Modernizing AC Transit’s Basemap Workflows for Agency-Wide Impact
AC Transit’s basemaps sit at the heart of how the agency operates and communicates—powering internal information products, supporting staff workflows, and reaching hundreds of thousands of riders who rely on accurate maps every day. As expectations for real‑time information and digital service delivery continue to accelerate, maintaining these basemaps with efficiency and precision has never been more important.
Recognizing the opportunity to modernize, AC Transit is exploring a new solution stack that streamlines basemap updates, improves data integration, and reduces the need for labor‑intensive, manually driven workflows. Today, the agency maintains three separate basemap products through processes built on aging, disparate technologies. These tools have served AC Transit for many years, but the lack of unified workflows and synchronized update cycles introduces inconsistencies, technical debt, and operational strain—issues that become more visible as demand for accurate maps grows across the organization.
To support AC Transit in advancing to a more sustainable, automated, and accurate basemap environment, the Gartrell Group’s Geo Strategy team is proposing a comprehensive modernization engagement. Our approach focuses on helping the agency design and implement a forward‑looking basemap maintenance framework by:
Assessing current technologies, datasets, and workflows to clarify modernization opportunities
Conducting an alternatives analysis to evaluate modern tools and workflow strategies that strengthen data integration and boost automation
Implementing approved enhancements, including upgraded technologies, workflow redesign, and improved data management practices
Providing knowledge transfer and mentoring to ensure AC Transit staff can confidently maintain and evolve the new system long‑term
The Gartrell Group works extensively in the transportation sector, partnering with transit operators, mobility providers, and state and local agencies across North America to modernize geospatial systems and operational workflows. We are genuinely excited to bring this experience to AC Transit and to support a transit agency in elevating such an important, high‑impact part of its information ecosystem. Our work approach aims to deliver lasting improvements that strengthen the basemap foundation used across the entire agency—and by the riding public every single day.