Seeing—more clearly—where stormwater floods Denver
July 08, 2025
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Patrick Flynn talks with Esri about transforming Denver’s printed stormwater drainage plan into an interactive online portal
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Patrick Flynn lifted the thick tome above his head at Esri’s 2025 Geodesign Summit—234 oversize pages of Denver’s Storm Drainage Master Plan. Only engineers like Flynn or infrastructure planners would likely tackle such an unwieldy reference. Certainly not new residents researching flood risks for their families. Not even city officials, who’d likely ask staff for a summary instead. And as if this weighty book weren’t enough, those pages were from just one of a two-volume set.
“It’s a lot of work. It’s good work,” Flynn said of the books that make up Denver’s Storm Drainage Master Plan. “But it’s not particularly engaging.”
It’s also updated only once every five years. The vital data inside, though, directly impacts the more than 700,000 people who live in the Mile High City. The plan informs decisions about long-term investments in the city’s infrastructure. That, in turn, protects residents from destructive floods that can close roads and damage properties.
The Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) believed the information should serve a wider audience. So, Flynn, from the global engineering firm Stantec, worked with DOTI to transform the printed plan into a more accessible online portal of interactive information.
Now, there’s a one-stop digital destination for all the city’s stormwater information, built using ArcGIS Hub, the community engagement platform driven by powerful geographic information system (GIS) technology from Esri.
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