In 2001, the Village of Norridge switched from manual water meter readers to an automatic meter reading system that sends usage information through a secure, long range wireless network. Each meter has a module called a Meter Transmission Unit (MTU) that reads each water meter and forwards the meter usage data to the Data Collector Units (DCU). The DCUs receive, process, and store all the information from the MTUs, then forward the information to a Network Control Computer at Village Hall. This allows the Village staff to run reports and create water bills using the information gathered. Eventually, the MTUs have to be replaced and one of the indicators is if the unit had not read for prolonged period of time. The Village of Norridge wanted a way to map out which MTU units had not read for a period longer than five days, so that they could start to keep an eye on them to see if they would eventually re-sync, or would have to be replaced.

Joint Utility Locating Information for Excavators (JULIE) is a not-for-profit corporation that provides homeowners and professional excavators with one place to call for safe digging. JULIE serves as a message handling notification service for underground facility owners, taking information about planned excavations and distributing this information to its membership. It is then the responsibility of each facility owner to mark the location of their underground facilities at the excavation site. In Norridge, this means that every time JULIE receives a call, the Public Works department has to go out and do all the locating. JULIE bases the calls (and the facility owner) off of a series of boundaries that are based off of Township Quarter sections. If an underground facility is just barely within a quarter section boundary, the facility owner receives a phone call every time utilities need to be located within that quarter section, even if the location is not near the owned facilities. JULIE allows communities and other facility owners to submit their own boundaries to reduce the amount of calls each facility owner receives.

In April 2012, the Village of Norridge decided, in honor of Earth Day, to hold a village wide clean up of all village parkways. The idea was for residents to volunteer their time and pick up trash and garbage along roads in the village and then drop it off at designated locations. The Public Works department would then pick up all the trash left at each drop off. The Village asked the GIS department to put together a series of maps to inform the residents where they could drop off any trash they collected.

The Village of Norridge has a reverse 911 system called Blackboard Connect. The system sends out messages to residents registered in the system about events happening in the village. Registration is optional and the village is trying to persuade residents to complete applications to join the service. To find out which residents are not registered, the Village is using its in-house GIS mapping program, MapOffice™ Advanced to find the addresses of people who do not receive a phone call.

Every year, the Village of Norridge has a set amount of money, based on different sources, which they can use for repaving streets. For 2012, the Village has determined a list of what streets they would like to pave with the option to modify the list based on actual costs. The list was based off of a variety of factors such as age, pavement condition, and location. The Village of Norridge used maps created by the GIS department to help with their decision.

During the major snowstorm of February 2011, the Village of Norridge Public Works staff needed to start plowing the alleys so that residents could get their vehicles out of their garages. Unfortunately, the amount of snow prohibited staff from plowing them. The Village wanted to send notices to all residents along the alleys to assure them that they would be cleared of snow as soon as possible. The village did not have a current list of the addresses along the alleys and asked the GIS department to create a list that could be added to the village’s CTY Reverse 911 system.

Whenever a resident of the Village of Norridge decides to have a garage sale, they are required to register for a permit from the village and pay a specific fee. The Village, in turn, keeps a record of all the garage sales for a year, only allowing a resident to hold three sales a year. The Village requested that the garage sale information, (location and dates), be made available to the public on the village website. The GIS department was tasked with creating a map that would show the garage sale information and be easily updated.

The Village of Norridge has a reverse 911 system called Blackboard Connect, that’s purpose is to send out a mass phone call, text or email as long as the village resident is registered. The Village was noticing that not all residents were receiving notifications and wanted to make sure every resident knew about the program and its benefits. The Village determined it wanted to send out a mass letter to any resident not registered in the program and asked the GIS Department for help.

When the Village of Norridge needs to send out a mass mailing to its residents, the Village typically uses the addresses found in the water billing database. After each mailing, the Village typically receives a small amount of letters deemed undeliverable. In an effort to eliminate the undeliverable letters, the Village decided to go through the database and make sure all the addresses in the village were accounted for. They decided to map out the water addresses using a GIS process called geocoding.

The Village of Norridge is a densely populated community with many residential streets running through each neighborhood. Parking restrictions can vary from street to street, and in some instances, vary on the same street. The village keeps a list of each parking restriction in the municipal code, but it can be difficult to track each restriction based on a list. The village of Norridge requested that a map be created showing every parking restriction, so that if a resident had any questions, a village employee could access the information easily.

When a street light is out in the Village of Norridge, staff members at village hall will receive phone calls from residents detailing where the outage is located. The office staff makes a note of the outage and then contacts someone in public works to investigate the issue. In the case of multiple people calling about the same outage, multiple notes would be made due to an insufficient way of tracking which outages have been reported. With the help of the GIS department, the village was able to implement a map using MapOffice™ Advanced that village staff can access that shows live data of the status of each street light outage.

The Village of Norridge has 19 bus shelters along various routes that are owned by a private company but our on village property. Each of these bus shelters has space for advertisements which brings in money that is split between the private company and the village. Community Development and Finance asked for a way to show the information in a way that showed potential advertisers the locations they would be purchasing.

The Village of Norridge is currently in the process of creating a series of bike routes throughout its borders showing residents and visitors how to get to important locations within the village and just outside its limits. The village allows bikers to use the sidewalk to avoid car traffic, so the bike routes were designed with that in mind. Even though bikers can go down any sidewalk, the idea is to post signs along sidewalks that will get them to locations such as the forest preserve, Harlem and Irving Plaza shopping center, and the village hall.

The Village of Norridge has a street light system that contains lights owned by the village and lights owned and operated by ComEd. H&H Electric, which maintains the village owned lights, provided the village with multiple maps showing the ownership of each light, how they are all connected, and the control boxes for each system.

The Village of Norridge has begun putting together a village parking inventory for all public and private parking lots. The inventory will allow the village to determine whether each parking lot meets all regulations for such things as size and number of handicapped spaces. The inventory will also allow economic development to help sell properties by providing the prospective buyer with the amount of parking spaces available for customers.

The Village of Norridge has begun mapping out traffic accident information in an effort to try and limit the amount of accidents in high traffic areas and understand why accidents occur in low traffic areas. A map was created using data provided by the police department detailing the locations of traffic accidents by month. Accident locations were added to the map and categorized by type (property damage, personal injury, village property, fatality). Eventually, as data from previous months is added to the database, patterns will begin to emerge.

The Village of Norridge requires that every residential property within the Village limits to have at least 65% green space on the property. This means that the homeowner can only have 35% of the property consist of impervious surface areas such as the building, garage, driveway, and patios. Any resident in violation of this policy can face fines and may be forced to make changes to their property. In the past, the Village would calculate the green space percentage by measuring the area of the parcels and the features using a ruler and a pencil. The Village asked the GIS department to come up with something that would aid in their analysis.

The Village of Norridge has a newsletter that they typically mail to all addresses in the village. In addition to going to all houses, the newsletters are sent to every unit in every apartment or condo building. Because of the natural turnover in apartment renting, many times the newsletters come back to the village because there is no one currently living at the address. This costs the village money in returned and wasted postage. The village asked the GIS department to come up with a map that would present a solution to the problem.

Since 1994, the Estelle Sieb Center in Norridge has, among other things, held classes and meetings for local communities in law enforcement, fire protection, etc…Typically, these classes can last all day, requiring the attendees to find a place for lunch. In the past, the center would have a few old maps or a village employee would mention a few places in the area. The village wanted to create an updated map that could be distributed to all attendees that would show the locations of restaurants in the village as well as a few near by in Chicago. The village asked the GIS department to put together a map showing up to date restaurant locations.

In the past few years, the Village of Norridge has contracted a company to come out and take an inventory of all the trees within the village limits. In addition to the location of each tree, the company inventoried the species, trunk size, health, and other descriptive information. Although the database that was created from the information has been useful, the village was looking to better utilize the information.

The village of Norridge sent a survey to its residents, attached to the water bill, requesting information about their experience with flooding in or near their residence. The survey consisted of a few questions relating to if the resident’s street or house had flooded in the past year. The resident’s were to answer “yes” or “no”, and then mail the surveys back to the village. The responses would help the village determine where flooding in the village is a major concern and help plan where they may need to replace existing storm sewer infrastructure. The village asked the GIS department to map out the responses by address to get a visualization of the flooding within the village.

Every year the Village of Norridge requires its resident’s to purchase a sticker (permit) for each owned vehicle. This sticker allows the resident to park on village streets without receiving a fine. The village keeps track of each sticker purchased each year and requested that the GIS department map out each address and find which households had not purchased a sticker for 2009.

Although many of the Village of Norridge employees choose to live within the village limits, only the department heads are required to live in Norridge. There was concern about some employees living far outside the village. Therefore, a study was done to determine if a village residency requirement was needed for all village employees. The Public Works Department employees were of special concern as they are required to be on call for both water breaks and snow plowing. If a public works employee lives too far away, they may not be able to respond to an emergency and burden the rest of the department. The village asked the Geographic Information System (GIS) department to create a map showing the distances from Norridge to the surrounding city and suburbs.

The Village of Norridge is unusual in the fact that street parking is allowed on nearly every street within the village. Any person can park their car on a village street except for certain sections being designated “Resident Parking Only,” meaning that a village sticker is required to park a vehicle on that section of a street. The village created these restrictions based on a few factors. For example, many of the residential streets near the Harlem and Irving Park Shopping Center are marked as resident only to stop overflow shoppers from the mall taking spots needed by the residents. Streets near Norridge Park are deemed “resident only” to allow residents to park on their streets when there are popular events held at the park creating an overflow from the parking lot located within Norridge Park. The village requested a map to show all “Resident Only” parking so that village employees would no longer have to sort through the ordinances to determine the specific locations and restrictions.

Although less than two square miles in size, the Village of Norridge contains numerous restaurants and eating establishments that reflect the diversity of the area. The village website keeps a list of these establishments, but never has had a map indicating the location of each restaurant. Using the ability of a Geographic Information System (GIS) program to create location points within Google Maps, a map was created showing the location of each restaurant within the village as well as address information and a link to the restaurants website. This interactive map located on the village website allows the user to find restaurants within the village based on location.

Due to its close proximity to the City of Chicago, the Village of Norridge has an extensive bus route system containing routes from the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Pace and its own publically funded internal system. These routes travel on every major street within the village and in most cases overlap each other creating a vast network of routes and stops. If a village resident wanted to know what routes traveled through the village, the resident would have to access the individual websites for the CTA, Pace and the Village of Norridge to get information about their respective routes.

With a desire to promote the village’s technology profile, the IT Department went forward and created a section of the village website dedicated to the Geographic Information System (GIS) program. This would allow village residents to access information from their own computers as well as at their own convenience rather than having to acquire information from a person in village hall such as they had done previously done in the past.

The recent collection of planimetric data or improved features such as buildings, roadways, parking lots, driveways, etc. in Elk Grove Village has provided for some new analysis possibilities through its GIS (Geographic Information System). One of the evaluations conducted was the distance between primary building structures and also a count of the number of addresses that exist within each building structure.