This paper was presented at the 88th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, and was published in Transportation Research Record #2119. A qualitative and quantitative review of Florida's MPO websites was undertaken in early 2008, and the results are discussed in this paper.
Governance Of Metropolitan Planning Organizations: Board Size, Composition, a...alexbond68
This paper was presented at the 89th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, and will be published sometime in 2010 in an issue of the Transportation Reserach Record. It discusses the results of a survey of MPOs on board size, composition, and voting rights.
Evolution of MPO Planning in Florida: 1997-2008alexbond68
This paper was presented at the 89th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board. It talks about how MPO planning processes have changed over the past decade in Florida. Results are drawn from three separate reviews of MPO plans in 1997, 2003, and 2008.
Estimating a Statewide Transportation Funding Shortfall Using MPO Long Range ...alexbond68
This paper was presented at the 89th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, and will be published in a 2010 issue of the Transportation Research Record. The topic of the paper is the methodology and results of a project estimating the transportation infrastructure funding shortfall in the state of Florida. To estimate the shortfall, financial information was extracted from all 26 MPO long range plans. This yields a $62.5 billion shortfall in metropolitan areas of Florida over the next 20 years.
Establishing an MPO Boundary: the MSA vs. UZA Standardalexbond68
This paper was presented at the 89th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board. It discusses the merits of using the Metropolitan Statistical Area instead of the Urbanized Area to establish the planning area boundary of an MPO.
A Review of MPO Long Range Transportation Plans in Floridaguestd509af
This presentation was made to the Florida MPO Advisory Council. It contains the results of a research project on the planning practices at all 26 MPOs in Florida. A parrallel study looked at the infrastructure funding shortfall over the next 20 years in Florida.
20-year Transportation Funding Shortfall in Floridaguestd509af
This presentation was made at the 2009 AMPO Annual Conference and the 2010 ITE Technical Conference. It describes the methodology and results of recent project to estimate an infrastructure funding shortfall in Florida. The picture is not pretty- a shortfall in metropolitan areas over the next twenty years is projected to be $62.5 billion.
Governance Of Metropolitan Planning Organizations: Board Size, Composition, a...alexbond68
This paper was presented at the 89th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, and will be published sometime in 2010 in an issue of the Transportation Reserach Record. It discusses the results of a survey of MPOs on board size, composition, and voting rights.
Evolution of MPO Planning in Florida: 1997-2008alexbond68
This paper was presented at the 89th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board. It talks about how MPO planning processes have changed over the past decade in Florida. Results are drawn from three separate reviews of MPO plans in 1997, 2003, and 2008.
Estimating a Statewide Transportation Funding Shortfall Using MPO Long Range ...alexbond68
This paper was presented at the 89th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, and will be published in a 2010 issue of the Transportation Research Record. The topic of the paper is the methodology and results of a project estimating the transportation infrastructure funding shortfall in the state of Florida. To estimate the shortfall, financial information was extracted from all 26 MPO long range plans. This yields a $62.5 billion shortfall in metropolitan areas of Florida over the next 20 years.
Establishing an MPO Boundary: the MSA vs. UZA Standardalexbond68
This paper was presented at the 89th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board. It discusses the merits of using the Metropolitan Statistical Area instead of the Urbanized Area to establish the planning area boundary of an MPO.
A Review of MPO Long Range Transportation Plans in Floridaguestd509af
This presentation was made to the Florida MPO Advisory Council. It contains the results of a research project on the planning practices at all 26 MPOs in Florida. A parrallel study looked at the infrastructure funding shortfall over the next 20 years in Florida.
20-year Transportation Funding Shortfall in Floridaguestd509af
This presentation was made at the 2009 AMPO Annual Conference and the 2010 ITE Technical Conference. It describes the methodology and results of recent project to estimate an infrastructure funding shortfall in Florida. The picture is not pretty- a shortfall in metropolitan areas over the next twenty years is projected to be $62.5 billion.
Over the past decade, numerous discussions
have highlighted the essential role that
Internet connectivity plays in driving
fundamental changes in economic and social
development.
Over the past decade, numerous discussions
have highlighted the essential role that
Internet connectivity plays in driving
fundamental changes in economic and social
development.
TOPIC Why should I stop smoking An experimental study on success.docxjolleybendicty
TOPIC: Why should I stop smoking? An experimental study on successful compliance-gaining strategies for health communication.
Relate research to health communication messages.
Schenck-Hamlin et al.’s Typology of Compliance-Seeking
(Ingratiating, Promise, Debt, Esteem, Allurement, Aversive stimulation, Threat, Guilt, Warning, Altruism, Direct request, Explanation, Hinting, and Deceit). Explain the study that Schenck-Hamlin et al. conducted to develop the 14 typologies of compliance-gaining strategies. That is how they carried out the study, the results, the participants, and so on.
Review of Other Compliance-Gaining Strategies used in Health Communication
Here, we would get about 4-5 examples of health messages and review the communication style used in those messages. It could include health campaigns, public service announcements, and health-related advertisements, amongst other things. The contents we would review will be anything trying to convince people to do health-related things.
Review of Campaigns Against Smoking
Here, we would be doing the same thing we did in the previous section, but this time we would focus on campaigns against smoking- just as a way to narrow down our scope.
The “How” of Communication.
We would talk about the fact that people also pay attention to how we present our messages and not just the content of the message. We would draw our hypotheses from this section. So, based on the content of this place, our hypotheses would look something like this:
CUSP-GX 7003 Civic Analytics and Urban Intelligence
Project: Understanding and Reducing Long-term Street Parking in Manhattan
Organizational Review Part II
MEMORANDUM
Re: NYC Department of Transportation Organizational Review – Culture, Bias, and Partnerships
Overview
The New York City Department of Transportation is charged with providing for the “safe, efficient, and environmentally responsible movement of people and goods” in the city. The agency has about 5,500 full-time employees and is currently led by Commissioner Henry Gutman, who was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio in February 2021. In conversations with individuals both inside and outside the agency, as well as comprehensive document research, I have identified the key characteristics of the organizational culture at DOT and developed an assessment of the state of the organization’s data and technology readiness. My research has informed an overall understanding of DOT’s engagement with issues of bias and equity as well as community interaction and outreach.
In short, the NYC Department of Transportation has operated under a
culture of fear for the last seven years. Under the control of Mayor de Blasio and the leaders he has directly and indirectly appointed to run DOT, public servants at all levels of the organization feel powerless to act independently of the mayor’s vision when it comes to transportation initiatives. While there are teams and divisions within DOT that are ve.
United Way releases needs assessment Garofolo, Chris . Th.docxdickonsondorris
United Way releases needs assessment
Garofolo, Chris . The Brattleboro Reformer ; Brattleboro, Vt. [Brattleboro, Vt]17 July 2009.
ProQuest document link
ABSTRACT
According to United Way Executive Director Carmen Derby, the needs assessment looks at what issues residents
are facing in the county and ways to continue improving on the identified strengths and weaknesses.
FULL TEXT
BRATTLEBORO -- The United Way of Windham County publicly released its Community Needs Assessment
executive summary Tuesday morning.
The second needs assessment completed by the organization since 2001, the summary provides United Way
leaders an opportunity to "take the pulse of the community" and gauge the foremost issues of Windham County
residents.
According to United Way Executive Director Carmen Derby, the needs assessment looks at what issues residents
are facing in the county and ways to continue improving on the identified strengths and weaknesses.
"We will now be taking a look at the priorities as they are listed," she said.
In alphabetical order, they are -- affordable housing, child care, education, elder services, health care access, jobs
(and employment) and transportation.
The data reports in detail about the positives and negatives in each particular category and potential ideas to
improve services. The complete list is available at the United Way Web site, www.unitedwaywindham.org.
As a result of the pros and cons of the assessment, the participants recommended United Way serve as a catalyst
for planning and action in the region and take a more direct lead as the "tugboat of the human services ship."
In addition, United Way received advice on engaging the community to implement the assessment by building
awareness of the data, advocating for towns and other nonprofit to act and to potentially establish a quarterly
progress report.
Nearly 70 people attended the presentation at the Brattleboro Retreat on Tuesday morning.
After analyzing the data, United Way officials conducted a random telephone survey of 305 households,
interviewed leaders from a variety of Windham County sectors and held eight focus groups in three different
towns.
"The strengths, weaknesses and improvements were all determined by the interviews done with the focus groups,
consumer surveys and key leaders," said Derby.
The benefit of completing a new needs assessment is it provides a data sheet for tracking the figures within the
county, creating a valuable resource for organizations looking for information regarding any of the high priority
issues.
Compared to the initial assessment completed in 2002, Derby said this current one is done in a different format
and is much more user-friendly. Not only is it easier to read, but the entirety of the needs assessment is at the
organization's Web site.
"This is one place where all this information has been pulled together," she said.
John Swartz, field director with t ...
The Federal Communicators Network (FCN) has released "Advancing Federal Communications," a research paper that makes the case for clear and consistent quality standards for U.S. federal government communication.
The result of a grassroots, volunteer study among an interagency group of government communicators, the paper incorporates extensive primary and secondary research and includes a set of concrete recommendations for improvement.
http://spiral16.com It’s no secret that web and social media monitoring can be useful for any business looking to monitor their brand or competitors, but how does this game-changing form of communication relate to politics and government agencies?
This presentation explores:
* How crucial social media monitoring is for tracking political campaigns
* How social media can be leveraged at all levels of government
Financial transparency helps governments save money, improve taxpayer satisfaction, and boost approval ratings. Learn the five keys to quickly and cost-effectively deliver financial information online. Get an inside look into how to Socrata’s suite of financial transparency applications to share complex data in a user-friendly manner.
Data-Driven Government: Explore the Four Pillars of ValueThomas Robbins
McKinsey Global Institute estimates that government organizations together can generate $3 trillion dollars in value for themselves and their taxpayers through data and information transparency initiatives with some of these dollars being generated at the local level.
Yes, that's a staggering number, but governments like yours are realizing pieces of it already. Are you taking advantage of the enormous economic and social impacts of information transparency?
Join this vital webinar to learn more about the four pillars of value that are reshaping how government thinks not only about open data, but how it's applied and leveraged to cut costs and significantly increase government efficiency.
Why Broadband Matters: A Look at its Impact and Application for CitiesEd Dodds
By Julia Pulidindi May 2013 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20004-1763 | 202-626-3000 | Fax: 202-626-3043 | www.nlc.org National League of Cities
Vermont Connected - Advancing Municipal Communicationsvtrural
What does it take to create a successful website as a municipality? How can technology be used to improve citizens’ engagement and overall interaction with their municipal government? This workshop will walk through the building blocks of what it takes to have a municipal website that will perform well and be adopted by the community.
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Connecting with the Public
C H A P T E R 22
The new philosophy of communication
is bottom up.
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C H A P T E R 2 2 C O N T E N T S
Understanding the Role of
Connecting with the Public 635
Persuasion and Connecting with
the Public 637
Presenting Information to the
Public 638
Newsletters 638
Brochures 639
White Papers 644
Podcasts 647
Collaborating with the Public
Through Social Media 648
Discussion Boards 649
Blogs 651
Wikis 653
This photo shows Mark Zuckerberg, president and CEO of Face-book, speaking at a conference. This book and its Web site,
TechComm Web, devote a lot of attention to the ways that new tech-
nologies are changing how people in the working world communicate.
From word-processing programs to spreadsheets and presentation
slides, from instant messaging to blogs and social media such as
Facebook, the tools are everywhere, and they keep getting better. To
succeed in the working world, you need to know how to use these
tools effectively.
But the tools are just one part of the big change in communica-
tion practices. The other part is a new philosophy of communication.
The old philosophy was top down. For example, when a company
wanted to publicize a new product, it would issue press releases,
write articles for trade magazines, and place ads in magazines and
on TV. The new philosophy is bottom up; that is, the company uses
social media to connect with its various stakeholders. It’s the differ-
ence between selling and engaging.
This chapter discusses strategies for communicating with
the public or, to be more precise, publics: investors, prospective
employees, state and local officials, prospective donors, commu-
nity members, current and prospective customers, and industry
colleagues, to name just a few. Although people and organizations
have always been able to communicate with their publics, today’s
technology has made it much easier and cheaper to do so. With a
personal computer, basic office software, and Internet access, you
can create and distribute newsletters, brochures, white papers, and
podcasts to help you present information to community members.
And you can collaborate with those community members through
social media tools such as discussion boards, blogs, and wikis. This
chapter discusses these seven applications, focusing first on those
that are best at presenting information and then on those that are best
at fostering collaboration with a community.
UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF
CONNECTING WITH THE PUBLIC
Why is it important for organizations to connect with their
publics? One reason is that our culture values accountability. The
public expects organizations of all kinds to communicate hon-
22_MAR_67948_Ch22_634-658.indd 635 11/29/11 3:38 PM
636 Connecting with the Public22
estly and clearly and to take re.
Learn how to research and utilize Big Data to tell the story of your community and ultimately attract companies, talent, and capital to your front door.
Builder.ai Founder Sachin Dev Duggal's Strategic Approach to Create an Innova...Ramesh Iyer
In today's fast-changing business world, Companies that adapt and embrace new ideas often need help to keep up with the competition. However, fostering a culture of innovation takes much work. It takes vision, leadership and willingness to take risks in the right proportion. Sachin Dev Duggal, co-founder of Builder.ai, has perfected the art of this balance, creating a company culture where creativity and growth are nurtured at each stage.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Welocme to ViralQR, your best QR code generator.ViralQR
Welcome to ViralQR, your best QR code generator available on the market!
At ViralQR, we design static and dynamic QR codes. Our mission is to make business operations easier and customer engagement more powerful through the use of QR technology. Be it a small-scale business or a huge enterprise, our easy-to-use platform provides multiple choices that can be tailored according to your company's branding and marketing strategies.
Our Vision
We are here to make the process of creating QR codes easy and smooth, thus enhancing customer interaction and making business more fluid. We very strongly believe in the ability of QR codes to change the world for businesses in their interaction with customers and are set on making that technology accessible and usable far and wide.
Our Achievements
Ever since its inception, we have successfully served many clients by offering QR codes in their marketing, service delivery, and collection of feedback across various industries. Our platform has been recognized for its ease of use and amazing features, which helped a business to make QR codes.
Our Services
At ViralQR, here is a comprehensive suite of services that caters to your very needs:
Static QR Codes: Create free static QR codes. These QR codes are able to store significant information such as URLs, vCards, plain text, emails and SMS, Wi-Fi credentials, and Bitcoin addresses.
Dynamic QR codes: These also have all the advanced features but are subscription-based. They can directly link to PDF files, images, micro-landing pages, social accounts, review forms, business pages, and applications. In addition, they can be branded with CTAs, frames, patterns, colors, and logos to enhance your branding.
Pricing and Packages
Additionally, there is a 14-day free offer to ViralQR, which is an exceptional opportunity for new users to take a feel of this platform. One can easily subscribe from there and experience the full dynamic of using QR codes. The subscription plans are not only meant for business; they are priced very flexibly so that literally every business could afford to benefit from our service.
Why choose us?
ViralQR will provide services for marketing, advertising, catering, retail, and the like. The QR codes can be posted on fliers, packaging, merchandise, and banners, as well as to substitute for cash and cards in a restaurant or coffee shop. With QR codes integrated into your business, improve customer engagement and streamline operations.
Comprehensive Analytics
Subscribers of ViralQR receive detailed analytics and tracking tools in light of having a view of the core values of QR code performance. Our analytics dashboard shows aggregate views and unique views, as well as detailed information about each impression, including time, device, browser, and estimated location by city and country.
So, thank you for choosing ViralQR; we have an offer of nothing but the best in terms of QR code services to meet business diversity!
Elevating Tactical DDD Patterns Through Object CalisthenicsDorra BARTAGUIZ
After immersing yourself in the blue book and its red counterpart, attending DDD-focused conferences, and applying tactical patterns, you're left with a crucial question: How do I ensure my design is effective? Tactical patterns within Domain-Driven Design (DDD) serve as guiding principles for creating clear and manageable domain models. However, achieving success with these patterns requires additional guidance. Interestingly, we've observed that a set of constraints initially designed for training purposes remarkably aligns with effective pattern implementation, offering a more ‘mechanical’ approach. Let's explore together how Object Calisthenics can elevate the design of your tactical DDD patterns, offering concrete help for those venturing into DDD for the first time!
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
Securing your Kubernetes cluster_ a step-by-step guide to success !KatiaHIMEUR1
Today, after several years of existence, an extremely active community and an ultra-dynamic ecosystem, Kubernetes has established itself as the de facto standard in container orchestration. Thanks to a wide range of managed services, it has never been so easy to set up a ready-to-use Kubernetes cluster.
However, this ease of use means that the subject of security in Kubernetes is often left for later, or even neglected. This exposes companies to significant risks.
In this talk, I'll show you step-by-step how to secure your Kubernetes cluster for greater peace of mind and reliability.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
SAP Sapphire 2024 - ASUG301 building better apps with SAP Fiori.pdfPeter Spielvogel
Building better applications for business users with SAP Fiori.
• What is SAP Fiori and why it matters to you
• How a better user experience drives measurable business benefits
• How to get started with SAP Fiori today
• How SAP Fiori elements accelerates application development
• How SAP Build Code includes SAP Fiori tools and other generative artificial intelligence capabilities
• How SAP Fiori paves the way for using AI in SAP apps
By Design, not by Accident - Agile Venture Bolzano 2024
E-government Services and Website Contents of Florida Metropolitan Planning Organizations
1. E-Government Service Offerings and Website Content of Florida’s Metropolitan Planning
Organizations
Submission Date: July 29th, 2008
Word Count: 2908
Corresponding Author:
Alexander Bond, AICP
Center for Urban Transportation Research
University of South Florida
4202 E. Fowler Ave, CUT 100
Tampa, FL 33620-5375
Phone: (813) 974-9779
Fax: (813) 974-5168
ALBond@cutr.usf.edu
Jeffrey Kramer, AICP
Center for Urban Transportation Research
University of South Florida
4202 E. Fowler Ave, CUT 100
Tampa, FL 33620-5375
Phone: (813) 974-1397
Fax: (813) 974-5168
Kramer@cutr.usf.edu
2. Alexander Bond and Jeffrey Kramer 1
Abstract
Most metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) maintain websites to support their mission of
comprehensive transportation planning. Websites can add value to several agency functions,
including public involvement, intergovernmental coordination, and information dissemination.
This research project reviewed the websites of all twenty six MPOs in the State of Florida.
Websites were rated on several facets of their functionality and content. The study concluded
that all of Florida’s MPOs are meeting or exceeding the minimum electronic availability
standards set by SAFETEA-LU and public notification standards of Florida State Statute.
However, the functionality and content of websites was generally lower than those found on
local government websites. Specifically, many MPO websites are not deploying business tools,
raw data download capability, and “Web 2.0” technology. Other findings include the need for
dedicated MPO domain names, reducing the size of plan documents, and enabling direct contact
between professional staff and the public.
3. Alexander Bond and Jeffrey Kramer 2
INTRODUCTION
Metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) are a unique type of government agency. Their
mission is to plan for transportation infrastructure improvements on a regional basis, spanning
urbanized areas that can cross multiple county or municipal boundaries. Each MPO is governed
by elected officials from the local governments inside its planning area. An MPO-drafted plan is
required in order for Federal transportation dollars to be spent in any urbanized area larger than
50,000 people.
Federal law does not specify the administrative structure or operations of an MPO. As a
result, there are a wide variety of MPO staffing and operational arrangements around the
country. This variety extends to the websites published by MPOs. There are twenty six MPOs
in Florida. Sixteen of them are housed within the county administration or a countywide agency.
Five more are staffed and operated by regional planning councils, which are multi-county
agencies chartered by state statute. The remaining five are independent agencies (1).
All of Florida’s MPOs– and nearly all nationwide– maintain websites to support their
mission of a cooperative, comprehensive, and continuing transportation planning process (2). A
strong web presence has the ability to improve the public’s perception of the agency, enhance
rates of public participation, and improve intergovernmental coordination. Despite the
advantages offered, the purpose and functionality of MPO websites varies considerably. This
project evaluated the scope and quality of services offered over the internet by MPOs in Florida.
Specific criteria investigated include user-friendliness, public involvement tools, public
information, and business tools.
METHODOLOGY
This project reviewed websites from all twenty-six MPOs in Florida. Official websites were
obtained from the Florida Metropolitan Planning Organization Advisory Council (MPOAC), a
membership group representing MPOs in the state. To collect data for this project, the statistical
software SPSS was used to tabulate information. The database included 22 variables coded for
likely results. Websites were reviewed in July 2008, with a review of the characteristics found
on each site. SPSS tabulated descriptive statistics for each variable. Selected results are found in
this report.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Domain Name
An easy to remember– and concisely print– domain name helps the public to remember and visit
the MPO website, thus increasing public participation. A unique domain also serves to
differentiate the mission of the MPO from the county or regional planning council. Thirteen of
Florida’s twenty six MPOs have recognized this, and have moved their web content to a unique
domain. An example of a unique domain name is www.volusiacountympo.com. Another eleven
MPOs have websites that are a folder within their host agency’s domain. An example of a
subfolder address would be www.ncfrpc.org/mtpo, which is the website for the Gainesville
4. Alexander Bond and Jeffrey Kramer 3
MTPO, hosted by the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council. The remaining two
MPOs have even more complex domain names buried several layers into their host’s domain.
An example of a deep domain comes from the Pasco County MPO:
http://www.pascocountyfl.net/menu/index/mpoindex.htm.
Having a unique domain name does not require the agency to maintain its own website
hosting and content management. The host agency can still support the website with its own
suite of internet tools. Migrating to a unique domain name is a simple step that can be taken for
only a few extra dollars per year in registration fees.
Branding
Another aspect of public involvement is the “brand,” or the collection of logos, colors, naming
conventions, and taglines that define and differentiate the agency from other groups. Very few
members of the public have ever heard of a metropolitan planning organization (MPO), and even
fewer are aware of what MPOs do. The brand should be designed by marketing and graphic
design professionals in such a way that the public recognizes MPO documents and initiatives as
separate and distinct from other government agencies. In Florida, 14 of 26 agencies (54%) had a
brand that was separate and distinct from their host agency. Figure 1 below displays three
branded MPO logos. The remaining agencies borrowed the color schemes, logos, and website
design directly from their host agency. Borrowing a brand fails to capture the unique mission of
the MPO. Borrowing the brand of a county government may result in the unintended alienation
of residents of municipalities and neighboring counties. These people may not realize that the
MPO represents them, and therefore not participate in public involvement offerings.
FIGURE 1- Examples of MPO Brands
Public Notice
The public notice of meetings is an important task for an MPO website. Table 1 below
summarizes the prevalence of meeting notices and agendas on MPO websites. All of Florida’s
MPOs are using their websites to provide public notice. Internet-based public notice appears to
be a supplement to traditional notices such as newspaper advertisements. Twenty-four MPOs
5. Alexander Bond and Jeffrey Kramer 4
(92%) offer upcoming meeting agendas on their website. The remaining two offered to
distribute agendas by email to those who opt in to an email list. The average lead time for
publishing agendas and meeting notices is as far as one month ahead, far outstripping their
municipal peers.
TABLE 1- Public Meeting Information
Board Meeting Agendas 24 92%
CAC Meeting Agendas 22 84%
Meeting Announcements 26 100%
Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) meeting agendas were also frequently posted on the
web. CACs are required to exist under Florida’s MPO authorizing legislation- Chapter 339.175.
Most MPOs appear to be treating CACs in the same manner as their governing boards, affording
them the same notice and recording as a governing board meeting.
Contact Information
As public agencies, MPOs have a responsibility to be open and transparent about who is making
decisions and leading the agency. Readily available contact information also enhances
intergovernmental coordination, since staff members from peer agencies can easily locate contact
information of their counterpart. Florida MPOs are doing a good job of furnishing contact
information to the public over the internet, but there is still room for improvement. Table 2
below summarizes the prevalence of contact information on MPO websites. Every board
member is listed by name, but only 10 of the 26 offer direct contact information for each board
member. CACs were not as well represented, with thirteen agencies listing their CAC members
by name, and only three showing contact information of members.
TABLE 2- Frequency of Contact Information Listing
Group Percent Listed Percent with Individual
Contacts
Board 100% 38%
Citizens Advisory 50% 12%
Committees
Staff 84% 50%
Eighty four percent of MPOs posted the name and title of every staff member. Despite
the high listing rate, only 50% published phone numbers and email addresses for each individual
staff member. This may indicate that the staff director prefers to be the unified point of contact
for public inquiry.
Public Involvement Tools
Websites can have content that enhance the rate of public involvement, bring new participants
into the process, and render more valuable information for staff (3). The advent of “Web 2.0”
technology has created tools that allow for websites to function as a medium for input and
discussion of ideas with the public. For example, many municipalities are offering forms on
their webpage that allow the public to make a code violation complaint. This contrasts with
older internet technology, which did not allow for the user to report information back to the
6. Alexander Bond and Jeffrey Kramer 5
publisher. Despite the availability and affordability of such applications, few MPOs are
deploying them. Table 3 below summarizes the frequency of Web 2.0 applications. Note than
zero agencies are employing RSS feeds (news services), bulletin boards, or wikis (editable
documents), all of which are commonplace in the private sector and are being increasingly
deployed by government.
TABLE 3- Frequency of Web Content Tools
Tool Number Percent
Comment Box 6 23%
Poll 2 8%
Translation 2 8%
Calendars 11 42%
Video of Meetings 4 15%
Online calendars are the most common interactive tool, used by 42% of MPOs.
Calendars help increase attendance at public meetings and workshops. Comment boxes
appeared on 23% of websites. Only 8% of agencies had an online poll, although more MPOs
may offer online surveying during the lead-up to document adoption. Although several agencies
offered translated versions of their plan documents, only 8% offered websites with versions in
languages other than English, a surprisingly low rate for a state with a high proportion of
Spanish-speaking people. Meetings were made available in streaming or podcast format by 15%
of Florida’s MPOs. This figure is very low, considering that many more MPOs broadcast their
board meetings on local TV channels.
Electronic Availability of Documents
A major reason for MPOs to publish a website is the efficient distribution of documents.
Sections 6001 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act
(SAFETEA-LU) requires that MPOs make documents available electronically. While these
sections do not expressly require documents be posted to a website, an internet presence is the
most efficient way to meet this requirement (4). All twenty six of Florida’s MPOs posted their
most recent transportation improvement program, unified planning work program, and long
range transportation plan (also known as a metropolitan transportation plan) to their website.
Several posted obsolete versions of plans, particularly if the newer document was cast as a “plan
update” rather than a brand new document.
The size and format of documents are important factors to their “user-friendliness.” All
twenty six MPOs are using Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) to publish their documents. Acrobat is well
known for its portability and near-universal acceptance by computer users. The mean size of a
long range transportation plan is 22.46MB. However, document ranged in size from a low of
2MB to a high of 115MB. Smaller size files incur lower data transfer costs and easier to
download for dial-up internet connection. However, smaller documents were noted to have less
detailed maps, photos, and figures. To compensate for their size, large files (50MB and over)
were frequently broken up into multiple “chapters” for easier downloading.
Visualization
7. Alexander Bond and Jeffrey Kramer 6
Websites afford MPOs the ability to publish the graphics produced by their various information
systems. All of Florida’s MPO plans include maps produced by a geographic information
system (GIS) or other computerized mapping software. This meets the visualization requirement
of Section 6001 of SAFETEA-LU. Twelve MPOs (46%) go beyond the requirement by
including maps that are sized larger than a standard computer screen. This enables the user to
zoom in on smaller map elements than can be presented on a hard copy page or at standard
resolutions on a computer screen. Fourteen agencies (54%) have stand-alone static maps
available for download outside of plan documents. These standalone maps enhance
intergovernmental coordination because peer agencies are able to download and distribute the
map.
Half of Florida’s MPOs offered some type of raw data download, which is summarized in
Figure 2. The most common type of data download was ArcView shapefiles, which seven
agencies offered. Three offered travel demand modeling data, and four offered demographics
data. Surprisingly, none of Florida’s MPOs offered web-based GIS maps, such as through an
ArcIMS service. Half of agencies offered no type of data download.
FIGURE 2- MPO Website Data Download Capability
No Downloads
GIS Shapefiles
Modeling
Demographic
Multiple Types
Business Tools
Online distribution and submission of a request for proposal (RFP) or job announcement saves
time, money, paper, and manpower. On the whole, MPOs are not taking advantage of their
websites for streamlining these business processes. Only six MPOs had a page dedicated to
online job listings. Meanwhile, only nine MPOs offered a page for listing RFPs. No RFPs or
employment opportunities were available at the time of review, so no evaluation could be made
8. Alexander Bond and Jeffrey Kramer 7
of the submission process. It is possible that more agencies offered these types of
announcements over their host agency’s website, but this was not reviewed as a part of this
project.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Overall, MPOs in Florida are using their websites to support only part of their agency mission.
All of Florida’s MPOs are meeting the public notice, visualization, and electronic availability of
documents requirements set by state and Federal law. This includes meeting notices, electronic
availability of documents, and visualization of transportation projects. However, MPOs are not
keeping pace with the internet services offered by city and county governments. Local
governments are pushing the envelope to educate and involve the public through so-called “e-
democracy” and self-service tools. Local governments are also passively cooperating with each
other due to the availability of information on their websites. By bringing their websites up to a
functional level similar to local governments’, MPOs will find business is easier and cheaper to
transact. Rates of public participation will increase, and the agency will have a higher level of
recognition in the community. Some specific recommendations include:
• MPOs should make attempts to differentiate themselves from their host agencies.
This can be accomplished by creating an agency “brand” of logos, colors, and professionally
produced documents. An additional step is to create a unique agency domain name.
Successfully branding the MPO will increase public awareness of its mission.
• Florida’s MPOs are using their websites to meet their obligations of public
information, but are failing to promote public involvement. The most common content of
websites are meeting notices and dissemination of final plan document. MPOs that do not enable
direct contact from citizens should take immediate steps to connect staff with the public. This is
a basic advantage of having a website. Maintaining one that does not have contact information
available is nearly useless in terms of public involvement.
• Utilize high-bandwidth and “Web 2.0” technology to place public involvement tools
directly on MPO websites. Examples of these tools are streaming video, wikis (communal work
documents), message boards, and internet surveys. The web can substantially reduce the cost to
perform public involvement tasks. Web-based involvement tools can also help the MPO go
beyond required levels of public involvement.
• MPOs should flatten their administrative structure to empower lower-level
professionals to interact with the public and other government agencies. About half of MPOs
focused public inquiry on a single staff member, usually the staff director. This creates extra
work for senior staff members, and puts a layer of bureaucracy between the public and lower-
level staff. MPOs should list direct telephone and email contact information for each
professional (planner, engineer, accountant, etc.) staff member. It is also essential to have
descriptive position titles or areas of responsibility.
• Aim for document file sizes around 1MB per 15 pages, not to exceed 30MB total.
This size balances the need for detail with accessibility and cost. Documents can be broken up
into multiple files of less than 5MB apiece to make downloads easier for low-speed connections.
Any steps taken to reduce the amount of data transferred will correspondingly reduce the
bandwidth cost to the agency.
• When converting documents for internet publication, care must be taken to convert
documents from printed version to electronic copy. Margins and page sizes should fit the
9. Alexander Bond and Jeffrey Kramer 8
standard computer screen, and page numbers may need to be adjusted accordingly. Tables of
contents should be linked to the body of the document to permit navigation. Maps can have
greater detail in the computer file than in the printed copy. All of these issues are exacerbated
when the document is formatted for printing on non-standard paper.
• MPOs should take steps toward offering GIS, travel demand, demographic projection,
and revenue forecasting data for download on their websites. MPOs have substantial software
tools at their disposal, such as travel demand models and geographic information systems, which
were demonstrated in their planning documents. Relatively few offered raw data for download
on the internet. The availability of raw data is an important component of government
transparency and intergovernmental coordination. MPOs are in a good position to be an
information clearinghouse for their region.
• The scope of services for consultant contracts should include tasks that enable better
internet services. For example, a consultant responsible for drafting a plan should be required to
deliver a document version optimized for internet publishing or original GIS data ready for
download.
• More MPOs need to offer a listing of RFPs and available jobs with their agency.
Certain contractors specialize in MPO work, which is distinct from municipal or state DOT
work. Almost all modern job applicants and contractors look online for opportunities, and MPOs
may be missing out on qualified applicants if online listings are not made.
10. Alexander Bond and Jeffrey Kramer 9
References
(1) Kramer, Jeffrey and Christina Hopes, Models for Independence: Structures of Independent
Metropolitan Planning Organizations in Florida. Transportation Research Record Number
1997. 2007.
(2) Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations, Profiles of MPOs. 2008. Accessed on
5/2008 from: http://www.ampo.org/directory/index.php
(3) Szyliowicz, Joseph S. “Measuring the Effectiveness of Public Involvement Approaches,” TR
News 220, Transportation Research Board, Washington DC, May-June 2002.
(4) The Transportation Planning Process Key Issues: A Briefing Book for Transportation
Decisionmakers, Officials, and Staff. FHWA/FTA Transportation Planning Capacity Building
Program , Document Number FHWA-HEP-07-039, September 2007. Accessed on 05/2008 at:
http://www.planning.dot.gov/documents/BriefingBook/BBook.htm