Mapping Project Criteria and FAQs
Criteria
We started this project by trying to identify the best areas of town to use within our pilot phase. To do this, we chose to use the following two criteria:
Traffic counts : The purpose of this project is to highlight smaller, local businesses, so we wanted to use areas of town that had low-to-mid-levels of traffic counts. This would let us highlight areas that had some traffic, but might not be getting the level of customers they could be getting.Business density : We wanted to make sure that this project was valuable to residents and visitors that were going to be in a location and could benefit from the nearby businesses as well. Using ArcGIS, we determined which areas of town had at least 3 businesses per city block.
We are using the following criteria to decide which businesses qualify for the pilot phase of the Mapping Project.
A for-profit business that conducts a commercial transaction (providing a good/service) with the public Less than 50 full-time employees per location Not a franchise (local franchises may be included in the next phase) Minimum of 90 days in business and at the present location Physical presence in the area (office within a building or street-level facade) Not a liquor store or a sexually-oriented business as defined by the Local Government Code Not an apartment complex Not a religious building or group
We have categorized all of our qualified businesses into 14 categories:
Amusement/Recreation/Athletic
Art, music, photography, video, and Web
Automotive services and repair
Body and health
Construction and house services
Consulting
Eat and drink
Engineering/architectural/design services
Hotel/Motel/B&B
Legal services
Marketing and advertising
Real estate services
Retail/Wholesale
Service establishments
Using the map
Google maps is a very user-friendly application, and we want to provide you a few tips on how to get the most out of it. On any Mapping Project Web page, you can zoom in or zoom out, and select any of the icons to find out information about specific businesses.
Zoom in and out : You can zoom in by double clicking anywhere on the map, or by using the "+" sign at the top left of the map. Zoom out by clicking the "-" sign.Move around : By default, you will see a hand as you hover over the map. Click your mouse once and hold it to move the map in any direction.Getting business info : We have listed all of the businesses for the selected business area or business type below the map on each Web page. When you click on the business name, the screen will move back to the map and the business information will pop-up automatically. Or just use the map to click on the icons and the business information will appear.
Business information and disclaimer
We have used the above criteria to determine which businesses are included in the pilot phase of this project. All efforts have been made to contact businesses to make sure we are providing the correct information about the business. If you are a business owner and would like to correct, update, or add information to your listing, please contact the following:
Preston StewartPreston.Stewart(at)ci.austin.tx.us
