Implementation of ArcGIS® Business Analyst in Sarasota County

Sarasota County Government recently acquired new GIS data and innovative GIS tools to help with mission-critical business decisions! ArcGIS® Business Analyst provides advanced analysis tools and a complete data package to help us better understand our customers and neighborhoods in relation to locations of services provided by local government. It is amazing how the unique mix of demographic, socioeconomic, and business data we can now analyze, model, and visualize gives us very valuable and intuitive insights into our customers.

Community™ Tapestry™ of Sarasota County classifies neighborhoods based on their socioeconomic and demographic composition. Sarasota County’s dominant tapestry segment is “Silver and Gold”. Click here to learn more about Community Tapestry, you can type in your ZIP Code to see what your neighborhood’s dominant tapestry segment is. The GIS Services Department has fully implemented ArcGIS® Business Analyst in recent projects, including analyses of demographic and socioeconomic composition in relation to proximity to parks, natural areas, and libraries. Preliminary results identify certain populations and areas that are underserved, but overall they highlight how well we already serve the majority of Sarasota County’s residents. These new GIS tools and data have great promise to help Sarasota County Government plan and tailor new and existing services to effectively meet our growing population’s needs.

For three mornings, April 11-13, we had a classroom set up at Colonial Oaks Park to facilitate 30-40 students each day. The class was designed to introduce GIS to the community and a total of about 90 students visited us over the 3 day period. The students were introduced to GIS concepts and interacted with county GIS professionals with displays on how Sarasota County uses GIS in the organization and in the decision making process.

Classroom on Wheels started in 1974 and has visited over 1,300 places in the community. They are with the Adult and Community Education Center through the Sarasota County School Board. They are a bus based traveling classroom for ½ day field trips throughout the community. It provides an opportunity for adult senior students to see, in depth, areas of business, industry, social services, government, education, arts and culture in a way that the students could not accomplish alone.
 

The Neighborhoods Online Web site was built in collaboration with the Neighborhood Services Department in Planning Services. The site provides up-to-date information on Neighborhood Associations located within Sarasota County. It also shows the location of a wealth of other resources, such as parks, schools, and houses of worship.

The leader of any neighborhood or homeowners group can enter their information, and be part of the Web site. For more information, visit the Neighborhood Services Web site.

A recently approved contract with MultiVision USA will provide the county, especially the 9-1-1 Call Center, with very high resolution oblique imagery (photography taken at an angle) for the whole county.

The mission of the GIS Services unit is to maintain an accurate base map of county data, to advance the strategic application of spatial data and GIS processes to county business processes, to inform policy discussions, and to provide general GIS support and consulting within the county. The unit also maintains the software and hardware infrastructure underlying the GIS to support our key GIS partners in the Integrated Water Core Service, and Planning Services.