CommunityViz Ships New GIS Planning Decision-Support Software

CommunityViz

BOULDER, Colo. – April 8, 2004 – Software maker CommunityViz announced today that it has begun shipping its second generation of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) decision-support software for planning and resource management. The new software package, Scenario 360™, functions as an extension of the industry-standard ArcGIS 8.3 platform from ESRI (Environmental Systems Research, Inc.), and allows planners and resource managers to perform quantitative analysis and 2D visualization of land-use alternatives.

Scenario 360 allows people to model alternative uses for a piece of land, and then visualize and measure the economic, environmental and social impacts of each alternative. It works like a "spatial spreadsheet," allowing users to input GIS data to model an infinite variety of situations. For example, town planners can use Scenario 360 to measure development impacts such as infrastructure costs, additional school enrollment, or new tax revenues. For resource managers, Scenario 360 provides the ability to model fire mitigation efforts, perform environmental assessments, and do recreation management planning.

Scenario 360 builds on the success of the company's ArcView 3.x-based software, Scenario Constructor, by adding an easier-to-use interface, side-by-side comparison of land-use alternatives in one window, automatically-generated HTML reports, and direct access to online GIS data from within the software. Like its predecessor, Scenario 360 offers integrated 3D visualization capabilities when paired with the optional SiteBuilder 3D software package.

"Scenario 360 represents a major step forward in allowing people to visualize and measure the impacts of land-use alternatives before they are implemented," said Doug Walker, managing director of CommunityViz. "It's intuitive and easy to use, and it enables people to really understand the potential impacts – positive and negative – of the decisions they are making."

CommunityViz provides software and services to make the land-use planning process more visual, more collaborative and more effective. CommunityViz is a program of the non-profit Orton Family Foundation, based in Rutland, Vermont. Founded in 1995, the Foundation's mission is to help people define the future, shape the growth and preserve the heritage of their communities. For more information about CommunityViz and Scenario 360, visit www.communityviz.com. For more information about The Orton Family Foundation, visit www.orton.org.