| A City Markets Itself: Quick & Easy Interactive Mapping via the Internet Promotes Economic Development
By Nancy Sappington Just like coat hangers that pile up unnoticed in the back of one's closet, empty storefronts have a tendency to multiply along a business district, seemingly attracting one after another. In short order, a bustling commercial area can turn into an abandoned strip of shops.
 The pride of the city is reflected in its civic center complex. Vigilance keeps one's closet in order, and it can also keep an economy churning. In California, the Rancho Cucamonga Redevelopment Agency remains ever vigilant, employing GIS to keep the city's business occupancy rate from going south.
In 1996, the agency adopted a strategic economic development plan for the city to strengthen and stimulate economic growth, halting a run on retail vacancies. They implemented a marketing package that included suggestions on advertising campaigns, direct mail pieces, trade show participation, publications of all kinds, and an Internet presence.
Part of Rancho Cucamonga's Internet presence is an economic development tool - INsideRANCHO - that promotes vacant lease space as well as land available for commercial development. Powered by ESRI's MapObjects IMS, INsideRANCHO provides business owners and developers with interactive mapping and custom site reports including print, fax, and e-mail delivery options that extend the city's customer service around the clock. Looking for a Better Way
In 1998, the Rancho Cucamonga Redevelopment Agency was seeking a better way to monitor the inventory of available commercial properties within the city for the purpose of promoting them to prospective businesses. "We wanted a more uniform way to do this, so we set out to perform an aggressive inventory of all available sites in the city, starting with retail," said Cathy Wahlstrom, a redevelopment analyst for Rancho Cucamonga.
The agency canvassed all the major shopping centers in Rancho Cucamonga, assembling a comprehensive retail directory that combined city data and commercial realtors' materials, plus contact information. Contained in a three-ring binder it was a valuable resource, but the directory lacked marketing appeal. It was difficult to duplicate and also burdensome to update.
"Along with being difficult to update, it was very staff-intensive. The material was outdated so very quickly, and it was cumbersome. If somebody wanted information on one center, the pages weren't seamless and didn't match. From that point, we knew that we wanted to use this data and the concept and find a way to get it onto the Internet," said Wahlstrom. "I knew what a great resource GIS was, and I wanted to be able to take advantage of it to better our community. This was a great opportunity that was realized."
The INsideRANCHO idea began to develop. "We started to work on a Web page concept, and then we went to the ESRI conference in San Diego, where we saw a presentation of VEDIS, the city of Vallejo's economic development site," said Wahlstrom. "We thought, 'Oh my gosh, this is just like our idea, and someone has really done it!'"
Vallejo's success story gave the Rancho Cucamonga Redevelopment Agency a concrete example to point to when they pitched their idea to the city council. Rancho Cucamonga had been using GIS in other departments since 1986. "That system was growing, and city council knew we were getting a lot for our money. Putting all these resources together helped us think this idea through completely before we made our request for proposal for a software programming consultant," Wahlstrom said. The Result: An Innovative, Award-Winning Site
While promoting development of new sites, INsideRANCHO is also designed to keep the city's existing retail space occupied, encouraging a mix of retail businesses to serve the community. Another goal of the site is to provide non-technical users with quick and easy access to site analysis tools and site selection data: the geographic, economic, and demographic information that business developers seek out.
"We had a great deal of city and broker data, but we wanted to present it in a way that was rich with photographs, graphics and maps because that conveys so much," said Wahlstrom. "Our city is physically attractive and well thought-out. We wanted to make sure that we got this message across on our Web site."
The first part of the project involved developing the concept, compiling the data, and designing the page layout and functionality. At that point, the redevelopment agency staff worked with GIS Planning (Berkeley, Calif.) to customize the GIS software for creating maps, displaying digital and aerial photographs, performing queries, calculating radial demographics, and automating the data update and retrieval systems. "We turned everything over to GIS Planning: our Access database, our digital photos, and the map that our GIS department generated for us. They put it all together and made it do what we wanted," said Wahlstrom.
With its user-friendly format and automated data systems, business owners can simply point and click their way through INsideRANCHO to receive information tailored to their specific needs. It's a one-stop shop. "The functionality of the site gives users the ability to select properties, calculate demographics, see what's located in the area, and access such city planning information as parcel data," said Pablo Monzon of GIS Planning. "Users can create detailed reports and query for specific space requirements."
Also on the Web site are links to the city's home page and commercial brokers' Web sites, as well as e-mail addresses for leasing agents. As business sites become available or leased, real estate brokers can perform such online functions as adding, deleting or modifying properties they represent by using a log-in and password over a secure link.
Understanding that broker participation is the key to this site's success, Wahlstrom said that the agency sends out regular reminders to brokers about updating the site, which also include information about the number and kinds of hits the Web site receives. The Realtors seem very pleased with the results. Len Santoro, senior vice president of CB Richard Ellis Inland Empire, said, "InsideRancho has had a positive impact on the broker community and gives the user a good feeling about dealing with the city."
In the first year after INsideRANCHO went online, the city's vacancy rate for listed shopping center properties went down 40 percent, and developers broke ground for three new centers. But according to Wahlstrom, many benefits can't be easily quantified. The site has proven to be an effective communication tool, reaching global markets and changing the way the city does business.
Best of all, no one is forced to lug around that huge directory. "At trade shows, INsideRANCHO provides clients with custom queries and site reports that are e-mailed directly to their office, right from the conference. Clients are delighted that they don't have to clutter up their briefcase and, when they return to their office, the e-mail serves as an instant follow-up. This sort of instantaneous customer service gives the city a cutting-edge advantage," said Wahlstrom. "In so many ways, it has exceeded our expectations in terms of a marketing tool.
"The Web site's true value can only be measured over time," she added. "It usually doesn't achieve instant results. As an example, a development application might be submitted two or three years after a user finds a site through INsideRANCHO. One new shopping center is a case in point. During a trade show in spring 2000, representatives from Ralph's (a local supermarket chain) used INsideRANCHO to search for shopping center locations. Eighteen months later, they submitted a development application for a new shopping center at one of the locations they found on INsideRANCHO."
INsideRANCHO has won an award every year since its launch in 1998. The latest honor came in 2001 from the California Geographic Information Association.
The cost of developing this application was somewhere in the neighborhood of $40,000. Another $5,000 is allocated for the annual update of demographic data and integration into the application. The Web site is also expandable. The agency launched the industrial site selector portion of the site in early 2001, and there are plans for an office site selector as well. The industrial section brings more functionality to users with a database that is searchable by zone and type of permitted use. About the Author:
Nancy Sappington is a marketing writer for ESRI and can be reached at [email protected]. Back |
