VTransparency 3.0

Kickoff Meeting Notes

Friday, October 17 2014 - 8:30 am - 9:30 am

Attendees

• Viani
• Smith
• Kiniry
• Robie
• Nailor
• Lofgren
• Scott
• Cole
• Filkorn
• White
• Allen
• Rodgers
• Marshia
• Hedges
• Fitch

Reason
AASHTO AII - PennDOT public data portal demo
Showed VTrans has a similar tech deployed already

• We have the tech
• We have the people
• We need a plan

Goal
Develop a web based framework for public distribution of agency data

• Start with the public, then work on internal use

Objectives

• Easy to navigate the information
• A franchised experience across assets
• Tailored for the public
• Explore the possibilities

RAD Method

• "Rapid Application Development"
• Co-located, short development window, focused work
• Testing in a non-emergency setting

How we got here

• 1.0: Javascript web map (Lunderville)
  • This time we'll stay on top of data and roll-out
  • Get public assessment/feedback? (Filkorn)
  • Problem: Developer-centered - relied on IT to update, change
• 2.0: ArcGIS Online
  • Users can administer the data, the maps
  • Much of the work lives outside IT

Content areas: (Goals/Maps)

• Capital projects

  • Leverage VPINS - map it, get the feedback from user
  • Organize by construction year
    Discussion:
  • As it becomes a more central place for info, it becomes a way to measure; people pay more attention to the data (Marshia)
  • Nothing will go live without it being sustainable. Exposing poor inputs. (Nailor)
  • It exposes where the problem is - the data enterers (Filkorn)
  • 3-year time horizon for now (Viani)
  • We need to have a one stop, accurate place for people to get the data (Marshia)
  • We may find, because VPINS hasn't been used like this, that there are other things we want to put into the next release (Viani)
  • This first step is building the foundation for future VTransparency (Marshia)
  • Have dynamic information in project fact sheets in here too - get the core data "consistent" that we can develop products off of it (Filkorn)
  • Information accuracy percent? (Cole) Ideally 100% (Marshia) 80/20 (Nailor) It's gotta be close to 100% or I'm not going to use it (Cole) "High" (Marshia)
  • Maine executives are using the dashboards and maps for info and won't accept anything less. (Viani)
  • Why do we have to update nightly? Can we make it faster? Project managers also have a misunderstanding about "project location". There are other data sources for location surveys (White)
  • Goal to build a useful one stop shop for information, and by using the information it increases the accuracy. Give the platform more visibility so everyone knows where to go for info. This starts that platform (Marshia)
  • People don't want to search (White)
  • Efficiency - understand where to gather the data, establish customer feedback loop. "3 clicks for the data" (Allen)
    Possible product

  Back to slides

• Pavement condition and projects
  • Can this include when a job is done? (Cole)
  • This is forward looking, not back. This isn't a replacement 511 (Nailor)

• Bridge condition and projects

• Maintenance - Top 10 activities by fiscal year

• Contacts

  • "Who do I call?" map (lots of excitement)
    • Our project isn't to create/scrub/present data. We're going to evaluate what would need to be done to share it with the public (Viani)
    • Keep it simple - just one or two names max (Nailor)
    • I saw signs in Oregon with the phone numbers (Filkorn)

Logistics

• Focus - the 5 of us will be co-located up at the lab at a secret location
• Steering team checks in daily (20 min argument, 10 min production)
• Oversight committee - Present rough draft after week 1, final draft week 2
• Operational by end of year to share with legislature

Data learning

• Evaluate sustainability of information - what are the limits? how does the public see it?
• Discover data gaps - where are we missing things
• Understand framework - how to build on it in the future

Organizational learning

• Evaluate RAD concept
• Knowledge transfer - pick brains of superstars

"Then we get a beautiful utopia"

Get public feedback before launch (Fitch)
Can we get the trans committees? (Nailor)
You want to ping the general public (Cole)
RPC's (Marshia)
Next TPI (Cole)
Mike McCarthy (Filkorn)