In late June, Dan McKenna, deputy bureau manager for San Francisco’s Dept. of Public Works, logged onto the department homepage to see a five-year plan for street work—from water, to sewer to fiber-optic cable installation—in a one-sq-mile area near the Golden Gate Bridge. Colored icons identified the projects on a map display.
McKenna’s new tool lets managers at 30 city agencies coordinate. “The value of viewing all the digs that will take place over the next five years...and letting the public see that too, is big,” he says, adding that the graphical display makes it “much easier to conceptualize and communicate.” His department is starting a trial with wider implementation planned for later this summer in hopes that getting the information in one browser-based view not only will cut costs by allowing better coordination, but will also reduce aggravation to the public.