How County of Santa Barbara Public Works delivers instant emergency updates with Felt

The Santa Barbara County Public Works Department, responsible for managing public infrastructure and water systems, faced challenges in quickly updating road closure maps during emergencies due to a previously time-consuming process that took up to 30 minutes. To address this, the department implemented Felt, a tool that allows for the rapid creation of web maps and dashboards. By using Felt's route tool, the team was able to efficiently draw road closures and embed these interactive maps on their public website, enabling timely communication of critical information to first responders and the public. This new system improved the speed and accessibility of sharing essential updates, as noted by Public Information Officer Lael Wageneck.