Page 34 - KCMO Parks Master Plan 2032

VIRTUAL

Over the 10 months that this tool was available, the
ENGAGEMENT website was visited by 1,213 unique users over 3,300
times. In the end, 214 unique users left 603 separate
comments on the map. These comments tended to
come in large batches, often when the department
SUMMARY and consultant team were advertising for the more

traditional in-person engagement sessions. Figure
3.6 below shows the most talked about words
within social pinpoint. Figure 3.7 shows a heat map
Even before the pandemic, the hot trend in indicating the density of comments across the city’s
community engagement was being able to conduct geography. There’s more activity in the center of
it virtually. The pandemic made it the routine for a the city, where population and park density are the
couple years. Our team finds terrific value in it when greatest. However certain parks in the farther north
done the right way. The more freedom and ease and south reaches of the city, still attracted comment.
you can provide citizens, the more success you will In terms of single Park properties, Swope received
have. The consultant team developed a digital brand the most comments at 70, but Anne Garney up north
and website specifically for this project. The website was the second most commented park with 30,
provided basic information about the planning followed by Penn Valley with 29. The comments can
process and also hosted an interactive mapping tool be about most anything. The word cloud below in
called Social Pinpoint. That tool was available to the Figure 3.8 was generated by Social Pinpoint based
general public from August 2022 until June 2023. on the collective content of the 603 comments. As it
This section of the report discusses the use of virtual suggests in its anecdotal way, trails, connectivity, and
engagement during this planning process and the access to green spaces were common topics. The
results obtained.

SOCIAL PINPOINT

For this project, Social Pinpoint allowed visitors a
chance to dive into an interactive map of Kansas City
in which all the existing parks and greenways, and
community centers were highlighted. As soon as a
visitor enters this web site, they are given instructions Figure 3.5: Project brand
on how to leave comments about parks, trails,
community centers or whatever might be on their
mind about parks an recreation. In order to leave
a comment of any kind, a visitor drags a little “pin”
onto the screen. The have a choice of four types of
pins: “Things they like”, “Things they dislike,” ”Ideas
for improvement,”and “Causes for concern.” By
setting up these options, our team effectively crowd
sourced a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities,
and Threats (SWOT) analysis of the Kansas City
park system.

Figure 3.6: Word cloud generated by Social PinPoint

28 KANSAS CITY PARKS MASTER PLAN