Master Coder Ups City’s Data Game

Alfredo Herrera’s digital app-titude is putting New Haven on the map — and putting color-coded maps in the hands of government problem-solvers.

Herrera, city government’s staff GIS (Geographic Information System) analyst, is in the midst of a years-long process to create databases and apps that combine information collected by different departments so inspectors and policymakers can share information and chart solutions.

Tuesday morning Herrera displayed some of the finished products and previewed upcoming ones at a press briefing in the mayor’s conference room. His work earned him and the city national recognition in July with a ​“special achievement” award from the Environmental Systems Research Institute.

City Controller Daryl Jones placed Herrera’s work in the context of a broader six-year computer systems upgrade. ​“When we first started, the city could barely send an email out,” Jones said; now it has three data systems and systems to collect and sift through information to tackle building code, public safety, public health (overdoses and lead paint) and economic development challenges. ​“This new mapping strategy will advance efforts to streamline government, maximize efficiencies, and provide for taxpayers the greatest possible value in terms of where city services are directed, and where city resources are brought to bear,” said Mayor Toni Harp.

You can watch Herrera’s presentation and Harp’s and Jones’ remarks in the above video.

Herrera has created ​“story maps” like the one above for city neighborhoods, for instance. They go on the city website. The maps dig deep on problem properties, crimes, owner-occupied versus absentee-owned buildings, and traffic accidents. (The crime and traffic reports and data are currently available only to city officials; Herrera’s working on code to remove private information from documents so they can become public as well.)

The info combines data collected by housing code inspectors, fire inspectors, cops, and other city agencies. It puts them in one place. The development of this app is part of the Harp administration’s neighborhood sweeps program. (Read about that here, here and here.) In coming weeks Herrera plans to train department heads in how to use an app o call up all that central information to address problems. The system will also notify, say, the head of the Livable City Initiative (LCI) when fire inspectors learn of missing smoke detectors of an illegal rooming house — with the aim of preventing problems like those that led to a fatal fire on May 5 on West Street.

Herrera has tapped into national business databases to create neighborhood and citywide maps on topics like levels of internet usage on both home computers and phones. Controller Jones said the internet maps will help guide the city’s emerging plan to bridge the digital divide. Similarly, breakdowns on where people buy how much wine helped the city work with a wine shop owner about potential areas for market expansion. Jones spoke of using fine-grain analysis of worker’s compensation claims to identify targeted cost-cutting solutions like retraining and buying gloves for cafeteria workers.

Other useful tools for investors, entrepreneurs, realtors, property owners, and tenants include an Opportunity Zones map (pictured) as well as daily-updated data from the assessor’s office on property sales. It will take a while to incorporate truly real-time data on real-estate transactions because those come from the City/Town Clerk’s office system, which is separate and still needs syncing with the assessor’s, according to Herrera.

Teens got in on the act this summer, creating story maps as part of a city-Microsoft ​“Digicamp” steering people to the best barber shops, sweets shops, and pizza parlors in town.

Not surprisingly, Herrera is having the time of his life geeking out in in the interest of helping save lives and improve communal life.

“This stuff has been difficult to use,” Herrera, who’s 39, said of government data. ​“I see it as my job to make sure this stuff is easier to use.”