New ZoLa Features — Spring 2024
You spoke and we listened.
Earlier this year we asked ZoLa users to give us feedback on ZoLa via a user interview or by filling out a short survey, and the input came back in force. After speaking with users, parsing through survey responses, reevaluating features we wanted to build in the past, and assessing the level of effort, we honed in on seven features to add to ZoLa. They range from minor quality of life improvements to large new features:
1) Compare Two Tax Lots
After selecting one tax lot, now you can use the new “Add Another Tax Lot for Comparison” button to select a second tax lot and view the information of the two tax lots in two side by side panels. We learned that many ZoLa users use ZoLa to perform basic GIS analyses and are often evaluating more than one lot. This enhancement will now make it easier for them to do so.
2) Hide the sidebar
Now you can see more of the map by using the arrow to hide the sidebar!
3) Improved measuring tools
Many ZoLa users are using the website to conduct basic GIS analyses; therefore, we made it easier for them to do existing workflows. Now, you can sum the area or distance of multiple measurements, saving users from needing to sum individual measurements.
4) Saved Search History
Often, ZoLa users are revisiting the same set of locations. Now, with the saved search history you can easily find and return to the places you have searched.
5) Bookmark Sets of Layers
ZoLa has over thirty layers. Users frequently want to revisit ZoLa and evaluate the map with the same sets of layers. Now, with this feature you can turn on a subset of the layers in ZoLa and create a bookmark to save the state of the selected layers. This can be done an infinite number times so that you can easily navigate between different permutations of the ZoLa map layers.
6) Turn Off All Layers
With how many map layers there are in ZoLa, we made a small quality of life improvement that now allows you to quickly turn off all layers and then toggle them back on with the click of a single button.
7) Access Relevant Links
Many ZoLa users use ZoLa as a launching point to navigate to other data sources. Now, with added links in the tax lot panel a you can view that location in Google Maps or Cyclomedia, as well as view the data for the location’s Community District in the Equitable Development Data Explorer.
We’re so happy to have released these enhancements and we look forward to continuing to enhance NYC Planning’s beloved ZoLa. Let us know what other improvements you want to see in ZoLa. You can submit a GitHub issue, send an email to tech@planning.nyc.gov, or tweet at @NYCPlanningTech.
