For far too long the search has been the wrong way around. Investors have trolled through various properties to try and find something that might fit their criteria. Searching is slow and cumbersome to find all the information such as Zonings and land use as well as parcel size and proximity to services like transport corridors and amenities. All found through a variety of sources and sometimes relying on local knowledge.

But most people and organisations involved in property know what they need as they specialise in a particular type of investment for a particular reason that suits their individual needs. So what if you could set your search criteria and let the system do it for you. Narrowwing down your search to the properties that match your requirements is not just smart it saves time and effort and money. Decreases your aquisition time and gives you a good perspective on the overall market.

Simply select your search criteria and hit execute. Let the application find your land parcels with partial matches highlighted in blue and full matches in Orange.

Want to add more intelligence? Then add demographic analysis to your query to understand the population in the area you are buying into for both resale and rental return as well as population growth statistics.

It is vital for organisations of all sizes to understand their assets lifecycle from a financial and maintenance viewpoint in order to deliver value and uptime to their customers. This process can be difficult due to the geographical dispersion of the assets and integrating the asset information including location into a searchable and visualised database. By not doing this not only is the organisation at risk but also the Valuation Company in their duty of care in delivering services to the organisation.

By combining mapping and visualisation of assets and linking data to those assets we can create an efficient tool for tracking asset valuation and lifecycle and at the same time the efficient input of data by valuers. Valuers workflow can be planned more efficiently , identification of assets simpler and clearer and the input of data streamlined. This also creates a searchable history of the assets to provide up to the minute value to the organisation.

So why is this experience unusual?

Traditionally mapping has been expensive to produce so vendors have tended to pack as much into the one portal as can be done, however this has changed with the time and expense to deliver mapping is reduced to a more transactional level. At the same time it has been easy to simply transfer the GIS desktop to the web, developers are usually GIS professionals so they understand the interface and it makes it look like the user has value as there is so much functionality.

But is this what the user wants or needs?

Our experience is no. We need to get back to the basics of delivering information as simply as possible and by doing this you will increase customer engagement and satisfaction and reduce costs through avoiding customers using alternative channels for that information. Reduce call centre volumes, reduce walk in enquiries and increase information flow. Create happy customers.

Too many Options that the User doesnt Understand

Too many map layers are like too many choices at the supermarket, its proven that reducing choice not only increases decision making but also makes people happier. If you are worried about catering for the small percentage of high end users then provide downloadable files as they probably have their own software anyway.

Too Many Layers Reduce Focus

Drive search through simple search boxes and hyperlinks that people are used to, and drop the complicated navigation bars and icons that are not understood. Users don’t want to spend their time learning how to use an interface they want information. All those features and functionality might be great on the desktop but they just confuse and slow down the goal which is engaging the user and delivering information.

Single purpose maps engage users and deliver information in the simplest possible way, and create confidence in an organisation. They increase web traffic and reduce call centre volumes as well as provide a platform for articulating changes to large numbers of people in a simple format.

Single topic maps just work!

The question is does workflow begin or end at the facilities door, and the obvious answer is no. Whatever it is that is being repaired or moved or inspected or reassigned may be within or external to a facility and interrelated. So accessing one or the other is counterproductive and reduces efficiency in workforce planning and implementation. Accessing all the information under the one platform just makes sense.

Direct returns include the more efficient planning of workflow both from a maintenance and move management perspective. As well as being able to visually understand the whole environment and understand the challenges in different situations.

This functionality also crosses over from Facilities management to Asset Management and Lifecycle management further increasing the value driven from the one product.

So where does infection control fit into this data and why is it so important to relate the data to a location and then visualise the data. With hospital based infections costing the health system roughly $20,000 per patient infected and serious implications for the patient it has become paramount to reduce and control infections as a priority, as well as understand the triggers for infections and adapting processes to ensure they are reduced.

So visualising the environment that the infection took place in is not only sensible it is impossible to ignore. Having the ability to query and visualise the location of infections and further enhance this by type of infection, source and time has created unprecedented insight into the management of this costly event in a patients episode of care.

Filter by date and time and Organism and Source

Location and visualisation decreases costs and increases patient safety and leads to better planning and processes.

Part of the project involved the creation of a stand-alone planning website to display layers of information simply and easily as well as creating the ability to query spatial overlays on the fly for the user. Initial response from the stakeholders exceeded expectations, from ratepayers who found the interface to be intuitive and simple to use, to the Council executives who have realised their goal of articulating information to the public.

Flood Maps

An unexpected benefit has been the use of the online Planning maps to deliver information during customer consultations within council offices. Previously Council officers would open a Mapinfo workspace to explain land parcel attributes and constraints however the Online maps are now being used in this context as they are so simple to use and understand.

Further benefits are being investigated to use the online solution to integrate the already generated flood attributes for parcels rather than generate these through more traditional time consuming methods within their GIS department.

Hear what Garath Wilson has to say about MacroGIS

Garath Wilson Lockyer Valley Regional Council

“After reviewing other products on the market, Council decided on the ICON product suite to deploy our ePlanning solution. It was imperative for our staff and users that we had a full integrated and streamlined solution which integrated with Council’s other corporate applications. Our choice to use the MacroGIS product to deploy our mapping online for our ePlanning solution was no different. We had tried other GIS tools before but no other product offered us the flexibility, seamless integration and ease of maintenance that the Macro GIS product provides. The ability to use our own data in its native format and simply deploy this for online use has significantly reduced our need for specialist GIS expertise and time to publish mapping updates. Working with Victor, Craig and the rest of the MacroGIS team has been as streamlined as the product giving us a solution which is easily configured to meet our needs.  I look forward to working with the team on more projects as we expand and enhance our online spatial solution.