City of Lake Forest
CBD Parking App

Lake Forest needed residents and visitors to understand downtown parking at a glance — the lots, the restrictions, and the question everyone asks: "how far is this lot from where I'm going?"

ArcGIS Experience Builder, the standard no-code tool, couldn't deliver it — specifically interactive walk-time from a user-set origin, and an interface that works on a phone at the curb as well as a desktop.

And MGP had never shipped a custom-coded web app — so this had to be built and deployed from scratch, in a way the firm could reuse.

A custom React + ArcGIS app maps every CBD lot with color-coded restrictions and tappable profiles — enforcement schedules, EV charging, permits. Mobile-first, built for someone deciding where to park from the sidewalk.

The headline feature: on-demand walk-time routing. Set an origin and the app draws the walking distance and time to each lot — the exact capability Experience Builder couldn't provide.

A single JSON config drives the whole app, making it portable to any community with no code changes. I validated the lot data with stakeholders, deployed it, and left a template MGP now reuses on follow-on projects.

Residents and visitors now have a public-facing tool that gives instant clarity on parking options and walking distances — reducing confusion and improving the downtown experience, on whatever device they happen to have in hand.

This was MGP's first custom-coded GIS web application — a demonstration that a tailored, developer-built solution can deliver what off-the-shelf tools can't, end to end: requirements, data, build, and deployment.

Because the app is JSON-configurable, it became a reusable standard for the firm. A second municipal parking map (La Grange) was built directly from this foundation — the clearest proof that the investment paid forward into future work.