Ultimate Guide: GIS for Enhanced Teamwork and Stakeholder Engagement

When time is in short supply and millions of dollars are at stake, misalignment across teams compromises a project’s chance at success. Not only is deep collaboration important for internal team members, but a land deal or development often depends on the engagement and input of external stakeholders. True buy-in from all parties requires clear communication.

A highly requested feature by our user base, Latapult’s Shared Bookmark Folders tool allows clients to easily share land research and interactive maps that automatically update live for individuals inside and outside their organization with access to a shared folder. Continue reading to learn how this feature streamlines workflows, enhances teamwork, and increases stakeholder engagement.

What Is Latapult’s Shared Bookmark Folders Tool?

Before we get into how Shared Bookmark Folders allow you to work in sync with colleagues, let’s start with what Latapult Bookmarks for GIS mapping is. The Bookmarks tool was introduced as a Latapult feature in 2016. It has been used to combine data layers, drawings, and graphics to bring land analysis, due diligence research, and site plans to life. Latapult clients can create an inventory of active or prospective projects, including property information, details, plans, notes, and more, all using bookmarks.

This most-used tool hasn’t gone anywhere; we just enhanced it with even more collaboration capabilities. Latapult clients have always been able to create personal bookmarks that are then shareable as interactive or static maps. The thing was, once these folders were shared, iterating on that bookmark had to be manually reshared with project teams. Latapult clients no longer have to individually share bookmarks whenever they progress on a project folder. The Shared Bookmark Folders feature tracks and automatically updates progress live for anyone who has access to a collaborative folder.

GIS Software Designed For Internal and External Collaboration

Team collaboration is not the full extent of Shared Bookmark Folders. Clients can also build, save, and share live bookmarks with their entire organization, focused internal teams, and Latapult users outside their organization. This gives everyone one central place to explore land, iterate on projects, and plan for success together. When clients log into Latapult, they’ll be able to create four levels of bookmarks:

• 1. My Bookmarks: A default folder for all bookmarks that is personal and manageable by an individual user. This bookmark level can be shared with others but will not automatically update the shared copies as changes are made unless indicated as a “live” bookmark.
• 2. Organization-wide Bookmarks: A default folder view for Latapult clients with multiple user licenses. All user licenses under one subscription are granted the ability to manage live bookmarks and nested folders added to this shared folder – with any progress automatically updated across an organization.
• 3. Internal Shared Folders: A curated folder view created for focused teams, such as individual departments or project teams. The original bookmark creator can share access with others as long as all collaborators have a Latapult user license to access the land files properly. Clients can contact our support center of GIS experts to add additional users to their subscriptions.
• 4. External Shared Folders: A curated bookmarks folder that can be shared externally by any user level or organization. External stakeholders collaborating on joint projects can be recipients of these shared folders if they already use Latapult.

Teams often work simultaneously on the same project, with details being explored or added every minute. For version control or to never lose sight of project iterations, users can toggle into folder “history” to see what has been updated, by whom, and when.

PRO TIP: If you’re worried about too many people editing one bookmark, on a curated folder level, not everyone has to have the same level of access. The creator of a folder will be designated as “owner.” This person can then grant an individual access with four levels of permissions: bookmark owner, bookmark admin, bookmark editor, or bookmark viewer.

5 Ways Collaboration Improves Land Analysis

Transparent communication simplifies problem-solving and strategic business decisions. That goes for internal and external teams alike. When collaborating and working through plans, teams can complete projects efficiently, effectively, and within budget. Here’s how Shared Bookmark Folders can help with real use case examples of an engineering firm collaborating with a municipality:

1. 1. Streamline site due diligence research by saving key locations, measurements, and analysis in an easily accessible interactive map. For example, there is no limit to how many bookmarks can be saved and added to a project folder if an engineering team is considering several different land attributes while evaluating a site for buildability. This limitless creation ensures all necessary details are accounted for in an organized fashion – ultimately helping avoid costly pitfalls.
2. 2. Save time and resources by simplifying project management. Before shared folders, an engineer would have to share bookmarks separately with each individual on their team, repeating this time-consuming task every time a bookmark was edited. Now, any edits made to both the bookmarks and the folder structure are automatically updated, keeping all files relevant and easily accessible to all.
3. 3. Remove internal silos by collaborating with teams that own different site assessment and planning tasks. For instance, a surveyor walking a property can provide real-time updates with a civil engineer in the office.
4. 4. Eliminate back and forth between internal teams and external stakeholders to ensure everyone is aligned. For example, an engineering firm can upload DWG files and automatically share necessary site plans and information with a municipality – boosting communications and alignment at every stage of a project.
5. 5. Stay tuned into all ongoing land deals by keeping all relevant information related to transactions organized and accessible to all necessary stakeholders. For instance, if an engineering firm is partnering with a municipality on multiple land deals, there can be continuous visibility into the progress of any project through shared bookmarks.

BONUS: Shared Bookmark Folders can be used to prove the value of potential investment opportunities by visualizing key characteristics in engaging presentations built on dynamic, interactive maps. For example, when internal or external stakeholders are pressed for information, Latapult clients can easily and effectively showcase bookmarks that hold various site plans or materials. One bookmark might display graphics to demonstrate land plans, while another holds labels with detailed project information. The user can quickly flip between each to talk through plans and visually present land characteristics.

Step-By-Step Guide To Shared Bookmark Folders

Creating, saving, and sharing Bookmarks in Latapult’s GIS mapping software:

• Step 1: Log into Latapult.
• Step 2: Navigate to the Bookmarks tab on the left-side panel of the browser.
• Step 3: Create a bookmark by drawing a boundary, attaching an imported GIS file, adding a layer, and more.
• Step 4: Name your progress in the left-side Bookmarks panel.
  • PRO TIP: When naming folders and bookmarks, consider a structured approach. For example, a bookmark can be labeled by project name and phase, or if you are a larger organization, consider folders for different office locations.

• Step 5: Toggle through the dropdown and click on the folder name of where you want to save the bookmark – this can be an existing internal or external folder.

Sharing existing bookmark folders for internal and external collaboration:

• Step 1: Hover over the bookmark folder you wish to share.
• Step 2: Click the “share” button on the right side of the bookmark panel.
• Step 3: A pop-up will appear that allows you to enter a recipient’s name and a message.
• Step 4: Click send, and your recipient should receive an email to accept the collaboration invite if they are an existing Latapult user.

What’s Next?

If you’re a current client, sign in to your account to try this new feature.

If you’re not yet a Latapult client, register for a live demo to get a closer look at our new feature.