Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization uses Limehouse Software to gather public feedback

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization (Indianapolis MPO) has selected Limehouse Software, the global leader in collaboration, publishing and citizen engagement software, to help create its 2009 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP), a document that will outline the organization’s activities for the upcoming year.

The Indianapolis MPO provides transportation planning for a federally designated urban transportation area that includes the city of Indianapolis. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the Indianapolis metropolitan area was the 29th largest in the country with an estimated population of just over 1.6 million residents. The city hosts the most attended single-day sporting event in the world, the Indianapolis 500, with 250,000 fans descending upon the area for the event.

Limehouse’s collaborative software will allow Indianapolis team members to work on the UPWP through a Web-based interface and enable them to professionally format and print the document. The technology can upload the plan and post it online, at the touch of a button, so the public can view the document and easily post comments and suggestions.

“We have had issues creating and formatting large documents with so many authors,” said Andy Swenson, principal planner and technical manager of the Indianapolis MPO.  “Limehouse Software will save us time and money, while at the same time helping us to engage citizens online to allow for essential public feedback.”

The Indianapolis MPO plans to later expand its use of Limehouse Software to create the city’s regional transportation plan, a document that will guide the development of the Indianapolis transportation system through the year 2035.

“We needed a solution that could help us create a robust regional transportation plan to cope with our growing needs,” said Swenson.

“Limehouse Software has become an extremely popular tool for government organizations,” said Sandy Calabrese, vice president, general manager of Limehouse Software. “This is the only software solution that allows for multiple author collaboration on large public documents, while also facilitating citizen engagement and feedback.”

The software is available online and requires nothing more than Internet access and a working email address. It can be used on a wide variety of Web browsers including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari.