Downtown Partnership of Baltimore

Home: Baltimore, Maryland
Serving: Downtown Baltimore, Maryland

The Downtown Partnership of Baltimore is a non-profit corporation that promotes vibrancy for businesses, property owners, residents, employees, and visitors in the heart of Baltimore. For more than 25 years, its programs have led to increased investment, growing numbers of residents, restaurants, and retail stores, improved quality of life, retention of key employers, solutions to transportation challenges, improved parks and green spaces, and workforce development opportunities.

One of the ongoing challenges faced by The Partnership is maintaining awareness of street amenities within the city. When responding to reports of damaged trash cans, graffiti, or broken flower pots, for example, it has lacked an appropriate system to map and track all these assets, making the resolution of the issues more difficult.

With the goal of building a unified database to manage these small but important assets, The Partnership tapped Datastory for assistance. We created a cost-effective solution that enables their staff to use smartphones to collect information from the street. Using Esri’s ArcGIS platform, we created a layered database that stores the data, including photos, and presents it to stakeholders on a map-based platform.

Today, Downtown Partnership is using this enterprise mapping platform to create a comprehensive awareness of the business community it serves. Data on maps offer a new vantage point that help proactively address the issues. And by collecting and sharing information among stakeholders, they’re promoting a new kind of collaboration that’s spurring a healthier business environment.