APPENDIX 6: USER FEEDBACK PROCEDURES
This appendix describes the procedures for users to provide feedback to GSS of geographic data that have either been rejected by the Geosupport System or produced unexpected results. Only items that the user has reviewed and believes to be valid geographic data should be provided as feedback to GSS.
These feedback procedures should also be used for reporting software issues.
Feedback from users is a crucial resource in GSS’s efforts to maintain accurate and up-to-date Geosupport data files. The staff of GSS’s Geographic Research Unit researches the feedback received from users and corrects errors and omissions in Geosupport files as appropriate. Those corrections become accessible to users when the next release of Geosupport is installed on the computer where the user’s application is running.
The user should review all items and screen out those caused by obvious user data coding or data entry errors, such as an obvious street name misspelling, the specification of the intersection of two streets that are obviously parallel, etc.
The user should provide feedback on those items that the user considers to be valid data, or is uncertain about, to GSS’s Geographic Research Unit by submitting one or more completed Geosupport System User Feedback Forms. There are spaces to report up to three items on a single form. A sample form is included in this appendix and the user can replicate it as needed.
Printouts, sketch maps and/or any other material documenting the validity and location of the items should be attached to the form if possible. The user should provide any available information that would assist the GSS staff to research the issue. For example, if an address is rejected, the user should provide, if it is known, alternate addresses for the building, the names of the adjacent cross streets, the BBL (tax lot identifiers) etc.
In the case of large computer-generated reject reports, the user may submit the User Feedback Form as a transmittal form attached to the printout. In that case, it is not necessary for the user to transcribe all the reject information onto the form. If possible, the printout should display only the user input geographic data that Geosupport has rejected, not application-related data that is not passed to Geosupport. In addition, the printout should display the Geosupport Return Code, the Reason Code, and if there is space in the report, the Geosupport Message. When designing the reject report, it is advisable for the user to contact GSS Manager of Geographic Research to ascertain how the report should be sorted. Appropriate sorting of user reject reports greatly facilitates GSS’s research.
Feedback materials and inquiries about feedback procedures should be submitted to:
Email: GSS_Feedback@planning.nyc.gov
Email is the preferred mode of communication. If email is not feasible, feedback may be submitted to: Manager of Geographic Research, Department of City Planning 120 Broadway, 31stFloor New York, New York 10271 Phone: (212)720-3441 FAX: (212)720-3488
Software issues may be directed to: Email: Geosupport_DL@planning.nyc.gov