Interactive District Finder
Geospatial tool connecting residents with their Council representatives.
Noteworthy
The application is one of the most popular tools on the City of Seattle's website, has been used hudreds of thousands of times.
Challenge
When Seattle transitioned from at-large to district-based City Council representation, citizens suddenly needed to identify which of the seven geographic districts they lived in and who represented them. Traditional district maps were static PDFs that required citizens to visually estimate boundaries. This led to confusion, misdirected communications, and barriers to engagement for residents who weren't sure who to contact about local issues.
Solution
I conceived of and developed an interactive mapping application that allowed users to simply enter their address and instantly see their Council district, along with their Council representative's photo, contact information, and committee assignments. Beyond just finding their district, users could explore the entire city map, seeing district boundaries and demographic information about each area. The tool became an essential resource, helping constituents know who to reach out to for help with municipal issues. It was also essential helping understand which races would appear on their ballots.
Technical Details
This application was built with React and integrated with Esri's ArcGIS REST APIs for geospatial functionality. The tool was originally integrated with the county's mapping servers, but I refactored to use the City of Seattle's data instead. The tool was originally built with vanilla JavaScript and I refactored it to a React application for better maintability, performance, and accessibility. I led the creatoin, design, and coding of the application, and partnered with colleagues at the City of Seattle to ensure it was successful.