In the ever-evolving data collection landscape, WithersRavenel’s Parks Collector changes how information is gathered and managed for park facilities. Developed in response to the limitations of paper-based methods, this innovative solution enhances efficiency and provides a seamless transition to a digital workspace.
Parks Collector is a sophisticated GIS data collection tool designed to cater to the specific requirements of park facilities planning. From athletic facilities to playgrounds, WithersRavenel’s Design + Planning and Asset Management teams use Parks Collector to streamline the process of capturing park data and gather more insight and institutional knowledge of those sites.
“Parks Collector creates a faster and easier way of creating an inventory,” emphasized WithersRavenel Senior Planner, Daniel Rauh, AICP. “The information is already digital and can be beneficial for communities to have that spatial data and connect it with their existing asset information.”
Unlike paper-based solutions, Parks Collector is specifically designed to accommodate the needs of our teams and prioritize simplicity. With this in place, our experts can readily assess and evaluate park facilities, visualize data on a map, track information, and apply powerful queries and filters to analyze the data.
Once WithersRavenel has assembled the GIS data from Parks Collector, our staff can build capital improvement plans (CIP) or detailed maintenance plans for a client’s assets. From there, our Lifecycle Modeling and Implementation team can leverage that data to build lifecycle models for the client. Through this process, our experts can project the future condition of assets at any given time, whether that’s next year or five years from now. The value of this information cannot be understated, as it provides communities with the ability to plan for what’s coming.
“Municipalities can start having an idea of what the future is going to look like and what their funding is going to get them,” stated WithersRavenel Implementation Consultant Lindsay Thomas, GISP. “If they know when things were installed or replaced last, we can use that information as well and get a total understanding of what the financial outlook is for each park.”
Parks Collector excels in providing the following:
Mobile Data Collection: Technicians can efficiently collect and record information, including photographs, at parks, ball fields, and other facilities using a tablet or mobile phone.
Spatial Visualization: Users can view, track, query, and filter data on a map, providing a comprehensive spatial perspective. This spatial visualization enhances decision-making and allows a deeper understanding of collected information.
Dynamic Decision Trees: From logical order and intuitive design to hiding unnecessary elements, Parks Collector prioritizes the user experience, reducing noise and confusion for a seamless data collection process.
Informed Decision-Making through Lifecycle Modeling: Data collected from the Parks Collector application can easily be transformed into a lifecycle model. A lifecycle model provides municipalities with a projection that depicts asset conditions anywhere from 1 year to 100 years in the future. With this information in place, CIPs or maintenance plans can be developed to anticipate failures, replacements, and necessary improvements.
WithersRavenel has a dedicated Design + Planning team that prepares recreation system master plans, parks inventory assessments, and can also provide greenway and park design from nature-based recreation to athletic facilities. If you’re interested in learning more about how our team can help you, contact WithersRavenel’s Director of Community Planning, Jay McLeod, AICP, at jmcleod@withersravenel.com or (919) 238-0422.