• Enabling better community planning, including professional planning assistance for local governments and engaging citizens in local planning; 
• Investigating and developing applications of information technologies such as geographic information systems, Web-based telecommunication and visualization to support community planning; 
• Determining which information technology innovations can be practically and operationally implemented in Dane County and its local communities in the near term; 
• Conducting a "real-life" test (pilot project) of local government use of geographic information systems (GIS) and planning support tools (Planning Analyst) for community planning and decision-making; 
• Facilitating effective collaboration between local and federal government agencies as well as private enterprises.

Project Definition
    The project will support community-based land use decision-making by investigating new approaches to assisting Dane County communities and citizens in better understanding, forecasting and visualizing the consequences of alternative allocations of land use in Dane County. This will be accomplished through the development and integrated application of information technologies (e.g., geographic information system, image, multi-media, interactive, and other computing technologies) coupled with professional planning assistance and training. The project will consist of: 

• the development of a planning application or toolkit, developed by the University, with inter-related modules that provide the following functionality: - visualize alternative development patterns, - evaluate impacts of proposed development (fiscal, natural & physical resources, etc.), - combine desired planning outcomes with relevant ordinances and standards; 
• training for Dane County staff and community partners in the use, maintenance, and enhancement of each application module; 
• a planning guide and technical documentation; 
• professional community planning assistance and training; 
• a pilot demonstration in a location(s) selected by the County; and 
• the preparation of a report to the County, which includes an evaluation of the pilot project and recommendations.

• use GIS software such as ArcView extensions to support the analysis and display of spatial and other data relevant to land planning and management decisions; 
• include a planning guide and technical documentation;
• include training for Dane County staff and community partners in the use, maintenance and enhancement of each module; 
• be incorporated into land use planning workshops for county residents.

• reviewing current County practices and planned activities so that project activities are coordinated with broader County efforts related to geographic information access; 
• advice and assistance in organizing, documenting and presenting public domain land and planning related data in CD-ROM and Web-accessible formats; 
• advice and assistance in the selection, development and implementation of Web-based query and display tools to support access to geographic data relevant to land use planning and management.

• coordinate with existing County applications and prototype potential added capabilities; 
• communicate the progress of the project; 
• support viewing of analyses and data related to the project.

1. Serve as primary contact and convenor of interactions with other jurisdictions, organizations and groups.
2. Provide funding as detailed in budget. 
3. Coordinate project participation among Dane County agencies and departments. 
4. Coordinate and manage activities related to local communities. 
5. Suggest and approve the selection of a pilot site, application modules, and other project components.
6. Expand or enhance County Web site and Web-server capabilities (based upon project results and recommendations) to support the implementation of innovative strategies for broader access to spatial information and local government land-use planning. 
7. Collect, develop, or manage the acquisition of any additional data sets required for the project.
8. Act as data custodian for project data, including generating and maintaining publicly accessible FGDC-compliant metadata. 

1. Develop joint project coordination mechanisms, including a regular schedule of meetings, an email list-serve or distribution list, and designated project leaders and spokespersons. 
2. Coordinate efforts to streamline current processes related to Dane County geographic information access, technologies and applications, and to avoid duplication of effort. 
3. Determine existing and needed data sets to support the project and planning application. 
4. Document and share project results through:
   • academic and popular press outlets,
   • a project Web site, maintained in collaboration with the County, and report(s) to the County and FGDC which include evaluation of the pilot project and recommendations. 
5. Evaluate the feasibility of County-wide deployment of prototype systems and applications, based on project results and extant County resources. Evaluation will include recommendations about training, staffing, and computing resources necessary to maintain and manage the Web site and planning applications, and a projection of benefits from County-wide deployment.

1. Provide ESRI GIS software products to LICGF and to Dane County as defined by the scope of the project, for the duration of the project. 
2. Provide a reasonable level (specifics to be determined based on defined need) of ESRI product training for the University and for Dane County at no cost. Additional ESRI product training can be provided at reduced cost. 
3. Provide a reasonable level (specifics to be determined) of technical assistance at the University and at Dane County in support of (a) software installation, and (b) project implementation and applications designs (e.g., linkage of ESRI GIS software and commercial visualization software). 
4. Contribute ten days of direct development time to the implementation of a Web-based GIS application at Dane County. This application will provide, at a minimum, simple display and query functionality of spatial data developed for and by Dane County in conjunction with this project 
5. Provide additional direct technical development resources at discounted services rates.

1. Provide public domain data; 
2. Provide advice about project products and evaluation of software developments; 
3. Provide information about federal interests and goals influencing project developments; 
4. Participate in project activities and meetings as feasible.

1. Provide funding as detailed in budget for schedule of deliverables.

1. Share all project data without cost, except as restricted by law or prior agreement, for the duration of the project. 
2. Develop a process to jointly review project results and review recommendations; 
3. Review an outreach and communication plan, developed by Dane County and LICGF, to manage and share results of the project. 
4. Jointly review (prior to release) press releases, publications and presentation materials related to the project during the duration of the project and for one year following the completion of the project.

 
Kathleen Falk
Dane County Executive

Bernard J. Niemann, Jr.
Principal Investigator,
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Michael Johnson
Environmental Systems Research Institute

Christine Clarke
Natural Resources Conservation Service

Mark DeMulder
Federal Geographic Data Committee

Attachment One

Project deliverables and timeline

Project deliverables are separated into two major components - "Planning Analyst" module development, and evaluation and testing of modules in pilot projects. These approximately correspond to major time phases of the project, though development of modules is ongoing and testing will begin before all modules are fully developed. The following is a synopsis of these components as previously proposed.

Module Development

Development of each of the following modules will be based on: (1) a careful review, analysis and evaluation of existing software packages and their potential to accomplish the objectives of a given module and be linked to other modules, (2) selection of existing packages or development of new software that will best accomplish the desired focus on community-based land use planning, (3) the use of written, graphic and pictorial information specific to locations within Dane County, and (4) citizen/professional participation during module development for feedback on the usefulness, ease of use, and ability of modules to engage and involve citizens and professionals in land use issues.

Because the Public Access module is the module that will drive the proposed electronic interface and Web-site for Dane County, existing attempts to create electronic interfaces will be reviewed and evaluated in order to select, adopt or modify their best features and facilitate integration with other modules that go beyond the information retrieval and display capacities of the interfaces reviewed so far.

Here is a brief explanation of each module:

The Exploration Module will provide a single-source, readily accessible framework for citizens to obtain existing written, graphic and pictorial information about the county's natural and cultural resources, existing land uses, land use plans, and local ordinances. This module will use County data resources and build upon and be integrated with the County's information infrastructure and access mechanisms.

The Analysis Module will provide planning professionals and citizens with the ability to conduct a variety of spatial analyses from data sets that will reside in the module. Examples of analyses that this module could support include systematic evaluation of environmental corridors, establishing farmland protection zones and in other policy-related activities using criteria selected or generated by the users of this module.

The Allocation Module will provide planning professionals and citizens with the ability to participate in the spatial allocation of various land uses and development densities using their own, or mutually agreed-upon, values. They will receive immediate written, statistical, pictorial and graphically-portrayed feedback from the Analysis Module and Impact Assessment Module on the short- and longer-term consequences of their own allocations.

The Impact Assessment Module will provide information about the consequences of alternative land use allocations and policies using the best available land information and impact assessment models. Models of environmental, aesthetic, and economic impacts relevant to the selected pilot project site will be incorporated, such as models concerning loss of farmland, visual alterations, and costs of community services.

The Public Access Module will be coordinated with County information and technology infrastructures, and act as an interface and umbrella under which versions of all other modules reside. Depending upon the ability to integrate this module with overall County information access plans, it will be the point-of-contact for individual citizens to independently become engaged and involved in the land use future of Dane County -- obtaining information about the present, participating in the process, and understanding and visualizing the short- and longer-term consequences of their own value-driven choices, as well as the consequences of land use decisions and policies that may be proposed by others.

Pilot Demonstration

Site Selection: One area within Dane County will be selected as demonstration site based on the availability of land information records, the status of their current planning activities, and their willingness to be partners in the development of the project.

Project elements: While the development of the project will evolve based, in part, on ideas and recommendations from citizens and local staff within the selected site and project participants, it is anticipated that two major elements of the demonstration project will be: (1) technology-facilitated land use planning meetings, involving county planning staff supported by "Planning Analyst" software and project technical staff; (2) the creation of a user-friendly "electronic interface" that allows easy access to written and visual "What if ... ?" information relevant to land use planning decisions and prompts local decision-makers, residents, and planning professionals to provide their ideas about specific land use allocations within the selected area.

Report and Recommendations

Estimates and recommendations will be provided to the County Executive based on the completion of the above tasks in respect to the actual cost to implement and replicate "Planning Analyst," the technical feasibility of its implementation, and an assessment and evaluation of citizen and professional response to the overall process.

Timeline

The project nominally starts with the signing of the MOU (late April 1999) and runs until the end of August, 2000. However, many project activities commenced earlier, as far back as Fall of 1998. The "roll-out" of most products for evaluation by community participants will be by May 2000 and most of the evaluation done by Summer of 2000. Dates shown below are task completion dates.

Phase I: Module development:  Jan. 1999 - August 2000

a. application selection:  May, 1999
b. data identification and access deliberation:  ongoing
c. software review and selection:  June 1999 - April 2000
d. identification of needed programming and other development:  June 1999 - April 2000
e. application and information product development and coding:  Sept. 1999 - April 2000
f. in-house evaluation (including other non-UW project team):  Sept. 1999 - Aug. 2000
g. planning guide and technical documentation draft:  July 2000
h. pilot demonstration evaluation plan:  September 1999
i. project participant training:  Oct. 1999 - June 2000

a. pilot demonstration site selection:  May, 1999
b. pre-implementation interaction with pilot community:  ongoing
c. deploy information technologies in community meetings:  May 2000
d. monitor reaction and measure performance:  July 2000
e. incorporate suggested revisions:  August 2000

a. planning guide and technical documentation, final version:  August 2000
b. project final report:  August 2000
c. project Web site:  August 2000