Use Neighborhood Stabilization

The Neighborhood Stabilization solution delivers a set of capabilities that help you conduct property surveys, measure the fragility of neighborhoods, track blight, demolition activity, and publish a focused set of information products for citizens in your community.

In this topic, you’ll learn how to use the solution by assuming the role of a user and performing the workflows below.

Note:

Use your organization's data or configured apps to follow these workflows.

Identify neighborhood change

The Neighborhood Early Warning project can be used to understand neighborhoods trending in a positive or negative direction and ultimately measure the fragility of neighborhoods over time.

You will start by assuming the role of a data analyst on a neighborhood revitalization task force responsible for organizing key neighborhood indicators. You are asked to use the Neighborhood Stabilization project to identify neighborhoods trending in a positive or negative direction.

1. In a browser, sign in to your ArcGIS organization, and then browse to the Neighborhood Stabilization solution.
2. Download the Neighborhood Early Warning desktop application template, and then unzip the folder.
3. From the unzipped folder, open the Neighborhood Early Warning.aprx file in ArcGIS Pro.
4. In the Catalog pane, expand Maps and review the maps provided.

   Note:

   If you do not see the Catalog pane, from the View tab, in the Windows group, click Catalog Pane.

   The map provided in this project is used by data analysts to identify neighborhoods trending in a positive or negative direction and ultimately measure their fragility over time.

5. In the Catalog pane, expand the Tasks folder, and then double-click the Neighborhood Early Warning task.
6. In the Tasks pane, expand the How to Use Neighborhood Early Warning task group to see the collection of tasks.
7. Follow the steps in each task.

Perform property condition surveys

Property Condition Survey uses location-enabled photos produced by many commercially available cameras and simplifies data processing so street-level photo collections can be gathered on a regular basis. Photo collections can then be used in the Property Condition Survey app or be classified using the Microsoft Custom Vision service to identify property where overgrowth, graffiti, and boarded windows may exist.

Perform street-level photo acquisition

To start, you’ll assume the role of a data analyst who needs to decide what type of camera will be used to acquire street-level photos. The Photo Survey toolbox has been designed to work with standard EXIF data captured by commercially available cameras, and there are several on the market that can be used to collect photos.

When selecting cameras and planning photo collection for your community, consider the following questions:

• Is the camera well suited for diverse weather conditions, and can it be mounted on the side of a vehicle or on a window of a vehicle?
• Does the camera take photos at predefined intervals (for example, every two seconds) and acquire GPS coordinate values for each photo taken?
• Does the camera write photo data in a standard EXIF format?
• How many photos can be stored on a given camera, and how will you get photos off the device?
• How many vehicles will you use to acquire photos for your entire community? You will need two cameras for each vehicle used to acquire photos.
• What is the speed you will travel to acquire the photos? The slower you can drive, the more photos you will acquire for each property.
• What are the routes used to acquire photos? Will those routes cover every property in your community?
• Can you use vehicles (for example, trash trucks and street cleaners) or employees (for example, code enforcement officers and assessors) who already canvass the community to acquire photos?
• Would volunteer organizations working in your community partner with you to acquire photos?

Review the Property Condition Survey project

Now you will assume role of a data analyst on a neighborhood revitalization task force responsible for configuring the property condition survey. You are asked to configure the Property Condition Survey app using the map authored during the publish map step in the ArcGIS Pro project.

1. Start ArcGIS Pro and open the Property Condition Survey project package from the active portal.
2. In the Catalog pane, expand Databases and review the sample survey questions provided with the Property Condition Survey project.

   Note:

   If you do not see the Catalog pane, from the View tab, in the Windows group, click Catalog Pane.

3. In the Catalog pane, expand the Tasks folder, if necessary, and then double-click the Property Condition Survey task.
4. In the Tasks pane, follow the steps in the Property Condition Survey task to set up the Property Condition Survey app.

Calculate blight probability

Now you will assume role of a data scientist on a neighborhood revitalization task force responsible for configuring the Property Condition Survey. You are asked to calculate the blight probability in the images taken at street level to augment manual surveys.

1. In a browser, go to Microsoft Custom Vision, and then sign in or create an account.

   Note:

   If you created an account, after your account has been created, be sure to accept the terms and conditions.

2. If necessary, in the Azure Portal, create a resource group for Custom Vision.
3. On the Custom Vision landing page, in the upper right, click the settings button.
4. Copy the training key, prediction key, prediction resource ID, and prediction endpoint for your account.
5. In the Property Condition Survey project, for the Detect Blight task, use the copied values.
6. After you have run the Detect Blight task, review your results in the Photo Points layer published in the Publish Map task in the Property Condition Survey project.

Survey the property condition

Now you will assume the role of a community volunteer. You are concerned with neighborhoods in your community and want to contribute by completing the Property Condition Survey.

1. In a browser, from the Neighborhood Stabilization solution, view the Neighborhood Stabilization ArcGIS Hub site.
2. Scroll to the Understanding Neighborhood Conditions section, and then under Survey Property Conditions, click Learn More.

   The Property Condition Survey sign-in page appears.

3. Sign in with your Twitter credentials, if applicable, or click Guest to complete the survey anonymously.

   Tip:

   If you choose to sign in with your Twitter credentials, you can keep track of the total number of surveys that you’ve completed and your overall ranking.

4. Answer the survey questions based on the photo that is displayed in the main panel.

   Tip:

   You can use the thumbnail images in the lower area of the screen to cycle through all the photos available for the property, if available. To select the photo that best shows the property, click the favorite button in the upper-left corner of the photo.

5. Click Submit survey to complete the report.

Track demolition activity

Demolition activity can have a significant impact on property value and the financial cost to a community. Demolition Tracker can be used by the public to locate planned, contracted, and completed building demolition.

Now, you will assume the role of a resident in a local community. You are concerned with where demolitions have occurred, where they are contracted and planned, and what the total cost is to the community.

1. In a browser, from the Neighborhood Stabilization solution, view the Neighborhood Stabilization ArcGIS Hub site.
2. Scroll to the Understanding Neighborhood Conditions section, and then under Track Demolition Activity, click Learn More.

   The Demolition Tracker opens. On the right, the Demolition Tracker widget lists the number of planned, contracted, and completed demolitions visible in the map extent.

3. On the map, in the search field, type your address or zoom to a location directly on the map.

   The demolition information in the Demolition Tracker widget updates to the new map extent.

4. In the Demolition Tracker widget, click Planned Demolitions to view specific addresses of buildings planned for demolition.
5. Click a specific planned demolition address.

   On the map, a pop-up shows the demolition's neighborhood, use description, comments, planned date, and estimated cost.

6. In the Demolition Tracker widget, click Contracted Demolitions to view specific addresses of buildings contracted for demolition.
7. Click a specific contracted demolition address.

   On the map, a pop-up shows the demolition's neighborhood, use description, comments, contractor, scheduled date, and quoted cost.

8. In the Demolition Tracker widget, click Completed Demolitions to view specific addresses of buildings that have been demolished.
9. Click a specific completed demolition address.

   On the map, a pop-up shows the demolition's neighborhood, use description, comments, contractor, completed date, and actual cost..

Monitor blight status

Blight complaints can have a significant impact on property value and may have substantial remediation costs associated with them. Blight Status Dashboard can be used by local government leaders to proactively monitor the status of blight complaints and efforts made to reduce blighted properties.

Now you will assume the role of a local government leader. You are concerned with where blight reports have been submitted and the resolution status.

1. In a browser, from the Neighborhood Stabilization solution, view the Blight Status Dashboard app.

   The Blight Status Dashboard opens with an overview of the current blight-related reports.

   Note:

   The overview displays key metrics. This information gives management a quick overview of the number of blight reports in their community.

2. At the lower left, click the Blight Dashboard tab and explore the blight reports.
3. On the left side of the app, click the arrow to display the filter panel.

   Tip:

   You can pin the filter panel to the dashboard by clicking the pin in the upper-right corner.

4. Use filters to refine the results by status or submission date.
5. Below the map, in the Report Type panel, review the charts to see a breakdown of the report types.