The City of Newport News has made more than 50 city datasets available for citizens to view, download and manipulate through a new online portal, GeoHUB. This data sharing portal provides a user-friendly way to access city data and information about the many projects and initiatives throughout the city in a manner that helps drive innovation, increase civic participation, and improve how the city serves its residents.
The datasets are organized in broad categories such as Land Records, Infrastructure, Arts and Culture, Planning and Development, Recreation, Public Safety, Environment and Community that citizens can access and explore. Multiple formats are available, including downloadable GIS layers, and can be visualized in maps, charts, graphs and tables.
Data stories in GeoHUB bring together maps, photos, videos, and text to craft a narrative about city initiatives and feature topics such as tours of fire stations, public art or bike trails; information on stormwater operations; and access to data from water level monitoring sensors throughout the city. GeoHUB also offers a map gallery with both interactive and printable maps, as well as information on the city’s drone program among other features. Additional datasets and mapping applications will be released as they become available and are ready to be explored by the public.
The Newport News GeoHUB can be accessed at geohub.nnva.gov, and offers a video tutorial as well as a site guide to learn how to navigate all of the aspects of the site.