Urban & Regional Planning >> Features & Benefits
Flexible model development. Each municipal client and their planning needs are unique; hence their model must be unique. However, there are many common themes in urban and regional planning. This commonality is leveraged for efficiency gains in the implementation of a whatIf? urban and regional planning model by drawing upon a large collection of existing modules. These modules are customized to meet client requirements and assembled. Completely new and unique issues can be addressed through development of new modules, as required.
High utility for stakeholder and analyst consultation. Innovative features make our urban and regional planning models a highly effective support for group discussion and for consultation with stakeholder or community groups. These include:
- extensible active views - These are active reports that may be added to the model at any time after its customization. They may be used to create new scenarios, debrief existing scenarios and export data to documents.
- model navigation using diagrams - The diagrams used to represent the model and convey its meaning are also used to facilitate navigation within the model during scenario construction and debriefing.
- white box approach - This allows "zooming" in or out to any level of model detail to facilitate understanding of the model structure and the meaning of each scenario.
- strong interactive data display - This allows easy understanding of the meaning of data assumptions and scenario outcomes. These include tabular, line graphics and thematic map colouring display tools.
Built in scenario management. Users can construct, document, manage and communicate effectively on any number of scenarios. The assumptions upon which each scenario is based are preserved and powerful scenario comparison tools are readily accessible. Scenarios are fully documented and easily retrieved for comparison. This supports effective data and knowledge management - thereby ensuring corporate memory.
Rapid, low cost development. The modular approach to whatIf? urban and regional planning models draws upon decades of model-building expertise. This approach lends itself to rapid, low cost development cycles - for both initial model customization and subsequent modification and enhancement.
Interface to other major tools. whatIf? urban and regional planning models interface to spreadsheet packages, geographic information systems (GIS) and relational databases.
High value with long productive life. Because whatIf? urban and regional planning models are easily maintained and modified, they provide a long productive life and thus have high value for the client. Some clients have had whatIf? models in operation for over ten years thus amortizing model investment over many years. Our models are usually built to explore specific client concerns (e.g. land development strategies). Due to the integrated and extensible nature of the models, they are often expanded or adapted over time to explore a growing set of issues (e.g. transportation and energy infrastructure).