Configure Winter Weather Outreach

Winter Weather Outreach can be used to share winter response plans, communicate route status updates, and solicit winter weather requests for service from the public.

In this topic, you'll learn how to configure the Winter Weather Outreach solution to meet specific needs in your organization.

Manage snow routes and service areas data

Before using the solution, you must create and load your organization's snow routes, service districts, and parking restrictions (if applicable) into the feature layers deployed with the solution. The Winter Weather Data Management ArcGIS Pro project includes a series of tasks to help you prepare, create, and load these foundational layers in the solution.

1. Sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Winter Weather Data Management desktop application template.
2. Open the item page and click Download.
3. Unzip and open the Winter Weather Data Management project.
4. On the View tab, in the Window group, click Catalog Pane.
5. In the Catalog pane, expand the Tasks folder, and double-click the Winter Weather Data Management task.
6. In the Tasks pane, click the Prepare existing data, Process snow routes, and Append to feature layers task groups to expand the collection of tasks.

Prepare existing data

Your organization may have existing snow routes or street centerline data, features depicting parking restrictions, and service district boundaries. This data can be loaded into the target feature classes in the file geodatabase provided in the Winter Weather Data Management project.

Service districts may represent boundaries within your jurisdiction that your agency uses for driver assignments or other boundaries such as neighborhoods that directors and operations management want to use to compare progress. The service district IDs will later be associated with snow routes, enabling the Winter Weather solutions to measure operations progress and last serviced information based on service districts. Follow the instructions in the Service Districts task to load existing data, add new features if necessary, and define service district IDs.

Snow routes are used to represent street segments your agency is responsible for servicing during winter weather events. Follow the instructions in the Snow Routes task to load existing snow route features and attributes such as road name, route priority, snow route ID, and road class. Additional steps are provided to guide you through populating required fields used by the solution apps and ArcGIS Velocity analytics.

Note:

Valid values are required in the T_AUTOMOBILES and F_AUTOMOBILES fields. These fields are used by the ArcGIS Velocity Snap to Network tool as part of an analytic model delivered with the Winter Weather Operations solution. If you are only using the Winter Weather Outreach solution, or do not have these attributes for your snow routes, these values will be populated for you to indicate that all snow route features represent two-way travel.

Parking restrictions data can be loaded from an existing data source or created from the snow route features uploaded in the Snow Routes task. Follow the instructions in the Parking Restrictions task to load existing data, create features if necessary, and define parking restriction attributes.

Process snow routes

Once snow routes, parking restrictions, and service district information is prepared and loaded into the solution schema, additional refinement is required to process new snow route attributes and features used by solution applications and ArcGIS Velocity analytics. Follow the steps in the Process snow routes task to intersect snow routes with service district information, edit snow route features, create unique snow route identifiers, and calculate snow route segment length.

Note:

Not all steps in the Process snow routes task need to be completed if you are only using the Winter Weather Outreach solution. When applicable, these steps will indicate if it is an optional step when using only the Winter Weather Outreach solution.

Append to feature layers

After preparing and processing existing data into the solutions schema using the Winter Weather Data Management geodatabase, snow routes, parking restrictions, and service district data is now ready to be loaded into feature layers deployed with the solution. Follow the steps in the Append to feature layers task to complete the data management workflows required by the solution.

Modify service request form

The Winter Weather Outreach solution includes a Snow Request form that can be used by the general public to submit nonemergency snow and ice problems or requests for service in their community.

To update the types of snow and ice-related issues that can be reported in your community, complete the following steps:

1. Download and install Survey123 Connect.
2. Start Survey123 Connect and sign in to your ArcGIS organization.
3. Click the Snow Request survey to download the survey.
4. Click the survey again to open it.
5. In the left panel, click the XLSForm button.

   A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet opens.

6. In the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, click the choices tab. This tab comprises all the selectable options for survey questions.
7. In the choice list, find the list of snow and ice issue types and replace or add your own values.
8. Click Save to save the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and preview your changes on the Form Preview tab of Survey123 Connect.
9. In Survey123 Connect, click Publish in the left panel to publish your changes.

Update public apps

The Route Status app and the Snow Routes and Parking Restrictions app help your organization connect with the community by displaying near real-time route status updates, visualizing snow routes based on route priority, and displaying where parking restrictions exist. Complete the workflows below to update important information that your organization may share with the public regarding snow and ice control operations in your community.

Configure the Snow Routes and Parking Restrictions web map

The Snow Routes and Parking Restrictions app is a configuration of a Media Map app that can be used by the public to view parking restrictions and snow routes by route priority. By default, the layer style for snow route priorities is not set in the Snow Routes and Parking Restrictions web map, as the names and numbers of priority categories for snow routes vary from one agency to the next.

To update the map symbols for snow routes to depict route priority in the Snow Routes and Parking Restrictions web map, complete the following steps:

1. Sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Snow Routes and Parking Restrictions web map.
2. Open the item page and select Open in Map Viewer.
3. In the Layers pane, click the Snow Routes layer to select it.
4. On the Settings (light) toolbar, click Styles .
5. In the Choose attributes section, click Field.
6. Find and select the Priority field and click Add.

   By default, smart mapping default styles are applied.

7. Optionally, to modify the default smart mapping styles, click Style options on the Types (Unique symbols) style card.

   Note:

   For more information, see Style categories (Map Viewer).

8. Optionally, do any of the following:
   • Click Symbol Style to modify color ramps, line transparency, and stroke for all Priority categories at once. For more information, see Use style options.
   • Click the colored symbol next to each Priority category in the list to customize any of the Priority categories' styles individually.
   • Drag a category up or down in the list to reorder the categories.
9. Click Done when you are finished customizing the style.
10. Click Save and open and click Save to save the web map.

Update the Route Status app

The Route Status app is a configuration of a Media Map app that can be used by the public to view near real-time route status updates. Based on your organization's configuration, you may need to update the Route Status app to indicate how often your organization provides route status updates.

To update the text in the Route Status app indicating how frequent status updates are made to your snow routes, complete the following steps:

1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Route Status app.
2. From the item page, click Configure.

   Close the Welcome to the App Setup Page splash page, if necessary.

3. Click About and click App details.
4. In the App details pane, locate the Custom header HTML parameter and click Edit.
5. Using the rich text editor, click Source and update the text below to convey to the community how often road status updates are provided. Click About and click App details.
   <span style="font-size:smaller; padding-left:10px;">*Updates provided every 3 minutes.</span>

   Note:

   If you are using Winter Weather Operations to automate route status updates, enter the scheduled interval period used by the Snow Route Status big data analytic. If you are providing manual updates, modify the text to reflect the needs of your organization.

6. Click OK to accept changes.
7. Click Publish.
8. Click Launch.

Configure the Safe Winter Roads site

The Winter Weather Outreach solution includes the Safe Winter Roads ArcGIS Hub site. This site can be configured with your organization's branding and used to share winter outreach information with the public, including route status updates, winter response plans, and the ability to report snow and ice issues.

Update with organizational information

After deploying the Winter Weather Outreach solution, the Safe Winter Roads Hub site layout requires a few updates to fit your local context.

To update the site with your organizational information, complete the following steps:

1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Safe Winter Roads site.
2. From the item page, click Configure.
3. At the top of the site, hover over the animated message and click the click the edit pencil , and then click Edit in HTML.
4. Update the existing text to the message that you want promote with the community.

   Tip:

   The existing code is

   <span>Blizzard Warning. Accumulation over 5" expected. <strong>Parking Restrictions are in effect</strong>. See details below: <a style="color:#ffffff;font-weight:bold;text-decoration:underline" href="#restrictions">Snow Routes & Parking Restrictions</a></span>

   Note:

   You can remove an animated banner when a warning period has expired or there is nothing to report. In edit mode, point to the animated banner. On the right, in the vertical toolbar, click the edit pencil. In the side panel, scroll to Row CSS Class and delete the word warning. When you are ready to enable the animated banner, type warning in the Row CSS Class text box, and then, if necessary, repeat the previous step to modify the message.

5. Scroll to any sections that you want to update, hover over the card, and click the edit pencil that appears in the horizontal toolbar, and then edit the content with information specific to your organization.
6. In the side panel, click Footer.

   A custom footer is provided. In most cases, you will need to update it with your organization's branding, contact information, and social media references.

7. Click the HTML text box.

   The HTML window appears.

8. Make the necessary changes and click Apply.
9. Click Save.
10. Click the Save drop-down arrow and click Publish Draft.

Share items with the public

Several layer views, maps, and apps included in the Winter Weather Outreach solution must be shared with everyone so they can be accessed by the public on the Safe Winter Roads site. To share your winter outreach items with everyone, use the guide below and complete the following steps:

1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Winter Weather Outreach folder.
2. Check the check box next to each of the items below:

   Name	Item type
   Snow Request	Form
   Requests_submit	Feature layer (hosted, view)
   Snow Routes and Parking Restrictions	Instant App
   Snow Routes and Parking Restrictions	Web Map
   Route Status	Instant App
   Route Status	Web Map
   SnowRoutes_public	Feature layer (hosted, view)
   ServiceAreas_public	Feature layer (hosted, view)
   Safe Winter Roads	Hub Site Application
   Winter Weather Outreach	Hub Initiative

   Note:

   You will only have a Hub Initiative item if your organization has ArcGIS Hub Premium.

3. Click Share.
4. In the Share window, click Everyone (public) and click Save.

   The Warning: Sharing editable layers publicly message appears notifying you that you are sharing editable layers publicly.

5. Click Update.