I asked Jamey Baxter, guest poster for Save the Manatees how the SharePoint Mapping combination was received. Jamey sent the following user quotes and notes: “Remember, this is the first project and first division of the agency we rolled this out for. The google maps feature will eventually assist many different departments.”
To put the quotes in context, please review my Summary of the Mapping Series.
Permit Applications Quote
The sharepoint pinboard you developed for us is useful for several reasons. As the state wildlife agency, we provide recommendations to state regulatory agencies in order to assure that permitted activities do not injure or kill the endangered Florida manatee. We review permit applications that propose projects that may adversely affect manatees, such as marinas that want to increase their number of slips, in-water construction projects, dredging projects, and blasting projects.
Geographic Location Importance Quote
This tool aids us specifically with review of marina applications. The most common use of this tool will be the ability to easily identify past projects in the vicinity of new ones we are reviewing. Since it is geographically based and linked with the records of the other reviews, we can now easily consider past recommendations that we made about similar projects in a similar location. This will help us provide consistent recommendations between projects. Another reason this tool is useful is because projects, over time, tend to change names and permit numbers, even though it is the same location. The only way we would be able to identify a project as one we have commented on before is to see where it is geographically located.
I find that this feedback from business users really puts our work in perspective.
What do you think? If even a few people recognize the value of geographic placement, is it worth it to implement? Let me konw in the comments section below, through the contact form or on Twitter: http://twitter.com/resing
Thanks for sharing very useful information.