How to Communicate with Accuracy and Clarity Using Remix Streets’ Advanced Editing

Though the pandemic has upended business-as-usual for nearly all industries, municipal governments still uphold the lofty responsibility of moving people safely, efficiently, and equitably, but now with a COVID twist. As COVID cases continue to rise:

• The word “efficiency” has been turned on its head as planners are being forced to challenge the ideal of moving more people in less space.
• Safety must now include a social distancing component.
• And a city’s equity goals become harder to achieve when a planner’s ability to host public meetings and chat with community members is stripped away.

Additionally, municipal staffers are working from home, posing unprecedented challenges in cross functional collaboration and stakeholder buy-in.

Now, more than ever, cities need to leverage cloud-based software for better virtual collaboration and engagement. This is why we launched Advanced Editing in Remix Streets. Advanced Editing helps transportation professionals produce accurate, realistic, and compelling concept designs in order to communicate ideas more effectively, provide clarity for better cross functional collaboration, and build trust and consensus across the organization.

How does it work?

Advanced Editing is a feature in Remix Streets, a cloud-based software platform that empowers transportation professionals to quickly illustrate complex street concepts, in plan view, with data. Here we will take you on a visual journey of how it can work for you.

1. Remix magically brings a network to life.‍

In just a few minutes, a transportation professional can activate streets in Remix and use the lane cards to modify the street right-of-way to better reflect the existing network.

Working in plan view allows users to reflect the nuances along a street segment, compared to the limited cross-sectional view, which typically only represents the approach of an intersection. The plan view, or network view, unlocks unlimited design options. ‍

2. Design safer intersections with data.

Intersections are critical nodes in the road network with the bulk of the overall street activity and conflict. Because Remix Streets is designed to help you simultaneously use data and design in plan view, it is uniquely positioned to help you visualize intersection improvements.

3. Bring accuracy to your concepts with Advanced Editing

Advanced Editing brings a new level of accuracy to Remix Streets by allowing users to edit any curves on the road network (e.g. tapers, transitions, lane lines) down to a one foot accuracy. The sophistication of designs created in Remix Streets streamlines cross functional conversations, especially between planning and engineering teams, while providing more compelling visuals to build stakeholder buy-in.

4. Bring your plans to life with Remix’s “Quick Builds” Kit

Cities across the globe are implementing low-cost, flexible transportation solutions to address the emerging social distancing needs from the COVID-19 pandemic. Solutions have included active/slow streets, streateries, and other quick-build projects. Use Remix to convey road closures or infrastructure conducive to social distancing so that you can implement your quick-build projects right away.

Why is Advanced Editing important?

Neither hand-drawn sketches nor detail oriented engineering drawings meet a transportation planner’s need to share ideas quickly, collaborate across teams, and build stakeholder buy-in. Hand-drawn sketches, or similar, prevent iteration on designs and lack the credibility to engage stakeholders. On the other hand, engineering drawings are not accessible by the general public, mayor’s office, or other important stakeholders, and are often mired in detail, derailing cross functional collaboration and evaluation of tradeoffs. In other words, a hand-drawn sketch doesn’t provide enough sophistication to carry your ideas across teams and engineering drawings are infeasible in a collaborative environment.

A hand-drawn sketch doesn't provide enough sophistication to carry your ideas across teams and engineering drawings are infeasible in a collaborative environment.

Though hit hard by COVID, New Orleans, Louisiana, is hard at work to push forward new and existing transportation initiatives. One such initiative is the pedestrianizing of key corridors, a project accelerated by COVID-19. The French Quarter is a tremendously crowded area with high pedestrian activity but limited pedestrian space, posing a public health concern around social distancing. With Remix, the team was able to draft traffic diversions and pedestrianization scenarios quickly in order to bring a productive conversation to the public at a faster timeline. The City has also been working hard on their “Moving New Orleans Bikes” initiative, a project that started before COVID. In order to continue with their project despite pandemic conditions, they used Remix to design complicated street plans with new bike facilities and continue their project timeline around cross functional collaboration and public engagement.

Want to learn more? Reach out to us at remix.com/demo. We’re excited to hear from you!