The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDoT) and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) are working with Ecopia to develop a high-definition map of land cover and transportation networks in the state. The mapping project is intended to ensure that metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) across Illinois have accurate, up-to-date information at scale for decision-making in the areas of: transportation; housing; economic development; open space; the environment; and other quality of life issues.
CMAP includes 286 member municipalities, making the standardization and maintenance of regional data quite complex.
“The partnership with Ecopia empowers us with an unprecedented level of detail and accuracy about northeastern Illinois,” said Erin Aleman, executive director, CMAP. “These comprehensive and up-to-date views of transportation and land cover will help CMAP, and local decision makers, drive innovation and develop projects that serve our region’s 8.5 million residents.”
Ecopia’s artificial intelligence-based mapping systems enables it to ingest high-resolution geospatial imagery data and output transportation-related map features with high-precision at a large-scale. It extracts 26 distinct features, including land cover types (roads, sidewalks, and crosswalks) and advanced transportation features (turning lanes, medians, stoplines) to provide a complete view of the region’s land use and pedestrian mobility network.
These 26 features will be used by state and local agencies to support a number of applications, including:
- state and regional long range transportation plans;
- multimodal analysis;
- active transportation planning;
- vision zero initiatives;
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance;
- stormwater and flood management;
- performance-based capital program monitoring;
- intersection and corridor analysis;and
- tree canopy management.
“IDoT is excited to provide resources to metropolitan planning organizations with an innovative data tool for critical statewide infrastructure,” added Holly Bieneman, director of IDoT’s Office of Planning & Programming.