Parents of students in any of the community’s 10 public elementary schools now can find the safest walking route online via a link from www.oak-park.us/maps.
The routes are part of a range of information displayed in MapOffice, a proprietary application developed for the GIS Consortium, a collective of local governments working together to develop and implement new technologies they can share.
Administered by the Illinois the Department of Transportation, the Safe Routes to School program is designed to improve public safety and promote healthy alternatives for children to get to school. The Village has participated in the program for many years, but until recently has relied on static maps to illustrate the safest walking route to each school.
The walking routes are just one of the categories of information displayed by address on the MapOffice page. Other layers allow property owners to see historic district boundaries, zoning classifications and information about the trees on their parkways.