HomeMy WebLinkAboutRESPONSE - RFP - 2207226 P 836Proposal for
Placement of Feature Linked Address
Annotations
Proposal Number P-836
Prepared for:
The City of Fort Collins
And
Prepared by:
Techni Graphic Systems, Inc.
Fort Collins, CO
Specifically, continuous update of the Library with the new as -built drawings from
the Engineering Department was required. This was accomplished through
extraction of subsets of data from the Library for update by TGS, which allowed
work to be performed on different portions of the Library simultaneously. In
addition, third -party QA/QC software was purchased that set a standard for
acceptable work. Work continues on the second contract. So far, every project
milestone has been met and TGS is on track to meet the final deadline date.
Client: Merrick and Company (Long-term reference)
Dates: October 1997 — Ongoing
Project: Various
Costs: Past 3 years invoicing. 1999: $200,000; 2000: $130,000; 2001: $50,000
Contacts: Mr. Jerry Boyd, Manager, GIS Applications Development
2450 S. Peoria Street
Aurora, CO 80222
(303) 751-0714
Project Scope and Description:
TGS has worked with Merrick and Company as a subcontractor performing GIS
design analysis and data conversion in Arc/Info and ArcView for the past 4 years.
TGS has worked with Merrick to help their clients to define their functional
requirements, set project scopes of work, and to design and implement data models.
TGS has also performed all of the data capture tasks for these projects. All of its
work with Merrick has been completed on time and on budget.
Boulder Easements, $104 0 00, Complete:
TGS is working with Merrick to help the City of Boulder, Colorado to design an
effective and efficient way to store easement information in their Arc/Info Map
Librarian GIS. TGS helped to define a data model, which would store all of the
appropriate attribute information about the easements in two regional subclasses.
After the data model and valid attributes were defined, TGS captured and coded all
easements from the 128 quarter section maps of the City. Additionally, TGS
reviewed 128 AutoCad drawings for additional easement information, which was
then conflated with the Arc/Info coverage. The City was divided into six areas
based on the number of easements. All quarter section coverages for an area were
edgematched and appended and a single, seamless regional coverage was then
created and delivered. At the end of the project all areas will be edgematched and
appended into a single, seamless Arc/Info regional coverage.
TGS created several AML programs to automate redundant tasks, assist with region
creation, and to guide the user through the project workflow. Quality assurance
procedures were built into the application to minimize user error, non -valid attribute
values, and standardize symbology. The TGS Project Manager and Team Leader
defined the project methodology, client requirements, and project schedule. These
documents were then distributed to all team members and updated as the project
evolved.
Client: U.S. Geologic Survey
Dates: August 1999 — May 2001
Project: National Geologic Map Database
Cost: $99,500
Contacts: Ron Wahl
US Geological Survey, Geologic Div.
P.O. Box 25046, M.S. 913
Denver, CO 80225
(303) 236-1320
TGS' involvement with the USGS National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB)
began with the award of three geologic maps from the Greater Yellowstone Region
of Montana to digitize in Arc/Info. As TGS worked with Ron Wahl of USGS to
complete the data conversion project in a fashion compliant with the USGS data
model, Mr. Wahl shared some of the problems his team was having with finding the
right software platform to implement the object -based data model for the NGMDB.
Critical elements of the USGS requirements included a fully implemented object -
relational database system, a version -managed multi-user environment, the capability
to support a distributed, seamless database, and ability to access the data through
multiple front-end systems including ArcInfo, AutoCAD, Microstation and others.
TGS submitted a proposal to demonstrate a pilot project for a geologic map
database implementing the USGS data model in a version -managed, object -relational
database management system developed by Smallworld Systems, Inc. (now GE-
Smallworld). TGS successfully demonstrated the pilot project implementing and
early version of the North American Data Model for the first three Yellowstone
maps at the USGS National Center in September 1999 and at the Geological Society
of America Conference in Boulder.
TGS is currently working on the next phase "Collaborative Benchmarking
Prototype" for the NGMDB, a significant step beyond the pilot project. The
Development Team consisting of TGS and GE-Smallworld is collaborating with
USGS, the Kentucky Geological survey, and the North American Data Model
Committee. Goals of the Prototype project include:
• implementing a physical data model that takes advantage of the capabilities of the
GE-Smallworld software while also incorporating the concepts of the newest
logical data model created by the North American Data Model Committee;
• developing a seamless database of geologic maps from the USGS and Kentucky
Geologic Survey;
• demonstrating the possibilities for providing standard and custom subsets of the
data to users in formats such as Shapefiles;
• linking the National Database to external databases; and
• providing access to the database via standard browsers through Internet or
intranet connection.
To date all work on both phases of the National Geologic Map Database has been
performed within cost and schedule constraints.
Client:
AVP Catastrophe Services, Property Loss Research Bureau
Dates:
July 2001
Project:
ArcIms Disaster Website
Cost:
$39,450
Contact:
Hugh Strawn
AVP Catastrophe Services
Property Loss Research Bureau
3025 Highland Parkway, Suite 800
Downers Grove, IL 60515-1291
630-724-2230
Project Scope and Summary:
AVP Catastrophe Services has a business need to disseminate to its members (large
insurance companies) information regarding possible claims activities resulting from
natural disasters. It can be several days before claims adjusters are allowed into a
damaged area and precious time is often lost that could be spent assessing total
number and location of potential claims, prioritizing customer needs, locating claim
agents, and preventing fraud.
TGS provided a solution to address these business needs and work within this
business model. TGS leveraged its relationship with Space Imaging to get priority
scheduling for images from their 1-meter resolution IKONOS satellite. Upon
occurrence of a disaster, IKONOS images of the affected area are loaded onto a
TGS web server running ArcIMS. Using this imagery, TGS technicians delineate the
extent and severity of damage as shapefiles. The imagery, disaster -extent shapefiles,
and geocoded street addresses are then made available to ArcIMS through an SDE
gateway served by TGS over the Internet to member companies for use by claims
personnel. This web -hosting and remote sensing application is funded through the
end September 2001.
TGS also developed, hosts and provides technical support for an ArcIMS web site
for the Insurance Services Trade Show convention. The site is
www.tgstech.com/plrb/plrb. Potential vendors can choose the booth they wish to occupy
and pay for that booth through our site. This project was completed between in the
months of November and December of 2001 and we are continuing to support the
site for through July 2002.
Client:
National Imagery and Mapping Agency (Long-term reference)
Dates:
May, 1994 - Ongoing
Project:
Vector Smart Map Level 1
Cost:
$1,639,000
Contact:
George Hoff
National Imagery and Mapping Agency
4600 Sangamore Rd. M.S. D-5
Bethesda, MD 20816-5003
(314) 263-4325
Project Scope and Summary:
In 1998, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) solicited proposals
with the intention of moving from contracting based primarily on competitive
bidding to contracting based on qualifications and performance, for a broad range of
geospatial information services. Those services fell under the broad categories of
surveying, mapping and charting, and photogrammetry and imagery analysis.
TGS chose to offer GIS services under the "Mapping and Charting" sub -heading as
a member of a team of vendors with Space Imaging, of Thornton, Colorado, as the
prime contractor. In December 1998, the Space Imaging team was awarded an
Omnibus Contract based on qualifications and the excellent record of TGS on
VMAP tasks under the previous Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA).
Since that time, NIMA has continued to recognize the quality and timeliness of TGS'
performance by awarding the Space Imaging team task orders for DNC, VMAP, and
the new Tactical Operational Data (TOD) product. Space Imaging has passed nearly
all of those task orders on to TGS in preference to other subcontractors. In 1999,
TGS performed $637,000 of work under this contract and will complete
approximately $1,800,000 in 2000.
TGS' large VMAP libraries (each with data from 30 to 80 planning maps have been
delivered as much as five months ahead of the contractual due date, requiring only
minor corrections. The initial collection of VMAP Level 1 (1:250,000 scale sources)
is nearly complete at this time,
TGS was the only contractor selected by NIMA to produce TOD Level 0 libraries,
which are designed to supplement DNC data collected from standard nautical
navigation charts with information from military operational area charts. TGS used
its excellent cooperative relationship with NIMA Contract Production Team
personnel to produce outstanding results for a new product with a completely new
specification. Of the 55 TOD libraries reviewed by NIMA to -date, 47 have been
accepted on first submission in VPF.
Client:
National Imagery and Mapping Agency (Long-term reference)
Dates:
March, 1993 - Ongoing
Project:
Digital Nautical Charts
Cost:
$1,681,000
Contact:
Rodney VanderPol
National Imagery and Mapping Agency
4600 Sangamore Rd. M.S. D-5
Bethesda, MD 20816-5003
(301) 227-5490
Project Scope and Summary:
TGS was one of the first contractors selected to work on the DNC project in 1993.
From the start of the project, data collection and QC have been conducted entirely
within an Arc/Info environment, with final conversion to Vector Product Format
(VPF) performed only before delivery to NIMA. TGS GIS programmers have
worked continuously to develop AML applications and tools to improve the
efficiency and accuracy of all steps in the data conversion process. The quality of
TGS' DNC product has also benefited from an excellent cooperative relationship
with personnel. TGS has been steadily decreasing the number of errors and
discrepancies in its DNC deliveries by using the annotated chart copies provided by
the review section, by regularly communicating with NIMA, and through on -site
reviews of interim (Arc/Info) data by NIMA Contract Production Team members.
This process culminated in NIMA's acceptance of a 32-chart coastal library created
by TGS on first submission in August 1997. In July and August 1998, TGS participated
in a very challenging proof -of -concept project to produce updated DNC data by
performing "maintenance" on an existing library, while also producing graphic files
and negative transparencies to print hard copy charts. TGS successfully completed
this proof -of -concept, and its effort received praise from NIMA Production
Management personnel. TGS performed $1,681,000 of work on this project in 1999
and expects to complete an additional $1,800,000 in 2000.
Concluding Statement
TGS has proven it can deliver world class Geographic Information Systems Services on
time and at very competitive prices. TGS has earned a reputation for straightforward
cooperation and communication with its clients. The City of Fort Collins and PFA can
trust and rely on TGS for outstanding service, products, and delivery. TGS is eager to
serve you.
Introduction and Executive Summary
Techni Graphic Systems, Inc. (TGS) is dedicated to providing quality products and services
in the field we call Visuallnformakon Systems. This field includes the entire spectrum of visual
and graphical interfaces with digital databases, including Geographic Information Systems
(GIS), custom software and applications development, digital imaging, and Internet
applications.
TGS is pleased to respond to The City of Fort Collins' Request for Proposal (RFP) for the
Placement of Feature Linked Address Annotations Project (Proposal Number P-836). TGS
will work cooperatively with the City of Fort Collins GIS Department and The Poudre Fire
Authority (PFA) to produce the highest quality, timeliest, and most cost-effective solution.
TGS is ideally suited to support the City of Fort Collins GIS and PFA with data
development services.
TGS intends to become a leader in the visual information environment with an emphasis on
Geographic Information Systems, high quality Internet applications, data conversion, broad-
spectrum software development, and comprehensive data management systems.
Principal Place of Business
Techni Graphic Systems, Inc. is an Ohio Corporation based in Wooster, Ohio, Federal Tax
Identification number 34-1750263, with an office in Fort Collins, Colorado. The Fort
Collins, Colorado office is the principal place of business with 57 employees and the facility
where all data conversion activities take place. The Wooster, Ohio office currently employs
20 and it is the location of the majority of programming and business development activities.
Organizational Structure and Key Staff Members
TGS' long-term involvement in GIS development means that many of the key management
personnel who will be involved in this project have considerable expertise in the important
elements of this project. The production team at TGS has a proven record of continually
evolving improvements to the processes used and to the quality of our final product. Our
professional people take great pride in the extremely low error rates when their work is
reviewed and TGS' outstanding accomplishments in first-time acceptance by our customers.
TGS dedicates a team of individuals for every project. A team consists of a Project
Manager, GIS Technicians, and QA/QC specialists. Each team is supported by a GIS
specialist, and programmers. This structure enables TGS to quickly ramp up and get a
project into the production pipeline. In addition, our team structure enables TGS to
streamline production, increase efficiencies and reduce errors. TGS will dedicate a team of
staff members to this project who specialize in parcel -related projects.
The following key individuals have made great contributions to TGS' success with GIS and
will continue to do so on the The City of Fort Collins and PFA GIS Mapping Project. Full
Resumes are provided in Appendix A.
TGS will not subcontract any of the work to be performed
Key Individuals
Jim Chappell — Project Man=
Mr. Chappell has experience at every level of GIS production at TGS. Most recently, he has
been the project manager for over $400,000 worth of data conversion work for Denver
Water. He has successfully managed data conversion projects for a variety of clients offering
innovative methodologies gleaned from his varied experiences. He has distinguished himself
at TGS with detailed project tracking, his ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously,
and his constant communications with clients. Mr. Chappell will be the main point of
contact for technical issues for this contract.
Kenneth Krumm GIS Specialist I AML Specialist
As the TGS technical support manager with the most experience with complex data
conversion tasks, Mr. Krumm will be responsible for setting up new tasks, establishing
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for the project, and training GIS Data Technicians on
the SOP for the parcel map and street line coverages. Mr. Krumm has senior -level technical
expertise in GIS, ArcInfo, and data conversion at TGS, gained in his 15 years with the
company.
Mr. Krumm will apply his experience with a wide variety of data conversion projects to
enhance the high -quality production processes at TGS. His areas of expertise include
project set-up, ArcInfo tools and applications for production or quality assurance processes,
and complex data translation from one system or format to another. Mr. Krumm has
managed and provided technical support on virtually every type of project TGS has done
since 1986. He has attended ArcInfo training sessions at ESRI's Redlands, CA offices and
ArcInfo User Conferences at various locations.
Meisha Glazer. Man= of Professional Services / Production Manager
Ms. Glazer has bee the Director of Professional Services at TGS since April of 2001. She is
responsible for managing sales and production effort for the Fort Collins division of Techni
Graphic Systems, Inc. Her major functions include: 1) Managing Sales team and assisting
with proposal creations, 2) Maintaining expenses at a budgeted level, 3) Discovering and
pursuing new business partners and opportunities 4) Staffing projects once they are won, 5)
Tracking all projects that are currently active and the labor efficiency of those working on
them, and 6) Scheduling future projects and future TGS personnel needs.
Availability
TGS is willing to dedicate the necessary resources to this project immediately in order to
meet all deadlines in the project timeline. TGS is aware that the Purchase Order will be
issued May 246' and that the due date for the Pilot Project will be June 6" . TGS is also aware
that the final delivery data is July 8`s.
Methodology
After receipt of the addendum, it has been brought to the attention of TGS this project
should be treated as though being comprised of two tasks.
The first task deals with creating annotation on all parcels of the COFCs parcel coverage
utilizing an external address file. TGS has reviewed the address file and the parcel coverage
along with the orientation requirements of the PFA and has come up with an automated
solution to capturing the annotation within the ESRI Arc8.1 environment and adjusting the
placement of that annotation according to the parcel's orientation.
The process TGS has derived is contingent upon the deliverable being the annotation
subclass only. This was confirmed to be true through a telephone conversation with Tim
Morales. The reason behind TGS needing the parcel coverage to not be a deliverable is the
first step of our proposed methodology is converting the regions within the parcel coverage
into polygons. These polygons or, more specifically, the arcs that create them, will become
the means for orienting the annotation.
A link has been identified between the parcel coverage and the external address file, and that
link is the parcel number. This link will be utilized to create the annotation. A tool has been
created that will run through all of the polygons within the parcel coverage and find the
related address information from the external file. If the parcel number in the external
address file has a corresponding address number, that number will be placed in the $text
field of the annotation. This is how the annotations will be derived. All of the parcel
polygons will be gone through utilizing cursors.
Placement of the annotations will be contingent upon the angle of orientation of the arcs
creating the parcel polygon. Given a single point position of an annotation, the
repositioning to a two -point orientation is derived from x, y ratio of a selected arc's nodes
coordinates. Offset from the single point position will be +/- 0.5 feet on both the x and y
coordinates to create a two -point annotation centered on its origin and will be approximately
a foot in length. This will create an angle for the annotation that is perpendicular to the
nodes of the street side arc. This will allow for the placement of the annotation to replicate
that outlined in the example shown in the RFP.
TGS has already experimented with the above methodology and has found that it works. All
of the annotation is placed according to the angle of the parcel it resides within. However,
given the PFA's specific quality guidelines, QC will be performed on the entire coverage.
Each parcel will be reviewed for placement accuracy and changed accordingly if needed.
The second task surrounds creating a secondary annotation subclass for building numbers
for town home and condominium parcels. This information cannot be derived using any
automated procedures due to the origin of the data. TGS understands the map book
currently used by the PFA is the only source for this information. With the below
methodology proposed, TGS recommends a new parcel shape file be turned into the COFC
as a deliverable.
Each page will be reviewed and assessed for containing condominium or town home parcels.
At the same time the page is being assessed, the parcel coverage with the page number grid
will be available using ArcView. Whenever the map book and the parcel coverage match,
meaning the parcels indicated in the map book are represented in the parcel coverage a
unique number will be added to that parcel polygon. That unique number will than be
replicated within the external address file along with the building number as it appears within
the map book, parcel number, address number and any other information the PFA feels is
necessary to duplicate. If the map page and corresponding parcel coverage do not match, no
further actions will be taken to add building number information to either the parcel
coverage or the external address file.
TGS estimates there are 540 pages to be reviewed contained within two map books. Once
all of the pages have been reviewed and assessed and all data has been added to the external
address file and the unique identifiers have been attributed to the parcel shape file, the parcel
shape file will be converted into a coverage. A region to poly routine will be run on the
coverage to create polygons out of the regions, and a routine will be run on the data similar
to the routine mentioned above.
The difference between the above methodology and that needed for this new data will be the
relate item. In this procedure the relate item will be the unique identifier. If a parcel within
the external address file has a unique identifier that correlates to a unique identifier within
the parcel coverage, the building will be added to a building annotation subclass and oriented
according to the above methodology.
Ultimately the original parcel coverage will be altered to adhere to the addition of a new
annotation subclass that will be related to a new item as suggested by the COFC.
Cost Estimate
The following cost estimate has been prepared specifically for The City of Fort Collins
Proposal Number P-836. This cost estimate has been prepared in good faith with
information provided by The City of Fort Collins. TGS will charge the amounts set forth in
the cost estimate unless there is a change in scope.
Task 1
Placement of 58,000 parcel addresses linked to City's address database:
QA/QC of Address Annotation and Placement:
Delivery of Addresses as ESRI ArcInfo annotation subclass:
Subtotal:
Task 2
Review and assess 540 map book pages:
QA/QC of Building Annotation and Placement:
Delivery of Address and Annotation ESRI ArcInfo annotation subclass:
Subtotal:
Total:
N%v-
�W-
Cost
$11,500
$5000
N/C y
$16,500 (13 SW
$7,000
,$5,OOOA4
N/C
$12,000
$28,500
(21�°14�
Experience and Reference Summary
Client:
Jefferson County, Colorado
Dates:
2/28/2001- Present
Project:
Parcel Annotation
Cost:
$301,000
Contact:
Jefferson County Assessor's Office
100 Jefferson County Parkway
Golden, CO 80419-2500
Project Scope and Description:
TGS has been working with Jefferson County on this phased project that consists of data
conversion for county wide cadastral maps, custom font set creation and application
development.
Phase I
TGS was contracted by Jefferson County to update existing cadastral maps by
capturing and coding annotation from hard copy source material. In order to
duplicate the `look' of the hard copy source material, TGS created a custom font set
that included all symbols and font styles that were currently in use by Jefferson
County's map division. TGS completed Phase I with a 99.6% accuracy rate.
Phase II
Following Jefferson County's assessment of the overall quality and accuracy of their
mapping database, TGS has been tasked with updating Jefferson County's database
in an effort to give the county's own GIS division a head start for future
maintenance. In addition to completing map updates, TGS' application development
team has been tasked with designing a mapping database management tool for use by
Jefferson County's GIS division upon completion of Phase II.
Client:
Larimer County, Colorado
Dates:
March 1999 - Ongoing
Project:
Parcel Conversion and GIS Support
Cost:
$50,000
Contact:
Jeff Rulli, County GIS Coordinator
200 West Oak Street
Fort Collins, CO 80522
(970) 498-7732
rullij@co.larimer.co.us
Project Scope and Description:
TGS provides Latimer County GIS with on -going GIS support and data conversion
services. Most projects involve the conversion of Larimer County's various cadastral data
types to ArcInfo coverages.
Platted Subdivisions
Larimer County, Colorado sits along Colorado's front range. Over the past 10 years,
this area has experienced rapid growth and development. As a result, new
subdivisions are platted on an ever-increasing basis. TGS has helped Larimer County
GIS keep pace with the rapid addition of new platted subdivisions.
Parcel Layer Creation
TGS is in the process of helping Larimer County create a new, fully -annotated parcel
layer for the entire county. This project consists of splitting parcel data out of an
AutoCAD Axf layer into ArcInfo coverages. The parcel data must be cleaned, re-
built, snapped to an existing quarter section coverage and edge -matched.
Voter Precinct Redistricting
TGS has enabled Larimer County to efficiently meet the requirements of the
Federally mandated redistricting of its voter precincts. This was accomplished
through a two-part process. In the first phase, TGS created a parcel address point
coverage by linking the parcel number to the address in the Assessors database.
Voter addresses from the Elections database were then geocoded to the
corresponding parcel address. This provided the county with a point coverage of the
total number of voters that reside in each parcel. During the second phase of the
project, TGS technicians worked side -by -side with elections staff members to re-
draw precinct boundaries based on the voter points coverage. TGS programmers
created ArcView extensions to easily calculate the total number of voters in a
proposed precinct and assign the new precinct number to each voter in the precinct.
Client:
Denver Water Board
Dates:
August 1999 — March 2001
Project:
GIS Consulting Services
Cost:
$499,000
Contact:
Mr. Dan Genrich, Applications Development Manager
1600 West 12th Ave.
Denver, CO. 80524
303-628-6253
dhg@water.denver.co.gov
Project Scope and Description:
TGS was contracted by Denver Water to update their GIS through entry of 2 years
worth of facilities as -built drawings and landbase parcel and easement information.
TGS created a custom Arc/Info application to run on a Unix and NT platform that
replicated Denver Water's custom BaySys application that ran Arc/Info 7.2.1 on an
OpenVMS platform and stored the GIS data as a Map Library. The application also
connected to and updated a related Oracle database that held the attribute
information and generated unique feature identifiers. Custom tools and routines
were added to this application to further automate capture and coding tasks and thus
make production more efficient.
This project was the first use by Denver Water of an outside consultant to update
their GIS. TGS and Denver Water uncovered numerous data quality issues during
the initial Project Planning Meetings and Project Initiation Phase. A recent
migration to Oracle left about 7% of the features without unique identifiers.
Additionally, no Arc/Info tools had been written to perform QA/QC on coverages
before they were reinserted into the Library. AML routines were written to create
tables in Oracle to track the manipulation of graphic features so that the
synchronicity between the graphic features and the records in the Oracle database
could be maintained and quality checked. Several other data integrity issues were
also identified involving data corruption and application errors
TGS was able to incorporate an existing Data Dictionary that defined all of the
Arc/Info feature classes, the related Oracle tables, and all of the valid values for
attributing each feature, into the custom application. This approach to application
design, which coded QA procedures into the forms and routines, allowed TGS to
take a proactive approach to minimizing technician error and to eliminating non -
valid attribution of features. Project documentation was produced that outlined the
conversion methodology and set guidance for feature extraction. The Project
Manager set project milestones, tracked the project progress through all project
steps.
The first project contract was worth $324,000. Based on TGS' performance of the
first contract, a second contract for $175,000 was awarded to enter 751 additional as -
built drawings into the GIS. The methodology used to capture and code features
was identical to that of the first contract. However, the methodology for extracting
data from the Library and the associated QC steps were changed dramatically for the
second contract to address changes in operations policy at Denver Water.