CBL Web Tool

Given a list of addresses uploaded in JSON, CSV, or Excel format, this tool will:

• Normalize each address
• Geocode each address via MapQuest to a lat/long coordinate
• Download the Microsoft Building Footprints for all areas encompassed by the geocoded coordinates
• Find the footprint that intersects (or is closest to) each geocoded coordinate
• Generate the UBID for each footprint
• Display the results of the workflow in a table on the webpage or export the resulting data as csv and GeoJSON

Prerequisites

1. Create a Virtualenv Environment in the flask-app directory:
   • python -m venv myenv
   • source myenv/bin/activate (macOS/Linux) or myenv\Scripts\activate (Windows) to enter your virtual environment
2. Install poetry in your virtual environment with pip install poetry
3. Install dependencies in your virtual environment with poetry install
4. Create a .env file in the flask-app directory with your MapQuest API key in the format:

   MAPQUEST_API_KEY=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

   Note that if an env key for MAPQUEST_API_KEY exists in your profile, then it use that over the .env file.
5. Ensure you are running Node v20.11.1: node -v
   1. To install the correct version: nvm install 20.11.1
6. In the angular-app directory, install angular by running npm install -g @angular/cli@17
   1. Make sure that you are running Node v20.9.0 or later: node -v
7. Copy these lines in a new file, replacing the mapboxToken with your own. This new file should be saved in:

   export const environment = {
   production: false,
   mapboxToken: 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX'
   };
   

   1. angular-app/src/environments/environment.ts

Running the Web App

1. Run the web app by opening two terminals: one with the working directory as angular-app and running ng serve -o and the other with the working directory as flask-app(in your virtual environment) and running python app.py
2. After connecting to the web application using the following link http://localhost:4200/, upload a file in the format of a json (example below) or excel/csv with columns for street_address, city, and state:

   [
     {
       "street_address": "100 W 14th Ave Pkwy",
       "city": "Denver",
       "state": "CO"
     },
     {
       "street_address": "200 E Colfax Ave",
       "city": "Denver",
       "state": "CO"
     },
     {
       "street_address": "320 W Colfax Ave",
       "city": "Denver",
       "state": "CO"
     }
   ]

3. Once the file is uploaded and your data appears in a table on the web page, click the Check Data button to ensure that the data in the file meets the format requirements for the tool. There are three required column names that can be edited in the table: street_address, city, and state
4. If the data conforms to the data check requirements, a button labeled Run CBL Workflow will appear. Click this button to generate a covered buildings list. Note: it will take some time to generate the list and display it.
5. Once the list is generated, a table and map with highlighted building footprints will appear side-by-side on the web page. In this menu, there are a multitude of functions to utilize:

• The user can select on a row in the table and fly to a specific building, as well as edit data in the rows of the table.
• A footprint can be manually edited/redrawn by double-clicking on an existing footprint and dragging any of the polygon's vertices.
• For a specific piece of data, if a row is selected, the user can click the trashcan icon on the map and remove the footprint corresponding to that row in the table. A new footprint for this row can be redrawn using the pencil icon and the data in the row will be automatically updated.
• The user can reverse geocode/add a new building using the building icon on the map and drawing a new footprint at the desired location. This will add a new entry to the table.
• The user can also delete data entirely from the map and the table by selecting the row on the table and clicking the Delete Selected Row button.

Future Ideas

• Flagging duplicate buildings
• Re-import cbl

Disclaimer

When using this tool with the MapQuest geocoding API (or any other geocoder) always confirm that the terms of service allow for using and storing geocoding results (as with the MapQuest Enterprise license)