Omaha By Design: Omaha, Only Better

The Benson-Ames Alliance has added another tool to its revitalization kit – a geographic information systems web site that tells you just about anything you’d like to know about the area.

The site, http://apps.dogis.org/baa/, integrates hardware, software and data for capturing, managing, analyzing and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information. It provides easy access to the information contained in the Benson-Ames Alliance (B-AA) Plan, a guide for revitalizing the historic sector of Omaha bound by Sorensen Parkway on the north, Western Avenue on the south, Saddle Creek Road/Fontenelle Boulevard on the east and 72^nd Street on the west.

The B-AA contracted with the Douglas County GIS Department to develop the site, said Andrew Rainbolt, a member of the B-AA Steering Council. The department provides mapping and geographic information systems support to other city and county departments as well as the public.

Users can click on the site’s legend for a listing of the available layers of information by category. Do you want to know what properties are located along the section of Ames Avenue that cuts through the B-AA? It’s there. So is information about schools, parks, trails, bus routes, existing neighborhood associations, retail centers and more.

Rainbolt said a business interested in locating in the alliance area can use the site to identify existing business centers, how they connect, what neighborhoods they serve and how potential customers move around the area. Investors interested in potential redevelopment projects can use the site to locate areas that offer tax increment financing incentives.

The site’s layers of information can be turned on and off by clicking the boxes in the content section to the left of the map. Users can zoom in, zoom out and pan by clicking on the globe in the left-hand corner of the screen and then clicking on the appropriate icons (click on the hand to pan, click on the plus and minus signs to zoom in and out, respectively). The map features both street and aerial viewing modes.

Rainbolt encouraged users to monitor the site’s continuing development, as new layers of information will be added over time. For more information about the project, contact Omaha by Design at 402.554.4010 or info@omahabydesign.org. For more information about the B-AA, visit www.benson-ames.org.

The Benson-Ames Alliance is a grassroots group of community leaders formed in 2005 to help plan for and implement the revitalization of the Benson-Ames area in northwest Omaha. The organization is striving to become a sustainable community that actively seeks a balance between its built and natural environments. Omaha by Design serves as the project manager.