Loading...
02-06-2001 - Aerial PhotographyTO: Daniel G. Hobbs, City Manager and City Council FROM: Thomas M. Mayer Public Works Director/City Engineer SUBJECT: AERIAL. PHOTOGRAPHY City of West Covina Memoran' um AGEN A ITEM NO. C-66 DATE February 6, 2001 SUMMARY: In pursuing the Aerial Photography project approved within the Capital Improvement Program, staff has participated, in a , Request for Proposal and selection process involving eight firms and eleven San Gabriel Valley cities which resulted in a recommendation to utilize the professional services of Walker Associates, Inc., a subsidiary of Sanborn Map Company. BACKGROUND: The City has historically had citywide aerial photography done about every five years. The last photography was done in February 1991. Due to funding constraints and a decreasing rate of changes within the City, funding for updated aerial photography was delayed until $40,Q110 was budgeted in the 1998-1999 Fiscal Year of the Capital Improvement Program. However, the current method of aerial photography is no longer simple scaled aerial pictures but is )'digital orthophotography" (computerized aerial photography) which normally becomes part of a GIS. Since the estimated cost of digital orthophotography for the City was $100,000 to $120,000, the City pursued a multi -agency approach to obtaining the digital orthophotography with some cost benefits from an' increased scope. In early 2000, staff proposed to the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments that they sponsor a multi -agency approach to digital orthophotography. Although, they did not sponsor the effort, they did support it with the first meeting of city staffs held in April 2000. From that meeting, six cities decided to pursue the matter with West Covina selected as the lead agency. A Request for Proposal was sent to eleven firms with eight responding. From those, three were selected to make presentations to, by then, eight cities. Revised proposals were submitted and reviewed by eleven interested cities. Walker Associates, Inc., a subsidiary of Sanborn Map Company was selected by the eleven cities. The initial selection criteria had thirteen components and the final criteria had three components consisting of Methodology, Flexibility, and.Pricing. DISCUSSION: Digital orthophotography results in a computerized color image of the city that almost any city employee can access at their workplace. The image can be viewed from containing a few residential properties up to an entire neighborhood. The image can be changed in scale from 1" _ 50' to l" = 500'. Depending upon the desired size of any hard copy, the image can be printed on an office printer for smaller prints or on the Engineering Division plotter for larger prints. The product has its own viewing software using."MR. SID" compressed files and can easily',,become part of a GIS. In addition, the deliverables include color digital orthophotos at a reduced resolution that can be used for neighborhood or citywide studies, presentations, and exhibits. These files could be used to commercially produce murals of the City or portions of the City for temporary or semi -permanent displays. In comparison, the standard aerial photography is on 1" = 100' black and white negatives maintained in the Engineering Division. When a print is desired, one or more aerial negatives are selected to be run on a blueprint machine. Oftentimes, the print needs to be cut and tapedtogether to cover a desired area. And there is no ability to change the scale to fit particular needs. t The increase in employee productively as well, as flexibility in using digital orthophotography as compared to aerial photography is considered to be very valuable. Therefore, staff pursued methods of procurement that would result in a reduced manageable cost. XAAGENDA - 2001\AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY.doc2001-106 (CT) Daniel G. Hobbs, City Manager and City Council Page 2 — February 6, 2001 The cost for the City of West Covina amounts to $68,200 and consists of $62,500 for the basic digital orthophotography, $4,500 for color digital orthophotos, and $1,200 for MR. SID compressed files. The MR. SID compression is particularly suited for this application in that it provides a very high compression rate which reduces hard disk storage requirements while increasing file mobility. Walker Associates, Inc., is willing to do the field,and aerial work in this fiscal year and, assuming additional City funding during the next fiscal year, to finish the office work and provide the deliverables later in 2001. The cost for the first phase would be $32,600 with the second phase cost being $35,600. The cost of $68,200 is significantly less than the estimated cost of $100,000 to $120,000 when digital orthophotography was first considered. Although not specifically addressed by Walker Associates, Inc., other proposers indicated that the multi -agency approach to this work provides a savings of 20 to 25% for each city. OPTIONS: The City Council has a few options: • Do not authorize obtaining digital orthophotography, thereby continuing to use ten -year -old aerial photos. • Fund an additional $28,600 at this time from the General Fund Reserves resulting in an earlier completion and utilization of the digital orthophotography. • Authorize proceeding with the first phase of the digital orthophotography in this fiscal year with funding for the second phase to be included in the 2001-2002 Capital Improvement Program. FISCAL IMPACT: There is currently $39,600 available in Aerial Maps Project No. MP-99108 (Account No. 114- 320-3928-7900) to fund the first phase ($32,600) of this project and the remaining funding of $28,600 will be requested as part of the 2001-2002 Capital Improvement Program. If the City Council were to desire to fund the $28,600 at this time, the only source of funds available is General Fund Reserves (Account No. 110-300). RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the City Council authorize the Public Works Director/City Engineer to execute an agreement with Walker Associates, Inc., to provide digital orthophotography in accordance with their proposal within the project budget established by the City Council. �40 Thomas M. Mayer Public Works Director/City Engineer Revipwoo and approved by: Artie Fields Acting Finance Director X:\AGENDA - 2001\AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY.doc:2001-106(CT)