department of Records will be offering payment for subscription based on hourly and daily usage.

For more information click on “Demo Button” or “Fact Sheet” at: http://citymaps.phila.gov/ParcelExplorer/

More than 14,000 GIS enthusiasts descended on San Diego in mid-June for ESRI’s annual User Conference, and three Azavea staff members were among them. Robert, Rachel, and Megan attended the conference where they made presentations on Azavea projects, shared a booth promoting the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP) SMART application (profiled in our last edition), attended workshops and technical sessions, and met other GIS practitioners from all over the world.

During the 5-day conference (June 18th – 22nd), we had the opportunity to present six projects on behalf of our clients: PhillyHistory.org and ParcelExplorer for the Philadelphia Department of Records, ConnectServices for the Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children, the Metropolitan Philadelphia Indicators Project for Temple University, TRAMAH for the University of Pennsylvania’s Cartographic Modeling Lab, and the SMART application for OJJDP. Copies of several of these presentations are available for download in the Library section of our website. We were also excited to share booth space with OJJDP and Development Services Group (DSG) to promote the SMART project, offering live demonstrations of the application and answering questions about its use and capabilities. Azavea implemented SMART using our Kaleidocade Indicators Framework.

For new attendees (as two of us were), the ESRI User Conference can be a bit overwhelming. With so many participants, workshops and presentations it was tough to choose which sessions to attend, but it was thrilling to see the range of projects being carried out using GIS technology.

Visit the application and compare the three states with Azavea offices (Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Washington.

1. In which state does the largest percentage of the population have access to trauma care by ambulance within 45 minutes?

2. Which state has the smallest percentage of land coverage within 45 minutes?

3. Explore the US map. Three states have 100% of their population with access via helicopter or ambulance within 60 minutes. Name two of them.

Be the first to send an email with all three correct answers to info@azavea.com and we will send you a $20 gift card to Barnes & Noble!