This document discusses technology in the public sector, focusing on digital cities. It provides an overview of application architecture, development methods like agile vs waterfall, and IT project stages in the public sector. It then discusses specific technologies like GIS and GPS, how they are used in government for purposes like economic development, transportation analysis, and tracking public assets. It provides examples of GIS and GPS applications from jurisdictions like Massachusetts.

1. Week 8: The Digital City
Technology
in
the
Public
Sector
Northwestern
University
MPPA
490
Summer
2012
-­‐
Greg
Wass

2. (first some technology basics)

3. 1. Application architecture
¤ Presentation interface
(UI / GUI)
¤ Business logic
¤ Database management

4. Example: GIS architecture

5. Architecture in the cloud

6. N-tier vs SOA

7. 2. Application development methods

8. Waterfall vs. agile development
Source: Green Line Systems, accessed 8/1/12 at http://glsystems.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/greenline-systems-inc-helping-
governments-use-agile-development/

9. Why agile?
¤ 25% of all projects fail outright through eventual
cancellation, with no useful software deployed.
¤ U.K. study showed waterfall-style scope management
was the "single largest contributing factor for failure,
being cited in 82% of the projects as the number one
problem.”
¤ A DOD study showed "46% of the systems so egregiously
did not meet the real needs (although they met the
specifications) that they were never successfully used,
and another 20% required extensive rework" to be usable.
Source: VersionOne, Inc., accessed 8/1/12 at http://www.versionone.com/Agile101/Agile-Software-Development-Benefits/

10. Value of agile development
Source: VersionOne, Inc., accessed 8/1/12 at http://www.versionone.com/Agile101/Agile-Software-Development-Benefits/

11. Barriers to using agile in public sector
¤ cumbersome acquisition processes
¤ complex IT development and infrastructures
environments
¤ large and layered management structures
¤ the need to support policy, regulation and oversight
driven department, agency and office program control
efforts
Source: Green Line Systems, accessed 8/1/12 at http://glsystems.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/greenline-systems-inc-helping-
governments-use-agile-development/

12. 3. IT project stages (public sector)
1. Governance 8. Design
2. RFI 9. Development
3. Requirements gathering / 10. Implementation
BPI
11. Training
4. RFP
12. Change management
5. Demos
13. Post-implementation
6. BAFO
14. Maintenance
7. Contract negotiation
15. Additional phases

13. Alternative approaches
¤ In-house development
¤ Staff augmentation contract
¤ Software as a service (SaaS)
¤ COTS (Commercial off-the-shelf) software
¤ Grants
¤ “Purchase of care”
¤ Competitions/contests/prizes

14. 4. Watching the marketplace
Source: Gartner

15. Gartner “priority matrix”
Source: Gartner

16. GIS
(Distance to the closest McDonalds)

17. GIS: map layers (vs. reality)
¤ Homes
¤ School districts
¤ Streets
¤ Zip codes
¤ Cities
¤ Counties
Source: Thad Wasklewicz, University of Memphis

18. GIS must be capable of:
¤ Capturing data (geographic/coordinate or tabular/
attribute)
¤ Storing data (vector and raster formats*)
¤ Querying data (based on attribute or location)
¤ Analyzing data (interaction of multiple datasets)
¤ Displaying data (visualization)
¤ Output (maps, reports, graphs)
* Raster images are based on pixels and thus scale with loss of clarity, while vector-based images can be scaled by any
amount without degrading quality.

19. GIS applications in government
¤ Economic development ¤ Human Services
¤ Transportation and Service ¤ Law Enforcement
Routing
¤ Land use planning
¤ Housing
¤ Parks and Recreation
¤ Infrastructure
¤ Environmental Monitoring
¤ Health
¤ Emergency Management
¤ Tax Maps
¤ Geodemographics
Source: Thad Wasklewicz, University of Memphis

20. Use of GIS for public participation
¤ Most information used in policymaking has a spatial
component (address, zipcode, latitude/longitude)
¤ Extending the use of spatial information to all relevant
stakeholders can lead to better policymaking
¤ This information can be analyzed and visualized spatially
– and the resulting output (mainly maps) can persuasively
convey ideas and persuade people of the importance of
those ideas.
Source: Renee Sieber, “Public Participation Geographic Information Systems,” Association of American Geographers (2006)

21. GIS in economic development
Source; Esri

22. GIS in economic development
Source; Esri

23. GIS in planning and development
¤ Land Use/Zoning
¤ Emergency Preparedness
¤ Population Forecast
¤ Market Analysis
¤ Property Tax Assessment
¤ Transportation
Source; Esri

24. GPS
Tracking public assets

25. What is GPS?
¤ Global positioning system
¤ A worldwide radio-navigation system of 21+ satellites and
ground stations
¤ Uses satellites as reference points, which gives every
square meter on the planet a unique address
¤ Has become the most common method for field data
collection in GPS
Source: Jennifer Broush, “GIS/GPS for Real and in the Movies,” 4/11/2003 slide presentation.

26. What is GPS?

27. How does GPS work?
¤ Location / navigation / tracking / mapping / timing
¤ Triangulation from satellites – measure the distance using
time travel constant
¤ Where are the satellites in space (known by the
government, and stored on the GPS receiver)
¤ Correction of delays experienced by the signal traveling
from the satellite (atmosphere)
Source: Jennifer Broush, “GIS/GPS for Real and in the Movies,” 4/11/2003 slide presentation.

28. GPS in transportation analysis
¤ Use of truck GPS data to analyze construction impacts /
truck speeds
¤ Identify truck bottlenecks: delay, stops and speed on
specific routes
¤ Quantify travel between economically important areas
¤ Explore ramp performance
Source: Edward McCormack, University of Washington, 9/16/2010

29. GPS in aviation, auto safety
¤ National PNT (positioning, navigation and timing) and
GPS capabilities are critical to the U.S. transportation
system.
¤ The FAA NextGen system will rely on GPS for navigation,
surveillance and performance metrics.
¤ GPS provides the backbone for advanced navigation
systems crucial for safety applications (such as IntelliDriveSM),
communications and logistics.
Source: Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Senate Appropriations Committee Staff Briefing, 2/26/2010

30. NYS traffic data viewer
¤ Enables views of statewide
traffic counts – a
determining variable in
Federal Aid funding
¤ Includes critical asset
information such as bridges
and hospital locations for
emergency route planning
Source: James Pol, “The New Analytics for Transportation Management,” USDOT, 5/17/2012

31. MassDOT bus tracker
¤ All MassDOT buses are equipped
with GPS
¤ Publishes transit data through the
open-source General Transit
Feed Specification
¤ Partnership with NextBus provides
real-time bus arrival predictions
for every bus stop
¤ MassDOT Real-Time XML Feed
available to third-party
developers for applications
¤ 50+ independent apps use
MassDOT data
Source: James Pol, “The New Analytics for Transportation Management,” USDOT, 5/17/2012

32. Speed Bump crowdsourcing app
¤ Helps residents improve their neighborhood streets
¤ As they drive, the mobile app collects data about the
smoothness of the ride
¤ Data provides the City with real-time information it uses to fix
problems and plan long term investments
¤ Residents use Street Bump to record “bumps” which are
identified using the device’s accelerometer and located
using its GPS.
¤ Bumps are uploaded to the server for analysis
¤ Likely road problems are submitted to the City via Open311,
so they get fixed (e.g. potholes) or classified as known
obstacles (e.g. speed bumps)
Source: James Pol, “The New Analytics for Transportation Management,” USDOT, 5/17/2012

33. The Digital City
Intelligent transportation, utility and water solutions

34. Intelligent utility networks
§ Advanced electric meter management systems
§ Network automation and analytics best practices
§ Power generation optimization
§ Utility company networked revitalization services
§ Customer operations transformation assistance
Source: IBM

35. Advanced water management
§ Strategic water information management of natural,
utility, and enterprise water systems
§ Smart water infrastructure solutions (e.g. smart levees,
smart storm water management)
§ Smart water meter management and asset
management solutions
Source: IBM

36. Intelligent transportation systems
§ Road user charging and tolling practices
§ Integrated fare management systems
§ Transport information management systems
§ Innovations in telematics, GPS
Source: IBM

37. Intelligent transportation systems
Source: James Pol, “The New Analytics for Transportation Management,” USDOT, 5/17/2012