Ecopia AI Advanced Transportation Features Now Available in Arizona's Sun Cloud Data Portal

September 12, 2023 -- Toronto -- Ecopia AI (Ecopia) today announces the company was selected to provide detailed transportation features for the Arizona Sun Cloud, a collaboratively managed open data portal for Arizona’s Sun Corridor megaregion.

The new data portal, just finalized this summer, provides interactive maps and built-in tools to assess the connections between the map’s various data layers, plus the ability to add customized scoring weights to prioritize municipal planning efforts. The newly released features offer standardized information to help communities promote equity, safety, active mobility and more.

Representing Cochise, Maricopa, Pima, Pinal, and Santa Cruz counties, Arizona’s Sun Corridor is home to about 85% of Arizona’s residents. The megaregion’s population of 6.3 million people is expected to increase another 40% by 2050. Such rapid growth produces complex challenges in community planning that require geospatial analysis, particularly when it comes to transportation. 

Not only is there an increased demand and strain on current transportation infrastructure, but many communities are pursuing active transportation plans with equity and safety goals. These initiatives are especially challenging for small and medium-sized communities with limited staff who lack the resources to create the data needed to augment these workflows with geospatial analysis.

To address the need for comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date data for their individual communities, the five megaregion counties worked  together over the last few years to leverage funding for geospatial resources from a Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) AID Grant. These efforts ultimately produced the Arizona Sun Cloud, which was released in July 2023. The open data portal provides access to authoritative transportation and socioeconomic data throughout the 31,000+ square mile area. This collaborative effort empowers communities large and small to make data-driven urban design and infrastructure planning decisions and better serve their residents.

“Ecopia is proud to support the Arizona Sun Cloud initiative by providing fundamental transportation feature data for critical mapping projects,” said Sean Lowery, Senior Director of Business and Product Development at Ecopia. “This is an awesome example of how regional agencies can work together to make geospatial data accessible to other departments and jurisdictions that need it, and we look forward to seeing the continued innovation in community planning that Sun Cloud is supporting throughout the Sun Corridor.”

Among the datasets provided to public sector organizations via the Sun Cloud are Ecopia’s sidewalk, bike lane, and traffic median map layers, including details related to width and vegetation.

Ecopia’s artificial intelligence (AI)-based mapping systems efficiently extract high-precision vector features from orthoimagery and classify it into categories, delivering the GIS-professional quality data needed for urban planning at speeds that enable communities to scale their analysis and stay up-to-date in a dynamically changing world.

“The transportation data from Ecopia is an integral part of Sun Cloud, and we are thrilled to provide such high quality data in a much more efficient manner to the many government organizations within the Sun Corridor megaregion,” said Mead Mier, Planning Manager at Pima Association of Governments. “The ability for planners in urban, suburban, and rural areas  to access this critical, up-to-date information about our existing infrastructure and communities will help them to develop even better data-driven plans for enhancing sustainability, mobility, and livability as the landscape changes.”

Data from the Arizona Sun Cloud is currently powering important planning initiatives across the five county megaregion, including the analysis of transportation infrastructure and mobility in Justice40 disadvantaged areas, freight routing, and broadband internet accessibility. To continue to improve portal data, Sun Cloud participants hope to also include layers representing tree canopy and shade levels at individual transportation facilities, as well as ADA-compliant access points to active transportation modes.

If you are interested in learning more about transportation planning in Arizona's Sun Corridor, keep an eye out for upcoming meetings that are open to the public. Details can be found here.

For more information on Ecopia, click here. To view our HD map samples, click here.

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About the Pima Association of Governments (PAG)
PAG is a federally required and state-designated metropolitan planning organization (MPO) serving greater Tucson, Ariz. Representing local governments in the region, PAG secures federal funding for transportation improvements through long-range planning activities and short-range transportation improvement programming. PAG is also federally designated to conduct regional air quality, water quality and solid waste planning. PAG is governed by a nine-member Regional Council, made up of the chief elected or appointed official from each of the member governments: Pima County, Tucson, South Tucson, Marana, Oro Valley, Sahuarita, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and Tohono O’odham Nation, and the Arizona State Transportation Board. These governments pool resources and provide the best data possible for leaders to make regionally collaborative decisions that support economic vitality in the region for years to come. Learn more at pagregion.com

About the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG)
The Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) provides a forum for local governments working together on issues that affect the lives of everyone in the greater Phoenix region. Member Agencies include 27 cities and towns, 3 Native nations, Maricopa County, portions of Pinal County, and the Arizona Department of Transportation. MAG’s planning area encompasses about 10,600 square miles. MAG is a regional agency that conducts planning and makes policy decisions in a number of core areas. These include safe and smart travel, the economy and growth, environment and sustainability, and improving quality of life, all with a focus on efficient and effective operations. Learn more at azmag.gov

About Ecopia AI
Ecopia is on a mission to create a digital twin of the Earth. We leverage artificial intelligence to convert high-resolution imagery into high-definition (HD) vector maps. These maps form a digital representation of reality and are embedded into decision-making applications, offering unique insight at scale. Ecopia’s HD vector maps are leveraged for hundreds of commercial and government applications across over 100 countries around the world.