GIS Planning

Website: PoncaCityProspector.com  

Results:

• New University Multispectral Lab
  
• Assisted a New York broker representing a retail project expansion, as well as a site consultant in the Tulsa area representing a new development project. Ponca City Prospector has been instrumental both in attracting new business as well as housing for the growing workforce required by new employers.

"Ponca City is the home to the new University Multispectral Lab, the world’s first dedicated, Multispectral sensor testing facility, operated by Oklahoma State University.  A significant number of the scientists and technicians from the lab have told us that their decision to relocate to Ponca City was aided when they used PoncaCityProspector.com to evaluate the community’s amenities and technological capabilities.  It is difficult enough for a small community without a university to compete in the new economy.  PoncaCityProspector.com has proven to be an extremely valuable tool to suggest to potential knowledge based recruits and companies interested in locating near the UML that the community has the technological infrastructure to support their goals.

Since implementing PoncaCityPropector.com, two years ago, jobs in the Ponca City area have grown at an annualized rate of 4.7%, or 1,800 net new jobs.  At the same time, average wages have also grown at an annualized rate of 8.0%.  The community has added four significant technology companies over the same period with a combined projected economic impact of over $200 million over the next ten years. For a community with 26,000 residents, these are literally revolutionary numbers.

The Ponca City Development Authority implemented PoncaCityProepctor.com to allow the global community to truly understand the Ponca City area on a self service, 24/7 basis.  We measure the results and have noted that PoncaCityProspector.com is easily the most frequently visited website we maintain, more than quadrupling the number of visits we received to our previous demographic and property web site.  We also have seen, first hand, the user reaction to the site.

During a seminar held last summer for area realtors, we trained commercial and industrial realtors on how to add and change information on the web site. Their fascination with the tool, and their enthusiastic use, has built a very important bridge to these critical economic development partners.  Their support of our organization has grown significantly since that time. The tool has even proven effective for out of town realtors.  Once such businessman, visiting our community, came to our office to seek demographic information as he was unaware of the site. We sat him in front of the web site and showed him how to gain the information he desired. He told us that he is based in New York and works all over the country and that our site was the most advanced tool he had ever seen in the economic development world.

PoncaCityProspctor.com also allows us to serve our various community development needs. As a example, a recent housing developer, interested in the community, came to out our office with a request for information.  As with the realtor, we showed him the site. He was so pleased with what he found that he told us, “You need to tell the Governor that every community in Oklahoma needs to have this tool!”  PoncaCityPropector has given us the web based tool we need to connect with our target industries and population. It began as as a benefit, we now view it as a requirement. Last month, a realtor from New York came into my office.  He was looking for demographic info and he said that he needed figures on the number of households, income levels, and buying habits within Ponca City.  He also wanted to know this information limited to the population within 15 minutes of an area he was considering for retail space.  Within a few clicks, I easily produced the information he had requested.  He sat there with his mouth open, later exclaiming, ‘You guys really know what you’re doing!’  He said he would have expected this level of service in a major city like New York or Los Angeles, but he was amazed to find an organization in a rural area with this type of technological ability."

–David Myers, Executive Director, Ponca City Development Authority