General Session: Becoming a Community Builder – Leadership in Changing Times

Day two of the 2011 APWA conference started with a general session, Becoming a Community Builder – Leadership in Changing Times, with keynote speaker, Ian Hill. He began by sharing his background and how he came to be involved in helping the public works profession develop leadership. Hill admitted he used to be a typical person who thought culverts, roads, and stuff like that just happen. But since getting involved in our profession he has managed to interview and spend time with thousands of people in public works. And after hearing his talk, I believe he has managed to find the pulse and heart of our community. When he described how we work so hard with such commitment, belief in our mission and communities, and dedication to our jobs, then one day get smacked down "into the cement" at a public meeting or stabbed in the back by others in our workplace, I thought "how can he know exactly what happened to me!?" But I quickly realized everyone else in the room was relating to this too. Yet, the inspiring part of our profession is that we all managed to get back up, and here we are again focused on figuring out how to improve ourselves and what we do so we can go back home and continue to make our communities even better.

This is one of the reasons I believe it is so important to maintain a membership in an organization like APWA and spend time with each other. Yes, the organization offers great information to use at our jobs and share with co-workers. But when you work in a profession that is constantly under scrutiny and bears so much criticism, most times completely unwarranted, you need to have opportunities to reach out to others who can relate and share your experiences. This networking also helps us figure out how to motivate others in our field who are also "battered and bruised" by the constant bashing of public employees. Because as Hill pointed out, that is one of the challenges of our jobs. How do you lead people who work hard everyday but continually hear from the press the message that they are bad, lazy, worthless public employees who don't deserve the salary or benefits they've earned? How do you walk in each day and ask them to give it their all? Hill said "we need to ask ourselves what is the leadership approach required for the environment today?"

Right of Way Permitting – City of Hamilton, Canada

The next session I attended was about right of way permitting. Although we don't issue a lot of right of way permits each year – probably under 100 – it would still be nice to have a system other than a spreadsheet to track them. So I went to the session to learn more about ROW permitting systems. The presentation was given by Gordon McGuire who works for the city of Hamilton, a city in Canada of approximately 500,000 people. McGuire discussed their system which is built on a combination of Oracle Go360, Bentley Map, and PRISM. In his community, the city handles all restoration and bills the utility. Some of the interesting points for me were that Canada has realized that utility installations cost tax payers money. This is because many times we have to change our plans or pay the contractor more money to deal with non-city utilities.

Bus Rapid Transit

Our county has been studying the implementation of a BRT route along one of the major corridors through our city. So, in the afternoon, I attended a talk about Bus Rapid Transit. The talk was given by Sharon Humphreys, senior project engineer with Bureau Veritas. She primarily talked about the BRT route that was created in San Diego. This project was financed through a ½ cent gas tax. The BRT is administered by the San Diego association of governments. However, MTS will eventually own, operate, and maintain the system.

The buses serving their BRT were designed for swift passenger loading with multiple streams. The vehicles are 35 feet in length and have enhanced wheelchair access. They run on a gasoline-hybrid propulsion system and are equipped with an AVL unit with GPS.

Signals along the route are set up to allow for queue jump lanes so the busses run in separate lanes. If the bus is running behind schedule, this allows for the bus to get an early green ahead of the other traffic. But the early green is not given if the bus is on time.

In their experience the BRT has been very successful. She suggested it was important to plan for BRT in areas of high congestion, large number of riders, and expensive parking facilities. But a key aspect of their system that probably ensures its success is that it runs through and serves the University of California with three of its 17 stops on campus property. So I imagine there was a high potential for student ridership that other communities might not have.

International Stormwater BMP Database

Stormwater always seems to be a hot topic in public works. So another session I attended was about the International BMP Database. The main presenter was Jane Clary from Wright Water Engineers. She explained the history of the database – it was initially funded by the USEPA via the Urban Water Resources Research Council of ASCE. But now, it is supported by a broad coalition led by WERF. The project’s central focus is to “gather technical design and performance information to improve BMP selection and design.”

The database is set up so that anyone analyzing performance of BMPs can submit data to the site. It currently has data representing a total of 470 BMPs. Clary went through a couple examples of how to search for a BMP and access the related data. Much of the information seemed to be presented in “box plots.” These graphs indicate the probability of success for that BMP. The data related to each BMP can be downloaded for later analysis.

Over the last year, there's been a significant increase in the use of social media by those of us working in public works. Some of us are using it for work to enhance communications with citizens or other professionals. Others have started using it only to interact with personal friends and relatives. But even though everyone seems to be getting more comfortable tweeting, sharing posts on Facebook, and watching YouTube videos, few have moved on to creating blogs. Yet just about every one of us has significant information and experiences that could be best shared with others through a blogging format. So we wondered what could the Public Works Group do to encourage and support more sharing of public works information online? And that's when we decided to launch the Blog Route Plans!

The Blog Route Plans are monthly subscription plans that can help you easily get a blog, and even a few social media sites, up and running. For a monthly fee, we can set up and host a blog for you, offer tutorials, keep your site upgraded, and provide resources and ideas for you to use to create content on your blog. And because some people feel more comfortable having others check over their posts before publishing, we can help out by providing that service too.

Based on our research, this is somewhat of a different approach to offering social media services. Most people who want a website or blog usually contract with someone or a company to provide the site. And once delivery takes place, the fee is paid, and the customer is handed a newly created site to proudly display online. But because setting up a social media site like a blog is just the beginning, we believe it's more important to provide support to you on a regular basis. After all, it's the content on your site and your engagement online that will provide the most value to your reader. And it's not always easy to come up with ideas or topics for posts or keep up with all the new tools to incorporate into your site.

Sure there are some social media consultants out there who will run your site for you and create and generate content. But the cost can be hefty, they probably don't have the public works background you do, and really social media is more about personal interaction – not just hiring someone to do it for you. So instead we want to offer services that support and help you create the best content possible. We already have the Public Works Group Website where we post information related to our industry. But through our plans, we can better keep you informed about any new social media tools out there and whether or not they can help increase the value of your site. And of course, we will send ideas and suggestions for posts. 

Some people might ask why pay for a monthly subscription when anyone can set up a blog for free on sites like WordPress.com or Blogger? For those who are interested in setting up blogs on their own, this is definitely a solution. However, we do realize that eventually some people, particularly  those setting up blogs for their companies, will need or want more control over their blog than a free hosting plan provides. And our plans are set up for people who don't want to have to worry about researching how to set up blogs, worry about maintaining a site, or worry about what tools they really should be using. The Blog Route Plans also allow the Public Works Group to act as a type of personal blogging assistant providing content ideas, checking posts, or just being there to answer questions about social media or blogging. So if you've been thinking of blogging or just have some questions, check out our plans or e-mail us with any thoughts or questions at pwg@publicworksgroup.com

Today was a great day – well most days are pretty good, but a lot of really good things happened today! There were some minor tasks I took care of like arranging for our interns to help out the water/sewer department by shooting some elevations for a sump pump line they were repairing and working a little with the interns on the small storm sewer project they are designing. But the main focus of the day were the following items:

Inspection of Storm Management Activities and a Quick Explanation of Special Service Areas

For some time now many urban areas have been requiring new developments to address stormwater management to minimize flooding and improve water quality. So developers installed features such as detention and retention basins, wetlands, or other facilities to meet these goals. Although they have worked well over the years, the challenge that has evolved over time is the maintenance of these areas. Over the years, weeds grow up and cattails take over. Eventually the facility may no longer function as intended.

We have one large stormwater facilitiy within a subdivision in our city that over the years was increasingly neglected by the property owner. Fortunately our city requires all developers to either create special service areas (SSA) for these facilities or agree that in the future an SSA could be set up. The SSA works by allowing the city to assess real estate taxes on the parcels lying within the SSA for the purposes stated in the document creating that area. In most cases management of stormwater facilities is an approved use of the funds collected through an SSA. If no management is needed because the property owner or homeowner's association is taking care of it, then no taxes are assessed. However if no maintenance takes place, as in this case, the city begins assessing and managing the facility.

So earlier this year we began assessing taxes for this area and secured a contract with a design/build firm to design and implement a management plan for the area. Today our consultant took us out to inspect the work that has been done. I took many photos of the area, and you can see these on the city's Flickr site at this URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cityofgeneva/sets/72157627294641145/

I did add one photo here that was taken by Karen Kase, one of the employees with the consulting firm. (I asked and received permissoin to use her name and photo in this post.) She is an amazing woman – she completely understands this type of work, works hard to achieve results, and does a great job communicating to clients what has been done and what is planned. Anyway, she took this photo one day while she was working on site. She said it is a hummingbird moth. I just had to include it here in this post because it is one of the most incredible photos I have ever seen. She took it with her iphone!

Public Works Staff Meeting

We also had a public works staff meeting today. This is a meeting we have every month that includes all the superintendents and managers in our department. It's interesting and helpful to get together like this to share what each of us is doing and it helps us better coordinate our efforts. We learned that the Emerald Ash Bore has had a devastating impact on our community with thousands of trees left dead. Our street department has a forestry division, and they have been taking down all the trees in the right of way. So far they have removed 225 trees just since May of this year. The superintendent figured he could have about 2,600 more to go. Another interesting bit of information shared is that he was asked to put a sign up at the pay station for our commuter parking garage that says "US Currency Only" because people are paying with coins from Chuckie Cheese and Disney. I figured our dollar was devalued but didn't think it had gotten that low!

ArcGIS Viewer for Microsoft Silverlight

Today I also signed up for the ArcGIS Beta Community so I could get access to try out this awesome application for making web maps. The GIS person in our neighboring community who is just outstanding at creating GIS applications showed us a demo of it at our last group meeting. This application allows you to create a web map through a very easy method. And the resulting map is presented in a very nice user interface. I would highly encourage anyone interesting in creating web maps to join the Beta Community and try out this application. Anyway, I was able to get it installed by the end of the day and look forward to trying it out next week!

So why are educators embracing gaming as a teaching method, and why do I believe this can be leveraged for professional training? Game developers have figured out some critical elements of human nature. They are leveraging the fact that we can be motivated with the right environment and incentives to complete a set of assigned tasks. And this motivation can be so great that for some it borders on addiction. Imagine how many employers would be interested in learning this secret, particularly because the exchange of money is in the reverse – players are not expecting money to play and instead give up their money to game.

I've embedded a video at the end of this post that explores the effect games have had on our lives. Some of the insights shared in this talk discuss the ability of games to drive or elicit emotion in a player. This is accomplished through the game environment, the framework of the game, the story within the game, and the tasks assigned. Done well, all these elements combine to grab the player, pull him into the game, and drive his emotion. And because the purpose is to keep the player coming back, those emotions are not designed to be negative. Instead they are set up to create the most epic, incredible emotions that can be felt.

To successfully gamify training in our field, we need to capture these components along with elements from our industry and apply them to our courses. The environment and tasks that make up our workplace are probably the easiest to translate into this method. However finding our story and weaving it throughout the training session and into each task is more challenging. The same approach and challenges exist for developing civic courses for citizens. And in each, a successful course will be dependent on the ability to bring the player into the game, encourage them to accept and become a part of the story, and develop the confidence, skills, and engagement necessary to achieve epic wins in the game and in "real life." And have them return for more.

(The symbol at the beginning of the post is one of many that can be generated at the BrainHex website. Anyone can visit the site and take a quick test to see what gameplay behaviour they exhibit.)

Fortunately, my supervisor and city administrator were fully supportive of implementing this idea. And even better, an intern working for us who is a public administration graduate student was able to partner with us to set it all up. While we were planning the project, I noticed a post on GovLoop written by Dave Briggs: The need for micro-participation. It seemed to discuss exactly what we were hoping to do. His post and support of the idea of micro-volunteering inspired me to finish setting up the project. After it was complete, we took some time evaluating it. After getting some great input from everyone, the project became an adventure of discovery with a Viking theme complete with a Viking figure donated by our wastewater division staff. Now anyone can join us on a discovery of property. And people can even earn titles and rewards as they successfully complete documentation of areas. You can check out the site here: The Geneva Land Adventure.

While we realize this approach has been used before to crowdsource genealogy databases, we’re not sure if other local governments have offered similar opportunities for micro-participation. We would be interested in hearing from others who might be aware of similar examples of participation or information about property management systems already in place. And we would love to hear comments or suggestions for improving the project and would love it even more if you signed up and participated in our adventure! (And because property management in local government is not a widely discussed or known topic, I offer a little background below.)

A INTRODUCTION TO PROPERTY MANAGEMENT FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT

People are usually surprised to discover that local governments have a significant number of interests in real estate or property. These property rights can be held in the form of deeds, dedications, easements, rights of way, or licenses. And, depending on a government agency’s size, the number of documents conveying these rights can range from hundreds to thousands.

What also surprises people is that agencies most likely do not have a property database in place to document and manage the property rights associated with these documents. When I started working at the city of LaSalle in 1993, I figured they didn’t have this in place because they were somewhat of a small community with a population of about 9700. So I got to work building the database and putting a management system in place. By the time I left in 2009, I had discovered about 300+ properties in which the city had some ownership right. What I’ve since realized from talking to others in government is that many cities lack a property database.

Based on my experience in LaSalle, I have developed a process of building the database and putting in place a management system. One of the first steps is to discover all the documents in which an agency has property rights. But this task can take significant time. Since starting a new job with the city of Geneva two years ago, I’ve been working on setting up the system here. Fortunately we already have most of the property held by deeds in a database created by the county tax assessor. But this information needs to be verified and all the other documents covering easements, licenses, dedications, etc. need to be discovered.

Some might wonder if it’s so much work, why bother. Well, in government, ownership and property rights come up frequently throughout the day. Most activities that go on in local government, particularly in public works or property maintenance, involve the need to know what can be done where. If a database does not exist, research must be done each time a question about rights or ownership comes up. With a completed database and GIS, the answers are much more readily available. There are other benefits, but to keep it brief, the bottom line is having the database saves time and money which is always a good thing to achieve in government.

Joint Chapter/Lake Branch – Clean Construction and Demolition Debris (CCDD) Updates

April 7, 2011 at Lake County DOT Facility, 600 W. Winchester Road, Libertyville, IL 60048

Joint Chapter/Suburban & Fox Valley Branches – Clean Construction and Demolition Debris (CCDD) Updates

April 27, 2011 at Naperville Public Works, 180 Fort Hill Drive, Naperville, IL 60540

Another good reason to attend, other than just figuring out what everyone is doing to comply, is to learn how best to reply to IEPA’s request for comments on their draft rule for the law. Here’s the link to the draft rule: http://www.epa.state.il.us/land/ccdd/draft-part-1100.pdf. And I’ve embedded the document below for those whose agencies will allow them to access embedded documents using Flash.

The comment period is open until May 12, 2011. You can find out more about the rulemaking process here: http://www.epa.state.il.us/land/ccdd/index.html

DRAFT: TITLE 35: ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION SUBTITLE J: CLEAN CONSTRUCTION OR DEMOLITION DEBRIS CHAPTER I: …

Today a search on YouTube for “public works” brings up 4,950 results. Of course not all are the type of “public works” we all know and love. But even after factoring out “Gotham Public Works” and art-related videos, we are still left with an awful lot of resources. Anyone can visit the site to watch videos. But if you create your own YouTube account, you can take advantage of many other abilities. People with accounts can add comments to individual videos, keep track of what has been viewed, create playlists and favorites, and connect to other social media accounts. For those intending to upload their own videos, YouTube also offers the ability to create and customize channels.

Some of my favorite public works-related channels are apwatv, Autodesk, CityOfCollegeStation, PublicWorksMagazine, TransportationTV, unitedutilities, and the one I set up at pwgroup. By subscribing to these channels, I can choose to receive notices when new content is added. I can also more quickly find content when I want to share it with others. With diminishing money in the budget for training, YouTube videos offer the ability to increase skills and knowledge at no cost, on demand, and without leaving the office.

Videos posted on YouTube are also easily shared by embedding or placing a viewer on another Web site. Below each video on YouTube is a “Share” button the viewer can click to share the video through e-mail, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites. There is also an “Embed” button that when clicked will display a code. This code can be copied and pasted on any Web site to display a video player that will launch the video from that site. This is what I did to display one of my favorite public works-related videos below:

Companies and agencies can take advantage of this to regularly post videos with work-related content on their Intranet sites. Or if smart phones are used in the field, inspectors can consult a preset playlist of videos displaying proper construction methods.

For those interested in publishing, it really isn’t as difficult as it might at first appear. YouTube has an extensive help section to get you started. Of course, you will need some type of device to capture the video. While some phones now have this capability, you might want to use something like the Flip camera for this purpose. What I like about the Flip camera is it’s reasonably priced and easy to operate. There are two buttons ― one to turn it on/off and one to start/stop recording. To upload, I just use its USB connection to plug it into my computer. The software is part of the camera so I can plug it into any computer and the software is available. All of the more recent videos I have uploaded to my channel have been captured using my Flip camera.

While many agencies or companies are creating videos to offer information to the public, videos can also be created for internal training. A meter representative once spent about 10 minutes telling us how to take apart a meter. While I was able to write down what he said and create a guide using photos, it would have been better and easier to just video record his explanation and upload it to the computer. Videos can also be used to record underground utility crossings or other construction-related improvements, or examples of best practices. These videos can even be linked to a city’s GIS for later reference.

There are other video sharing sites besides YouTube such as Vimeo, Viddler, and even Flickr. If you are thinking of making your own videos, one of the best things you can do is watch what others have already done. And if you know of any great public works-related videos, make sure to send us the link!

Update: On April 12, 2011, Cisco announced they are discontinuing the Flip camera. Speculation has been that in an effort to reduce company costs, Cisco decided the Flip could no longer compete with smart phones.

He had an excellent point. Right now the technology is so new, we don’t yet have this problem. If I walk through out city today with the Layar app on my smart phone, there is a good chance I will see no virtual objects. But once the technology becomes ubiquitous, we could walk through our cities looking for something with our augmented reality app and find ourselves bombarded by virtual junk. This virtual junk would also detract from augmented reality uses for wayfinding and utility location. And what could be worse is that people could leave virtual junk on our private property. Maybe someone gets upset with someone else and decides to leave a virtual sign with some not-so-nice wording on that person’s lawn. So there will probably come a day when there will need to be some regulation defining where virtual objects can be placed. But once you start considering this and how it fits into our current system of governance and regulations, it becomes quite an intriguing discussion. Local government regulates and permits placement of objects in the right of way, so should this permitting be extended to virtual objects placed in the right of way? And who should have the authority to regulate what is placed on private property?

Developing the framework for regulating augmented reality in public and private spaces will take some thoughtful consideration and time. But setting this up now will make it that much easier when we get the first call from one of our citizens complaining because someone put a virtual, 20-foot pink dragon breathing fire on their property.

Just like any good story, this one starts at the beginning—back before an agency even sets a digital foot into the virtual arena. Today many agencies might not have even heard of virtual worlds while a few others have heard of them but not yet thought about leveraging this tool to deliver value to citizens. But, eventually someone, either staff or citizens, will bring up the possibility of using virtual worlds to enhance service delivery. At that point the agency must decide whether to ignore the suggestion or investigate virtual solutions. If the agency decides to go forward, the first step is to create a virtual plan. Here are some ideas about how an agency would go about developing their plan:

Developing a Virtual Plan

Create a Project Team

Assuming an agency decides to venture forth, my first suggestion is to form a project team. Team members should be comfortable using online technology, possess good assessment skills and articulation, and have a comprehensive understanding of the agency’s general structure, goals, mission, and strategy. It would also be helpful to include a few community stakeholders on the team such as members of the agency's leadership, residents, business owners, and leaders in community organizations.

Set Goals and Strategies

The team’s first order of business is to determine what the agency would want to accomplish with the use of virtual worlds. These goals should align with the overall goals and strategies for the organization. This is also a good time to think about the targeted audience—who will visit this virtual space? Below are some suggestions for both virtual spaces and related audiences:

• Engage local citizens.
• Attract potential tourists and deliver visitor information.
• Recruit potential employees, citizens, businesses.
• Plan proposed development and receive input from citizens and developers.
• Present 3D representations of code and ordinance requirements so residents/business owners can more easily understand and access regulations.
• Train employees.

Decide on Software and Hosting

In order to develop, access, and maintain these virtual spaces, the agency will need to acquire a software package and possibly a hosting plan. Although virtual worlds may seem like a brand new tool, they function in a manner similar to a traditional Website. By this I mean that the agency will use development software to create the world and the content within. Then others will use a software program to access the agency’s site. And just like a Website, the digital space will require a computer on which to reside. Therefore, the agency will need to determine if their virtual space will be served out from their own computers or through a host.

Here is a list of the more common solutions currently in use for enterprise and government purposes:

• OpenSimulator
• Second Life
• Blue Mars
• 3Dxplorer
• Unity3D
• VastPark
• Prototerra
• Wonderland
• Multiverse
• Forterra OLIVE
• Protosphere
• ActiveWorlds

Virtual world development can be complex so it’s critical the team identify features and requirements for each software package from cost to performance to ease of use and support. This is where tables and charts come in handy. Here are some suggestions to consider including in the analysis:

Developer    Purchase and Annual Cost    User base    Technical Requirements    Security     Scalability    Backup Capabilities    

Database Requirements and Compatibility     Storage Requirements

The team can assess each program by assigning a ranking for each feature and requirement. For example, if a low number is chosen to indicate a more beneficial choice, then the purchase price could be categorized by the following numbering system:

1 – $0 to $999

2 – $1,000 to $4,999

3 – $5,000 to $9,999

4 – $10,000 and greater

Technical requirements could be simplified into the following categories for ranking:

1 – Basic computer system costing less than $1,000

2 – Average computer system costing between $1,000 and $2,000

3 – Moderate computer system costing between $2,000 and $3,000

4 – Loaded computer system costing more than $3,000

Categories and rankings should be chosen to best describe each agency’s assessment of needs and capabilities. After assigning a rank to each category and adding up all the points for each feature and requirement, the team can rank the software packages.

Visit Virtual Worlds

Next the team should download the virtual tools and spend time in virtual worlds created by each software solution under consideration. It’s helpful to document observations and first impressions because this can offer insight into how the agency’s user base will experience their first visit. Team members might also visit existing government sites in virtual worlds. Usually people managing these sites are more than willing to share their experiences with others.

Establish a Virtual Site Policy

Visiting virtual spaces can also help the team formulate a virtual space policy for staff and visitors. For employees this policy can address their appearance, communication procedures and guidance, hours of work, and other issues related to representing the agency in a virtual space. For visitors the policy will cover how they should conduct themselves, what they will be allowed to do in the space, how they can dress, if they can access all or just a portion of the space, and consequences for not following the rules.

Develop Virtual Site Designs

After spending time in each world and interviewing managers of existing sites, the team can begin formulating a more specific idea of what they will want to create for their own agency. A framework for each can be designed to meet the agency’s goals and to fit within the constraints and structure of each software package under consideration.

Based on the type of build desired and the goals the agency wants to achieve, the team will develop alternative designs for the site. At this point, designs do not have to be detailed. Simply showing a square labeled “Central Business District” can indicate a design that includes a 3D representation of the agency’s downtown. The most important step is to make sure the designs include elements that allow the agency to achieve their stated goals.

Choose the Development Team

The team must next consider whether the agency can build the virtual site with in-house staff or if a consultant must be hired to perform the work. If the work can be down by agency employees, the team should identify members of a potential development group and their corresponding skills. In making this decision, the team needs to keep in mind not only staff abilities, but the availability of content for each virtual solution. Some worlds, like Second Life, offer extensive ready-made content and building tools that allow most people the ability to create an acceptable space. However, other software solutions require more extensive software skills and offer little to no content.

If a consultant will be hired, the team might want to research potential companies experienced in the creation of virtual worlds. It is important to identify which software tool each company has experience with and visit sites they have created. Interviewing past clients can offer insight into whether the company has the desired experience and understanding to handle a government agency’s requests and needs. Also check to see if the company has retained the employees who created past builds or if you will be working with a new and less experienced staff. Another important consideration is to check with past clients to make sure the company met deadlines and came within budget.

Establish Operations and Management Procedure

Once the site is established, there will be management needs. So the plan should include a section addressing how the site will be staffed and managed during the first few months and then for the long term. Decisions to be made in this step could include if the agency is going to staff the site with existing full or part-time employees or if new employees will be hired. Virtual sites are open 24/7 so the agency also needs to decide on what hours staff will be available at the site. If the agency intends to host events, the hours and staffing for these along with a proposed list of events should be included.

Agencies also prefer to assess operations on a regular basis. If the site is created, this assessment needs to become part of the overall operation and management plan of the agency. With this process in place, the project team can be utilized on a regular basis to review the site on an annually and submit a report indicating how well the site is meeting the goals and objectives laid out in the plan. This procedure can also allow for amendments and changes to be made through an established process.

Compile the Plan

At this point, the team can begin compiling the virtual plan. The plan should include the following elements:

• General proposal and description of what a virtual site is intended to accomplish

• Specific goals, objectives, and strategies and how they fit into the overall agency plan including references to targeted audience/user base

   

• Listing and discussion of available software solutions with a summary of the team’s findings (a more detailed report can be included in an appendix)

   

• Proposed virtual site policy

   

• Concept designs

   

• Suggested development team

   

• Timetable for execution of the virtual plan

   

• Marketing and/or advertising plan including intended channels to be used

   

• Short term and long term management of the site including staffing proposal

   

• Assessment procedure

   

• Budget for software purchase, development, and management

Once a draft of the plan is complete, it is advisable for the agency to host a few public meetings to get input from residents, businesses, and other community stakeholders. Comments should be discussed, and if appropriate, incorporated into the plan. Minutes and comments from all public hearings should be added to the plan as an appendix. The agency's attorney also needs to review the plan at this point and offer any needed revisions.

When the report has been finalized, the team can present the plan to the agency's board or council for formal approval.

Related reading and resources:

"Virtual Spaces: Enabling Immersive Collaborative Enterprise, Part 1: Introduction to the opportunities and technologies" IBM article

Utility Locates:
Utility locating can be a pain, but it is important to prevent damage to the utility or injury to people working near the utility. Current tools of the locating trade can include a map on a laptop or on paper, locating devices for accurately pinpointing the utility location, shovels, picks, probes, and paint or flags for marking the location in the field. The reason this task is so challenging is the need to rely on maps that many times are not accurate enough to allow the locator to just walk right up to the utility.

For example, a locator might have trouble finding a water shut off valve in someone’s yard if it is buried under snow or dirt. If there are accurate measurements to the valve, the locator uses a measuring tape and map to find the general location of the valve. And if there are not accurate measurements, which is often the case, the locator would have to randomly search the area with the locating device. Once a probable position is determined, the locator digs for the valve with a shovel. This can result in multiple holes being dug before the valve is found. If other utilities are in the area, readings can be inaccurate which makes finding the valve even harder. The whole process can be very time consuming.

Some cities have their valves in a GIS allowing the locator to walk to the approximate location with the help of a GPS device. This is very useful, but how much better and more intuitive would it be if the valve could be projected digitally onto the ground using augmented reality. The locator drives up to the site, gets out of the vehicle and puts on a headset or uses a mobile device, and all the utilities show up on the ground through the use of augmented reality.

Engineering Design:
Using this same idea, engineering design could be greatly simplified. If an engineer needs to improve a road by installing curb and gutter and a new storm sewer, maps must be collected and utilities marked in the field to designate locations of gas, electric, water, etc. Only then can the engineer determine the best place to put the curb and sewer. If all an engineer had to do was drive out to the job and use augmented reality, the best locations for the new improvements could be determined faster with more accuracy.

Engineers could also use this if a resident calls with a problem. Many times, when we respond to residents, we do not know exactly what the problem really is until we get to the site. So we might not have everything we need to determine if we can help with the problem. But if the resident had a question or problem related to a utility such as needing to tap onto our sewer or water or if they had a drainage problem and needed to tap into our storm sewer, I could not only determine right away if there was a feasible solution, but I could also show the resident by having them use the technology. Seeing the line on the ground would mean more to them than looking at a line on a map. And how much better it would be for them if we could animate the line somehow showing water flowing.

Maintenance and Construction:
Augmented reality could also be used to make sure crews are working on the right asset in the field. If we could digitally mark the manhole that needs to be fixed or the tree needing to be pruned, or the area in which I want landscaping planted, we could reduce confusion or errors in the field.

And if a contractor is installing a pipe, he could use augmented reality to see where he needs to dig. This could also assist the city in showing property owners where improvements will be made. Residents could use AR technology and actually see how the new road will look.

I could have also used AR when I was putting up the trim at my last house. This would have prevented me from drilling into a pipe or it could have helped me find the studs.

There are a lot of other uses we could figure out to help us better perform our job in public works. Hopefully this post helps generate some more ideas and maybe even challenge someone to develop an AR for public works tool.