Digital Services

Huntington Beach, Calif.’s new city website, which launched Monday, eliminates nearly half the pages on its old site. A curated visitor search drives sought-after pages to the top, and the process for back-end changes has been refined.

The Red River Watershed Management Board and the Fargo-based International Water Institute debuted a Lidar database in March. It’s free to access and offers highly accurate measurements of terrain and flood control structures in the area.

The county, through its Trailability Program, is using off-road TerrainHoppers to make trails accessible to people with disabilities; this year, GPS will enable solo rides. The county is also sharing scenery information via auditory devices.

Some city sources have attributed a cyber incident in early March to ransomware, although the municipality has only called it a “network disruption.” Birmingham is using paper-based processes to pay staff, but public effects may be more minor.

Through the Federal Communications Commission, the Biden administration warned Congress Tuesday the Affordable Connectivity Program, which serves 760,000 Pennsylvania families, is within weeks of ending due to a lack of funding.

Hawaii’s capital city is piloting artificial intelligence-based software for building plan reviews, and will fully implement a new platform that went live in February. Updates to a third system are planned this year, all in the name of faster permitting.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s new License App lets users show several types of fishing licenses on their cellphones. It also enables pass-through to buy licenses via the department’s website. Next up: hunting licenses.

The Tarrant Appraisal District’s site was down for a few hours Thursday and officials are assessing the issue with cybersecurity experts. No sensitive data is believed to have been affected.

18F, a digital consulting office within the General Services Administration, is at work on three projects with federal agencies, it said this week in announcing its 10th anniversary. The office has completed 455 initiatives in 10 years.

Portico, the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s new portal, features an online assistant to help expedite modernization for historically significant buildings and sites. It replaces a system that had only recently begun moving off paper.

Pennsylvania Lottery upgrades also include test environments, communications networks and back-office systems, in a migration starting late Monday and lasting much of Tuesday. The purchase of many game tickets will be impacted.

The Avon Lake, Ohio, Public Library’s app is back online after problems with its service provider were addressed. The issue impacted multiple library district applications nationwide, a communications manager said.

While millions of Americans have opted to use mobile IDs that can be carried on a phone instead of physical identification in a wallet, many businesses and agencies, including law enforcement, don’t yet accept them. What needs to happen next?

The government technology giant follows a February Amazon Web Services pact with a potentially longer-term state of Maryland contract. It comes as Tyler’s most recent financials show double-digit cloud growth.

The tool is integrated into the state’s job and training hub, and offers users personalized services to connect them with a career path that aligns with their skill set. It follows legislative action by the governor to lessen unemployment numbers.

CIO Bob Osmond said prioritizing system modernization, financial optimization and infrastructure enhancement is essential to providing the best tech resources to agencies and residents.

Officials at Eau Claire County, Wis., have debuted a new dashboard that displays “up to the minute information” on weather, fires and related events. Issues identified in an update of the county Hazard Mitigation Plan also will be incorporated.

Two years in, officials are calling San Francisco’s Text Before Tow program — which lets residents sign up to get a text if their car is about to be towed — a success. Only 130 texts have gone out to participants, but more than half resulted in a vehicle being saved from an impending tow.