Yuma County, Arizona recently used Social Pinpoint to gather input from the community regarding their 2018-2041 Regional Transport Plan (RTP). The plan lists the transportation needs and improvements that are planned or will potentially arise over the next 25 years. The public was invited to review the draft list of proposed projects and provide comments via a Social Pinpoint interactive map. Charles Gutierrez, Senior Mobility Manager at Yuma Metropolitan Planning Organisation talks about his experience on the engagement project:
“We got an overwhelming amount of people making comments, liking it, disliking it, and it was like, wow this is cool! Usually, we get anywhere between 6-10 people for a public outreach program for any type of project. This time, our Social Pinpoint site received almost a thousand visits, and hundreds of comments.
“In my opinion this was the best Public Outreach that has ever occurred here in the area”
Going online allowed us to reach out to people in their own homes and people that are in remote areas. It really came down to allowing the project to be really inclusive accessible for everyone. One of the nice things about Social Pinpoint is that it makes it so easy for the regular public to see it. Even people with little experience with computers, can easily understand the instructions and make their comments.
The feedback we got on the RTP was constructive it was objective and subjective. People made suggestions, made comments on what they liked and didn’t like, and described what they see for their future. It hit all aspects of what could be done what should be done, as well as the way that it is being done – it really reached all topics, which helps us immensely.
Social Pinpoint gave the public an opportunity to see parts of the project specific to their local area.
“The Social Pinpoint map brought the project to them on a personal level”
The interactive map was much more engaging than traditional methods. It forces you to do some investigative work, like zooming in, clicking on the points to read information and moving around the map.
If you can actually engage with people it means you are reaching out and touching their lives and allowing them to participate in the decisions that affect their future.
Public outreach for the Yuma Regional Transportation Plan was a huge success and YMPO appreciates the Gordley Group out of Tucson, Arizona for suggesting Social Pinpoint for this community engagement event. I was a bit hesitant at first, but after implementation of this outreach I was and am an extremely satisfied customer.”
