Dive Brief:
- The City of North Miami, FL will work with Gridics, a Florida-based real estate technology company, on a municipal zoning technology platform that will use 3D zoning software to visually test proposed zoning changes.
- By uploading property records and parcel shapes, Gridics will create a 3D zoning map that can be updated in real time. North Miami says the technology will make it easier for citizens and developers to visualize and interpret how zoning requirements apply to properties and to visualize development potential.
- "At Gridics, our core mission is to do our part to make cities and communities better places to live, work and play,” CEO Jason Doyle said in a statement. “Zoning plays a foundational role in achieving that mission so we set out to make zoning easier to visualize and understand."
Dive Insight:
The partnership with North Miami — located halfway between Miami and Fort Lauderdale — marks another Florida partnership for Gridics, which has also teamed up with Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Delray Beach. In June, the company also expanded its ZONAR software to New York City.
The idea is to simplify and speed up the cumbersome zoning process. Regulations can be difficult to understand, rule changes may have unintended consequences and visualization software can be expensive and inaccessible to some developers. Some cities still don’t even have digital zoning maps because of the cost and labor required.
Having a 3D map will help the government and the public alike see how new development can impact the city, and work in real time to make changes. For example, feasibility plans or site reviews can be done quicker by showing a building code for a specific plot.
Cities are embracing 3D and advanced mapping technology to modernize normally difficult civic functions. A new application will come soon with the partnership between Mapillary and Amazon Rekognition to help cities catalog and analyze parking sign data.
