This GIS-based work must collect, display, analyze, and report on specific data fields, single-metric rankings, and combined rankings of viewsheds and specific land parcels. Throughout the process, the selected vendor will interact with the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation’s director of Blue Ridge Rising and a multi-partner viewshed analysis action team to provide GIS support, services, products, and a related webtool. Deliverables include: • GIS-based maps showing which lands are visible from Blue Ridge Parkway overlooks and other significant viewpoints on or near the Parkway. This analysis will likely need to include visibility (yes/no), quality of the view, and frequency of the view (i.e., how many different Parkway viewpoints can see the selected area?). This visibility analysis should include all lands visible from the Parkway, but it will not include parcel-level data or analysis. This data and analysis should be made available online through access to GIS-based data (e.g., in ArcGIS) and through PDFs of related maps, so that the information can be easily shared with any interested parties (e.g., land trusts and county and regional planning agencies). • A consensus set of variables and weightings of those variables (e.g., parcel size, adjacency to other conserved lands, distance from the Parkway) to rank and prioritize individual parcels within or near Parkway viewsheds. These variables and weightings will be finalized with the input and guidance of the viewshed protection action team and the selected contractor. Iterative analysis will likely be required to determine the most insightful and useful variables and weightings. See “Potential Ranking Variables” below for the current draft list. • A GIS-based model and analysis for ranking all relevant land parcels and then determining the highest ranking 750-1,000 parcels for conservation attention. This parcel-level analysis is expected to incorporate—at a minimum—approximately 200-250 viewpoints along the Blue Ridge Parkway (a list made up primarily but not exclusively of official Parkway overlooks) and all land parcels of five acres or more within one mile of each viewpoint. (The five-acre minimum and one-mile limit are open to discussion and revision.) • Data output (e.g., Excel, Google Sheets) providing the locations, owner name(s), and mailing information for the highest ranking 750-1,000 parcels in the Blue Ridge Parkway corridor, as indicated by the application of the data detailed above.
