Cicero: New, Lower Price and a Batch District Matching for Quick Turnaround Advocacy Activities

Vol. 4 Issue 5
December 2009

2009 has been a tough year for many of us. But in the midst of a stormy economy, we've held our own and have continued to work on terrific projects. This year, more than ever we want to give thanks to all of you who support us, believe in our mission, and understand that GIS and mapping technologies can profoundly and positively impact the communities we serve. To all of you who regularly read our newsletter, who send us an email telling us to keep up the good work, or who get excited about our projects and our clients: Thank You. From all of us at Azavea, have a joyful holiday season and wonderful new year. Welcome to another edition of the Azavea Journal!

For all our readers out there who love our district matching and legislator web API, Cicero, we have two pieces of good news. First, our move to the ArcGIS Online premium geocoding service earlier this year has enabled us to lower the price of Cicero. We have also changed our pricing from a subscription model based on the number of hits per month to one based on annual blocks of credits. Second, we are launching a new Batch Geocoding and District Matching service.

Our new Batch Geocoding and District Matching service uses the same Cicero API we provide for developers, but it enables you to send us a database of addresses (as an Excel spreadsheet for instance), and we’ll return your addresses to you stamped with all of the districts you request as well as any legislator contact information. And this is all at an affordable price. The data returned with your addresses can include:

Geocoded coordinates for each address
Local, State and Federal legislative district id’s for the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand
Elected official name, contact information, etc.
Non-legislative district id’s such as counties, school districts, watersheds, police districts, etc.

This is just the first step. We are working on more ways to use Cicero including integration with Salesforce.com and an online batch district matching service, so stay tuned for more developments.