Visualization of Geospatial Regulations

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Visualization of Geospatial Regulations

• N. Adam, V. Atluri, F. Artigas, P. Mazzoleni, S.
  Chun Customized Visualization of GeoSpatial
  Government Regulations (to be submitted to The
  Second National Conference on Digital Government,
  May 2002)

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Problem Statement

• What are the possible locations for my business
  (in accordance with all zoning regulation)?
• How can I identify the appropriate permits I have
  to obtain?

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Example

• An entrepreneur wants to open an Autobody shop
  in a vacant lot on the bank of the Hackensack
  River.

(1) USER PROFILE

• Bigger than 1000 square feet
• In an area with high volume of traffic
• Not Closer than 2000 feet to a competitor

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Example
(2) ZONING REQUIREMENTS

• Autobody is permitted only in
• Neighborhood commercial zone
• Light industrial
• Highway commercial Zone as exceptional Use
• The minimum lot area shall be 10000 square feet
• If closer to a residential area, the rear yard
  distance has to be at least 25 feet instead of
  the usual 20 feet.
• In Neighborhood commercial zone an autobody
  cannot be built closer than 1000 feet to a
  competitor

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Current Status

• Zoning Regulations
• Rules are divided by Zone area

WHAT IS LACKING
Information organized by type of Business

• GIS Products
• Information about the Area (zone-name, lot
  dimension)
• Information about the competitors

WHAT IS LACKING
Zoning Regulations that apply to the area
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Proposed Solution

• Develop zoning rules database
• Visualization of the permitted zones for a
  particular business
• Dynamic Evaluation of Buffer and Lot-size
  requirements

Automatic extraction of the relevant permits and
the sequence for completing the procedure
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Customized selection of zoning regulations
Regulations based on the USER PROFILE requirements
Show me ALL the Rules that apply if I want to
Open an Autobody shop in a High-way Commercial
Zone, and I would also like to sell retail
products.
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Customized selection of zoning regulations
Autobody shop
Neighbor commercial
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Visualization of potential Business Locations
Geographical Map Customized according to the
users preferences and the zoning rules
Show me the zones in the map where I can open an
Autobody shop according to the zoning rules in
two cases (1) With no special permit requirement
and (2) Where some special permits such as
variance are required
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Visualization of potential Business Locations
Autobody shop
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Size and Buffer Regulation
Visualization of the lots that satisfy dimension
and distance-based requirements

• Lots bigger enough to include my business
• Distance from a competitor
• Other rules specific for an area like Waterfront
  Distance Requirements

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Size and Buffer Regulation
Autobody shop
Neighbor commercial
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Waterfront Regulation
Passaic River
Autobody shop
Neighbor commercial
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Tools

• Oracle DBMS
• Rules database and profile session info
• ESRI ARC IMS (Internet Map Application Server)
• Map Data server
• Perl and JavaScripts
• Back end database/GIS/Web connectivity
• Client Web Browser interface Javascripts

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Future Work

• Extension of the Zoning Regulation database for
  increasing the portability
• Build a concept model for regulatory rules using
  a knowledge modeling tool
• Enhance the visualization with additional
  funcionalities
• Building regulations and elevation related
  features

• Integrate into geospatial workflow system and
  MyNJbusiness system