Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

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Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

SRF recognizes the value of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in planning and managing transportation systems and other public infrastructure. We use industry-leading ARC/GIS software to create and manipulate data spatially. Completely understanding the spatial relationships between neighborhoods, schools, wetlands and proposed roadways helps make decisions and communicate with stakeholders. Drawing on experience in transportation, civil engineering, planning and environmental areas and our close relationships with local governments, we have the tools to help clients with a wide range of GIS projects.

Landscape Architecture/Urban Design

Construction/Survey

Site Development

Funding Strategies and Assistance

Leading the Way

Fulfilling FTA Title VI Reporting Requirements

Twin Cities, Minnesota

SRF was retained by Metro Transit to conduct the agency’s Title VI reporting for a range of Federal Transit Administration (FTA) requirements over a five-year period, beginning in 2009. FTA rules require Metro Transit to monitor and report regularly on five themes of service distribution and significant service changes to determine whether transit planning and operations decisions discriminatorily impact low-income or minority populations. SRF’s project responsibilities include extensive GIS analysis, statistical testing, and accurate and comprehensive reporting of results.

To date, SRF has reported on two requirements for Metro Transit. In 2009, SRF completed a comprehensive review of Title VI impacts from service changes associated with Northstar Commuter Rail implementation. The objective of this review was to determine whether the addition of rail service and related reduction in bus service would disproportionately impact low-income or minority populations.

Currently, SRF is working with Metro Transit planning staff to complete a quantitative analysis of compliance with five service and facility standards, including headway distribution, on-time performance, route spacing, bus shelter distribution, and transit facility amenity distribution. For each reporting requirement, SRF is producing a comprehensive report for Metro Transit submittal to FTA detailing the process and results of each unique analysis.

Employee Travel Time Analysis

Various Locations

Keewaydin Real Estate Advisors has been retained SRF several times to conduct employee drive time analyses for businesses that are considering relocation alternatives. Typically, the employer will request that SRF evaluate at least two alternate locations in addition to their current business location. SRF’s project responsibilities include geocoding employee home locations, developing travel time distances from existing and potential future business locations, and analyzing the effects in increased or decreased travel times for all employees.

To complete these responsibilities, SRF builds a travel time network in GIS using the ArcGIS Network Analyst extension. SRF recognizes the importance building a reliable network in order to estimate realistic travel times, and every effort is made to incorporate all known factors into the network. SRF produces maps depicting employee locations, 10-minute travel time rings and relocations sites, as well as tables with precise employee travel times and summary tables of the analysis results.

Xcel Energy 345KV

St. Cloud, Minnesota to Fargo, North Dakota

SRF was retained by Xcel Energy to produce landowner mailing lists for a 345KV power line from St. Cloud, Minnesota to Fargo, North Dakota. The proposed line consisted of one preferred alignment and six alternative alignments in 10 Minnesota counties. SRF’s project responsibilities included GIS data collection, analysis of impacted parcels, the addition of township-range-section information to all parcels, and compilation into one standardized dataset.

To complete these responsibilities, SRF coordinated with the 10 counties to acquire digital parcel data with landowner information in a GIS format. Availability of the GIS data ranged from fully integrated spatial and landowner information, to the complete absence of digital spatial and landowner information. In five of the 10 counties, some or all of the data was collected manually through online county tax assessor websites. SRF delivered to the client two standardized mailing lists for the power line corridors, one list of all potentially impacted parcels and one list with duplicate landowners removed.