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Tracking the Elusive Anonymous GIS User in King County

King County GIS Center Greg Babinski, GISP

King County, Washington

Microsoft

Boeing

Paccar

Nordstrom's

Amazon

Starbucks

Port of Seattle

Weyerhaeuser

Washington Mutual

Univ. of Washington

Population (2006 USCB est.): 1,826,000 (14th most populous US county)Area: 2130 square miles (sea level to 8,000’)39 incorporated citiesViable agricultural and private forestry areasRemote wilderness & watershed lands

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Low-cost basic GIS capability

Alternate to expensive desktop GIS software

Provides GIS capability to the public

Low cost enhanced service for citizens

Reduces phone calls or visits for basic public services

Others?

Why Do Agencies Develop Web Mapping Applications?

Extensive Published StatisticsSpecialized Web Application Performance AnalysisSpecialized Web Map Data Usage AnalysisSimple High Level Usage Statistics:

Internal (agency) usageExternal (public) usageUser sessionsLength of sessionsHits or page views per sessionTotal unique usersCorrelate internal I/P address ranges with specific users

Web Mapping Application Statistics

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What is the potential for web mapping application usage within jurisdictions?

How can we know if external use of our applications has reached ‘market saturation’?

Does our ‘market-population’ adjusted usage differ from other jurisdictions, and if so, why?

What does our internal web mapping application usage tell us about our anonymous GIS users?

Web Mapping Research Objectives

ParcelViewer

CensusViewer

iMap

http://www.metrokc.gov/gis/mapportal/index.htm

KCGIS Center Web Mapping Applications

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King County iMap

KCGIS Web Mapping Application User Statistics: 2002-Present

Total User Sessions

Total Map Page Hits

Internal Sessions & Hits

Public (External) Sessions & Hits

Average Length of User Session

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KCGIS Web Mapping Application User Statistics: 2002-Present

KCGIS Web Mapping Application User Statistics: 2002-Present

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Mid-2007 survey with 10 questions

Sent to 88 jurisdictions with public web mapping applications

Seven (7) cities in Washington State

Five (5) cities outside Washington State

30 counties in Washington State

39 counties outside Washington State

One (1) regional agency in Washington State

Six (6) regional agencies outside Washington State

External Web Mapping Usage Survey

Initial 2007 survey response disappointing

15 completed surveys returned (17%) and only eight (8) track usage statistics:

Four (4) counties in Washington

Three (3) counties outside Washington

One (1) regional agency outside Washington

Only five (5) agencies reported multi-year statistics

Three (3) agencies reported single-year statistics

External Web Mapping Usage Survey

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External Web Mapping Usage Survey: Findings

External Web Mapping Usage Survey: Findings

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External Web Mapping Usage Survey: Findings

County IT Division Correlates I/P Address Ranges with County Business Units

Used to Allocate Web Mapping Application Costs to Business Units (Babinski, 2005)

34 Work Units Identified

Individual Users can be Identified

KCGIS Web Mapping ApplicationInternal User Statistics

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KCGIS Web Mapping ApplicationInternal User Statistics

KCGIS Web Mapping ApplicationInternal User Statistics

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Financial and business support for GIS

Management curiosity about GIS usage

Stealth GIS Needs Assessment

Educational tool

Who are those guys?

Thinking About the Anonymous GIS Web Mapping User

King County’s Original 1992 GIS Strategic Plan:

Detailed survey of all county departments

Detailed compilation of 125 recommended GIS applications

1993-1998 KCGIS implementation at reduced level

2003 report analyzed results of KCGIS implementation:

Only 12% of the original 125 applications were actually developed by the original KCGIS implementation

2003 KCGIS iMap fully operational as a key enterprise service

Thinking About the Anonymous GIS Web Mapping User

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Thinking About the

Anonymous GIS Web Mapping

User:Usage

Intensity

Thinking About the

Anonymous GIS Web Mapping

User:Usage

Ranking

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King County GIS Center Maps (2007) [Online] King County GIS Center. Available from:

http://www.metrokc.gov/gis/mapportal/. [Accessed 3 December 2007]

Babinski: “Defining the Cost and Determining the Value of Enterprise GIS” URISA Annual Conference Proceedings, 2005.

Babinski: “2002 KCGIS O&M Issue Statement #4: Status of Original GIS Capital Project Work” King County GIS Center, 2003

References

Questions?Suggestions?Research Directions?

Greg Babinski, GISPFinance & Marketing ManagerKing County GIS Center201 South Jackson Street, Suite 706Seattle, WA 98104206-263-3753greg.babinski@kingcounty.govwww.kingcounty.gov/gis

Questions and Follow-up Research Discussion