When local, state, and federal officials get involved in transportation planning, they need a transportation planning tool like MapSavvy to help develop a transportation system that will stand the test of time.
Successful Transportation Planning Requires the Ability to See the Future
Successful transportation planners have to define goals, policies, and investments in infrastructure and thoughtful design, then initiate programs to build a transportation system that functions now and also meets the needs of future generations. Planners must weigh a variety of factors — population growth, new developments that will affect traffic, and the demographics of the citizenry (who drives vs. bikes vs. uses mass transit), and more.
Transportation Planning Uses 5 Key Steps
Building a successful, functioning transportation system involves five key steps, and MapSavvy is there to move the process forward as an affordable, practical transportation planning technology tool:
- Evaluation of existing conditions of the current transportation infrastructure
- Goal setting based on forecasting population growth and anticipated developments and land use
- Developing transportation plan options to solve the problems
- Evaluating options
- Developing a Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) and budget
MapSavvy is used in all five phases. Here's how:
Stage 1: Evaluation
In this phase, planners review the current transportation infrastructure and evaluate the most pressing problems to be solved. They use MapSavvy to get overhead imagery of the infrastructure to help assess visually where and why transportation problems are occurring.
Stage 2: Goal Setting
Transportation planning truly requires the ability to predict the future. In this stage, planners project population growth, areas where new developments will add to traffic volume or require a new highway exit, and more. Web mapping services like MapSavvy help by showing the "Before" overhead view to compare with new developments and residential areas that have sprung up — letting planners make educated assumptions about likely areas of growth.
Stage 3: Developing Options
To effectively brainstorm options for fixing an area's transportation woes, planners need visuals. MapSavvy provides affordable aerial imagery so planners can see the problem areas and brainstorm solutions.
Stage 4: Assessing & Presenting Proposed Improvements
When presenting options for alleviating transportation problems, there's a level of civic and public engagement that must take place — options are presented first to government officials and often to the public. A web mapping service like MapSavvy provides the visuals for these presentations. Most people understand patterns better when they can see them rather than just read text, and MapSavvy provides affordable visuals that show where the problems are and where the proposed solutions would go.
Stage 5: Developing the Long-Range Plan, Phasing & Budget
Once options have been assessed and accepted or discarded, the accepted plan becomes part of a long-term document with phases and budgets — documents that typically become public record. A long-range transportation plan outlines how the project is sequenced and should include aerial images highlighting where initial work will take place, where the next round will occur, and so on. MapSavvy provides affordable aerial imagery that helps keep the cost of producing the plan reasonable.
The bottom line: transportation planning is a complex task that requires integrating many elements — infrastructure, anticipated growth, economic factors, and more. MapSavvy is a transportation planning technology tool of choice because it provides the aerial imagery needed at all stages, at one of the most affordable prices on the market — $999 per year for up to 40,000 WMS requests.
If you're involved with transportation and infrastructure planning and need aerial images, give MapSavvy a try. We offer a free trial, or contact us for more information.