Town of Branford Natural Resources Inventory

Challenge

The Town of Branford, a Connecticut coastal community bordering Long Island Sound, was looking to update their Natural Resources Inventory (NRI) that had traditionally been a document with encyclopedic-like text. Furthermore, the Town had a limited budget with which to update its NRI. GZA proposed creating a digital web experience to make the NRI a more interactive experience that is more widely accessible to the public and for a lower fee than a traditional report.
 

Solution

GZA created an online version of the Branford NRI using the ESRI platform Experience Builder. This web experience relies heavily on mapping to tell the story while having a short summary text with links to organizations that provide more in-depth information on the topic. This web experience utilized publicly available GIS data that is live linked to the original data so that it will automatically incorporate future updates. Linking the data to the original source will cut down on maintenance time on the application and show the most current up to date data on the mapping. This application is designed to be built upon where GIS data, information links, and images can be added or changed throughout the years. This application is interactive where the user can search the mapping for locations of interest, turn on and off layers, print custom maps, and click the links for more information.
 

Benefit

GZA’s knowledge of available GIS databases, GIS web applications, and our natural resources background created an online web application for the Town of Branford. This web experience can be used by the Town officials and the general public, and also acts as a teaching tool for classrooms to learn more about the natural resources of the Town of Branford.