MapSavvy: The Most Affordable Municipal Service Planning Software Tool

When it comes to planning for municipal services, a municipal service planning software tool like MapSavvy is a city manager’s best friend. There are so many ways that municipal service planning software can help a city serve its residents, while operating more efficiently and saving taxpayer dollars.

How Does MapSavvy Operate As A Municipal Service Planning Software Tool?

When it comes to planning for various municipal services or new programs, the process should start with web mapping tools like MapSavvy. Web mapping can be used to determine the location of existing municipal services or problems in order to provide context & data needed to strategically plan for expanded or future municipal services, or resolve issues about which taxpayers are complaining.

In simple terms, MapSavvy provides an affordable source of overhead views of cities and surrounding metro areas. MapSavvy, in particular, offers new imagery of many US cities introduced in 2019 (rendering the images more current and up-to-date than many government GIS databases). Once city planners & administrators pull an image of their municipality from MapSavvy, they can use that image to plot the location of existing services, problems, and more. This visual depiction of city services can provide immediate visual perspective of “holes” in city services or areas where a large amount of resident complaints are concentrated.

City managers & administrators can then make more educated decisions about high-priority areas where a large amount of problems have occurred, and/or immediately see where city services are less concentrated.

Visual maps based on MapSavvy imagery and city data then can be used to justify expenditures in certain areas, both to city councils and to residents.

Examples of How MapSavvy Serves As A Potent Municipal Service Planning Software Tool

MapSavvy can be used in so many ways by cities & municipalities. Here are just some examples of how MapSavvy web map images can be used in municipality management:

• Building Permitting – City officials can use a tool like MapSavvy to review the location & architectural context of proposed real estate developments;
• Crime Mapping – When city public safety officials are planning for the deployment of police officers, and/or budgeting for more police officers, a web map showing the heaviest  concentrations of crime can help justify their crime safety plans & programs.
• Disability Access Planning – It’s not uncommon for city managers to have a long wish list of areas where they want to install curb cuts to allow access for people with disabilities using wheelchairs. Data on current streets where accessible curb cuts are located can help city officials make decisions on where to locate more curb cuts to facilitate accessibility for those with disabilities.
• Fire Hydrant Location & Planning – As cities expand, water infrastructure including fire hydrants also must be put in place. Web mapping can be used to produce plans for adding fire hydrants as a water source in newly annexed or developed residential or commercial areas.
• Homeless Services – Homeless shelter locations can be mapped, with an overlay of the largest concentrations of homeless people. This information can be used to plan for additional homeless shelters & services.
• Lightscaping – Most crime research shows that lightscaping can help in reducing crime. When lighting planners are determining where to locate more street lights, a web map showing existing lighting infrastructure as well as crime events can make it crystal clear where more lighting should be installed.
• Pothole Management & Repair – Potholes can be plotted on a MapSavvy web map image. This allows infrastructure planners to see if there are patterns or heavy concentrations of potholes.
• Seismic Slope Stability Analysis – Cities located in terrain with a lot of hills can use web map images to plot the location of hillsides with the most potential for mudslides. This information can be used to allocate budget & plan for retaining walls for the hillsides most likely to give way.
• Snowplow Deployment – Cities that get a lot of snow can load snowplow locations and weather data onto an overhead map to determine where and how to deploy snowplows.
• Utility Management – Web mapping can be overlaid with information on utility poles & date of construction to aid in planning for high-priority power pole replacement.
• Water Main Management & Repair – Municipal water departments can use a webmap as the starting point for mapping water main breaks. This process can help water infrastructure managers to see patterns and make more strategic decisions about water main replacement.

MapSavvy: The Most Affordable Municipal Service Planning Software Tool

Cities of all sizes wrestle with shortages of funds, and how to best deploy taxpayer dollars to get the biggest bang for the buck. MapSavvy helps cities by providing the most affordable web mapping imagery on the market today. Unlike some web map service providers that charge by volume of usage, MapSavvy charges a simple $500 flat fee per year. This $500 cost allows cities to garner up to 20,000 transactions, or image requests per year.

Interested in how MapSavvy could help your city or municipal area make better decisions using web maps? Try MapSavvy’s Free, 14-day Trial.