Government Technology - January 2009 - (Page 49)

and translates the information into GIS data. This lets citizens narrow their queries bond to projects affecting areas where they live. “We’re also developing an advanced query so you can ask, not only by location — say you’re interested in all projects in a specific county costing more than $50,000 and less than $1 million,” Ellison said. “The general public might not be interested in that, but different interest groups might like to understand where those dollars are going and affecting their particular areas of interest.” The California State Parks database features a Web application allowing anyone submitting data to do so online. Ellison said a citizen who tracks bond projects on the Resources Agency/California State Parks site gets information that’s accurate to the day. Online. The state kept its bond accountability tool dial-up-compatible by applying compression techniques to the graphics code. This made the data easier for dial-up users to load. Webmasters also stayed clear of popup graphics — the kind that change as users mouse over them. “We were just aware of the amount of code that needed to be transmitted and tried to make the most efficient use of it,” said Ted Fitzpatrick, webmaster of the DoF. Patchwork Job California’s Bonds Accountability Database can be an inconsistent experience. For example, the layout and functionality for searching transportation projects funded by California’s Proposition 1B is different than searching for natural resources projects funded by Proposition 84. It depends on how the agency spending the bond funds decided to program its portion of the database. Staying Dial-Up Friendly It’s easy to forget dial-up users still exist, but they made up 13 percent of U.S. Internet users in January 2008, according to Nielson The DoF made all participating agencies offer searches based on city, legislative district and ZIP code. Some agencies offer more search options than that. Some portions of the database also offer information that others don’t. For example, if someone researched the Route 24/Caldecott Tunnel Corridor project funded by Proposition 1B, he or she could get a contact person name, e-mail address and phone number. By contrast, researching the Chico Water Pollution Control Plant Expansion Project, funded by Proposition 84, only gets users a contact name — no phone number or e-mail address. Also, the path to that information is completely different. Gunn said the inconsistency was unavoidable, given the project’s short time frame. “There were more challenges because not everybody had the same platform [or] databases that were identified similarly. Given those challenges, we chose not to attempt to resolve those [inconsistent search issues],” Gunn said, adding that the state plans to address them in the future. 39 HOMELAND SECURITY UMUC Biosecurity . . . information assurance . . . emergency management . . . ﬁre science. The demand for trained leaders in a wide range of security-related disciplines will grow 23 percent through the next decade. Find out where you ﬁt in. An undergraduate or graduate degree or certiﬁcate from University of Maryland University College (UMUC) can get you where you want to be. payment plan available Enroll now. Call 800-888-UMUC or visit umuc.edu/accomplish Copyright © 2009 University of Maryland University College http://www.govtech.com http://www.umuc.edu/accomplish http://www.umuc.edu/accomplish

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - January 2009

Government Technology - January 2009 Contents Point of View On the Scene Big Picture Four Questions for... Stemming the Retirement Tide Getting the Picture Fact of Matter Money Trail Rays the Roof Trick or Tweet? The Modern Way to Vote Products signal:noise

Government Technology - January 2009

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.